--- title: Bufferbloat: Delay That Appears When the Line Is Full url: https://hdiss.net/glossary/bufferbloat/ business: High Desert Internet Services (HDISS) phone: 775-575-9593, 775-391-5660 email: info@hdiss.net mailing_address: Home base: 200 S Virginia St, Suite 760, Reno NV 89501 (dispatch office, not a walk-in store). Mail: Billing Dept., PO Box 11353, Reno NV 89510 hours: Office open 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, seven days a week. Network watched around the clock. type: Fixed wireless internet service provider (homes and small businesses), web hosting, customer email, domain registration service_area: Northern Nevada - Washoe, Lyon, Storey, Churchill and Douglas counties and Carson City; availability is checked address by address (line of sight to a tower) plans: Bronze $50/mo up to 500 Mbps down, up to 200 Mbps up; Silver $75/mo up to 800 down, up to 200 up; Gold $99/mo up to 1 Gig down, up to 200 up; ask about the up to 1 Gig / 1 Gig ultra-low-latency service no_online_purchase: true (check your address or call; existing customers pay at https://www2.fernley.net/hdiss/onlinepay/paymentform.cfm) since: 2002 --- - [Home](https://hdiss.net/) - [Glossary](https://hdiss.net/glossary/) - Bufferbloat # Bufferbloat Bufferbloat makes a connection feel sluggish when someone is uploading or downloading something large, even though speed tests look fine. Video calls and games suffer first. A radio tower at sunset. Stock photo: Adobe Stock. [Photo credits](https://hdiss.net/photo-credits/) ## What is Bufferbloat? Every network device holds data briefly in a queue. If the queue is too long, packets wait a long time before they go out, which adds delay. The IETF's RFC 8290, from January 2018, describes the FQ-CoDel algorithm as a powerful tool for fighting bufferbloat and reducing latency. It sets a default target for acceptable standing queue delay of 5 ms and an interval of 100 ms, numbers for that algorithm and not for any High Desert link. See [latency](https://hdiss.net/glossary/latency/) for the delay itself and [QoS](https://hdiss.net/glossary/qos/) for a related fix. ## Why does it matter on a fixed wireless connection? The test is easy to describe. Start a long upload or a big download, and then try a video call or ping. If the call stutters only while the transfer runs, the queue is the likely cause. The cure is usually in your own router, because that is where the home's busiest queue sits. High Desert has not published latency figures for its service, and this entry gives none. Our guide [bufferbloat in plain words](https://hdiss.net/guides/bufferbloat/) goes further. ## What should I do about it? Look in your router's settings for smart queue management, SQM, or a feature named for FQ-CoDel or CAKE. If it is there, turn it on and set the speeds slightly below what a wired test shows. If your router has only a simple QoS list, follow [prioritize video calls with QoS](https://hdiss.net/guides/prioritize-video-calls-with-qos/). If you cannot change the router, schedule big uploads for when you are not on calls. If the trouble continues on a wired connection too, call 775-575-9593 with the times you saw it. Run the test again after any change so you can see whether it helped. ### Sources - [rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8290](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8290) (RFC 8290, The Flow Queue CoDel Packet Scheduler, IETF, January 2018; read 2026-10-15) - [hdiss.net/](https://hdiss.net/) (company facts, read 2026-10-15) ### Talk to a person - Call [775-575-9593](tel:7755759593) [775-391-5660](tel:7753915660) Open 9-5 every day - Email [info@hdiss.net](mailto:info@hdiss.net) [Check my address](https://hdiss.net/check-availability/#check) ### Related terms - [Latency](https://hdiss.net/glossary/latency/) - [QoS (quality of service)](https://hdiss.net/glossary/qos/) - [Jitter](https://hdiss.net/glossary/jitter/) - [Network congestion](https://hdiss.net/glossary/network-congestion/) - [Bufferbloat: why the internet lags when someone uploads](https://hdiss.net/guides/bufferbloat/) Local since 2002 Fixed wireless from towers in Northern Nevada. Three plans, no contracts, local support, 4.8 on Google from 36 reviews. [About High Desert](https://hdiss.net/about/)