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The Myth that is called the QoS 20% Bandwidth Gain

Update #2 2008-08-27WED 7:55pm ACT: Cleaned up the inserts and strikes. The original version is now on the next page.
Update #1 2008-07-12SAT 7:00pm ACT (Asean Common Time): Cleaned up a little bit and added a few more words. Hopefully it is better this time. (I never thought this post will become popular and linked to everywhere. Glad to be of help!!)

The myth? “Increase your bandwidth by 20%” or “Regain 20% of your bandwidth” and anything similar. What is the usual content of this myth?

Windows uses 20% of your bandwidth! Get it back

A nice little tweak for XP Pro. Mcft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes (suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)

Here’s how to get it back:
Click Start–>Run–>type “gpedit.msc” without the “
This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:
Local Computer Policy–>Computer Configuration–>Administrative Templates–>Network–>QOS Packet Scheduler–>Limit Reservable Bandwidth
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the ‘Explain’ tab :

“By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default.”

So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.
works on XP Pro, and 2000
other o/s not tested.

Why is it a myth? Here are the hard facts:

Follow up:

You will not experience anything because it is a myth for WinXP Pro (and any other OS that use QoS). Some people claim it works for them but these are all on “feel(ing)”. Someone still has to give a solid test result. These claims so far, are only based on what they “think” and “felt” (this “feel” thing can be further understood by reading Psychology Books and Researches), when in actuality, nothing positive was gained. By doing this so-called tweak, you gain more on the negative side – giving your more important applications a harder and longer time to get what they need.

Allow me to quote from reliable sources, and you be the judged after reading this article.

What is QoS Packet Scheduler?
Note. This only effects LAN traffic and not Internet access speeds. Also, in order for this to work, QoS Packet Scheduler must be supported on both sides of the connection.

Source: https://www.dslreports.com/faq/3688

If that is not enough, then lets take Microsoft’s word for it:

Clarification about the use of QoS in end computers that are running Windows XP
As in Windows 2000, programs can take advantage of QoS through the QoS APIs in Windows XP. One hundred percent of the network bandwidth is available to be shared by all programs unless a program specifically requests priority bandwidth. This “reserved” bandwidth is still available to other programs unless the requesting program is sending data. By default, programs can reserve up to an aggregate bandwidth of 20 percent of the underlying link speed on each interface on an end computer. If the program that reserved the bandwidth is not sending sufficient data to use it, the unused part of the reserved bandwidth is available for other data flows on the same host.

Correction of some incorrect claims about Windows XP QoS support
There have been claims in various published technical articles and newsgroup postings that Windows XP always reserves 20 percent of the available bandwidth for QoS. These claims are incorrect. The information in the “Clarification about QoS in end computers that are Running Windows XP” section correctly describes the behavior of Windows XP systems.

Source: https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q316666

Now if the words of the developer of your Operating System is still not enough, then you have two options left. Turn-off your QoS altogether, or switch to Mac or Linux (I highly recommend Ubuntu).

What have we learned? It is better to leave QoS “ON” and let your OS give priority to applications requesting priority bandwidth. These “requesting” applications are requesting because you are using it and/or it is vital for the smooth operation of your machine. If you do not want these applications to use any percentage of the 20% “reserved” bandwidth, then shut down all these applications, because in the first place, if your objective is for gaming it is standard practice among professional gamers to shutdown everything except what you need for your games when playing. In other words, no applications will use the reserved bandwidth (in case you have applications that occasionally requests priority bandwidth), thus your game will use that reserved 20% as well.

Regardless still, games do not use 100% bandwidth, it is doubtful you will used up the 80% non-reserved bandwidth. However, granted you did use all 80% and you need more, then as per Microsoft’s words (again they developed your OS), your application can still use the 20% reserved bandwidth as long as no other application(s) are requesting priority access. It is as simple as that.

If you want your application to be faster, what you need to do first is to make your PC/OS faster. Then shutdown all your bandwidth “eater” applications like torrents, ftp, Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”) programs (like FrostWire and Shareaza), and other download you have running in the background (including all and any music and video streaming websites like Veoh and iMeem).

Finally, if you think and/or feel it did give you back your 20% bandwidth (regardless of what Microsoft and other tech sites said), then good for you. If you want to test it, go ahead there is no harm in doing this “tweak”. If nothing happens, then it only proves that it is nothing but a false tweak misunderstood by many, and next time do your research before believing tweaks posted by even the tech’iess of sites.

^_^

Knowledge is Power

(On the next page is the original version of this blog post.)

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38 responses to “The Myth that is called the QoS 20% Bandwidth Gain”

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