Get 20% of your bandwidth back!

SpotOfWar · #1 (**permalink**) 12-18-2006, 08:32 PM

Most people may not know that Windows reserves itself 20% of your bandwidth for updates and several other reasons for its own use; mostly for your computer's own good. This is only for Windows XP and several 2000 and Millenium editions.

Several but not every PC with Windows XP, 2000, or Millenium that has internet access is performing at only 80% out of the 100% internet bandwidth you have purchased from your Internet Service Provider. To get all of your bandwidth, a full 100%, follow my tutorial below:
Reminder: This may not work on every computer.

Step 1: Click on your Start menu button.
Step 2: Find Run and click on it to open it up.
Step 3: In the space provided, type in gpedit.msc
Notice: This will open your Group Policy Editor
Step 4: Under Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration, click on Administrative Templates.
Step 5: Click on Network
Step 6: Click on QOS Packet Scheduler
Step 7: On the far right hand side, find Limit Reservable Bandwidth and click on it to open it.
Notice: This will open up your Limit Reservable Bandwidth Properties
Step 8: Check the Enabled box
Step 9: Under Bandwidth Limit %:, in the box enter 0.
Step 10: Hit Apply and Press OK

robputt796 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-18-2006, 08:44 PM

Nice tip, I would test it but I use a beautiful Mac which doesnt mess about with bandwidth, but Windows users, if your confident with group policy try this out

.

**Ash** · #3 (**permalink**) 12-18-2006, 08:46 PM

I can confirm that this will not work for users running Windows XP Home edition. However it will work with XP Pro, and Media Center [which is based upon Pro]

robputt796 · #4 (**permalink**) 12-18-2006, 08:51 PM

yeah, fair enough, because XP Home doesn't have the group poilicy, it just has local policy. maybe this might be in the normal policy on xp home. ? or maybe you can edit it in network properties under the quality of service protocol advanced settings.

guyladouche · #5 (**permalink**) 12-19-2006, 06:17 AM

This is a nice-sounding tweak, but to clarify, Windows is NOT always reserving 20% of your bandwidth for downloading updates--only when automatic updates is currently downloading an update. I didn't notice if anyone above said this or not. And regardless, updates are not so huge that you'd even notice your internet lagging (to a certain extent). As long as Windows is not updating itself, you will have access to 100% of your available bandwidth. It's not like an actual internet tweak that will provide higher bandwidth. Might as well leave well enough alone unless you need 100% of your bandwidth 100% of the time. Just wanted to clear up that possible confusion.

On a second point, I'm not sure if a lot of you all know this, but the best way to notice better bandwidth is to change your MaxMTU, RWIN and TTL values of your NIC to be optimized for your particular ISP and modem/router/gateway. Windows default values are typically optimized for dial-up modem users--things such as packet size and dwell time. You can do this in the registry (bad idea if you're not sure of what you're doing), or better yet, use a program like TweakDUN, which is a free program (or was--haven't checked recently), and also has a real-time bandwidth meter built into the program. Just FYI. Cheers!

**Rpingel** · #6 (**permalink**) 12-20-2006, 02:06 PM

you can also disable this in your network connection by right clicking on the connection and going to properties and unchecking the Qos Packet Scheduler. Just a little easier way of doing the same thing

guyladouche · #7 (**permalink**) 12-20-2006, 10:05 PM

I guess my previous reply didn't post, or was deleted for some reason. Anyway, in it, I made sure to point out that Windows XP is not ALWAYS reserving 20% of your download bandwidth for updates, so disabling this won't really "give" you more bandwidth. You'd only see a difference when windows updates is actively downloading updates while you're downloading a lot of stuff. Besides, the size of downloads aren't so intrusive that you'd really notice a difference over a long period of time, so you might as well leave well enough alone. If you really want to see more bandwidth, you should tweak settings like Max MTU, or RWIN, or TTL settings--optimal settings will be specific to your router/gateway/modem and also to your ISP, and these make a huge difference as the default windows values are optimized for dial-up modem users, not broadband users. For example, with the default windows values, my download speeds were only about 250 kilobits/sec max, and optimized for my ISP, they are over 3000 kilobits/sec. There are programs to do this--just do a google search. But in disabling the QoS or bandwidth reserve, you won't really notice a difference in general browsing or downloading, so it's probably best to not interfere with the defaults of automatic updates (if you're using automatic updates).

robputt796 · #8 (**permalink**) 12-20-2006, 10:19 PM

Also if you are on a network, quality of service only controls your network device bandwidth. So 20% of 100mb is 80mb left. So it wouldnt affect your internet speed at all, as most internet connection are between 512kb and 24mb. I guess it would affect your bandwidth on a USB modem, maybe.

guyladouche · #9 (**permalink**) 12-23-2006, 12:18 AM

Oh, I was wondering that--if it was 20% of the NIC bandwidth, or the actual bandwidth coming down the line. Good to know--so it seems like this setting really doesn't matter in the slightest for most individuals...

**Ash** · #10 (**permalink**) 12-23-2006, 12:21 AM

Unless you're frequently transferring large files through a network or you're operating at 10MBPS for some reason [or maybe even thru a USB 1.1 modem] then the difference is negligible.

guyladouche · #11 (**permalink**) 12-23-2006, 08:16 AM

Well, now that you mention it, I do notice that when I'm at work and backing up our various systems over the network, I don't really get 100 Mbps transfer rates--usually it's just a bit less, like 10 MBps instead of the expected 12.5 MBps--this is probably why. I guess it really could make a difference for large volume transfers over networks. I'm gonna try disabling this the next time I have to do backups and see if it makes a difference.

robputt796 · #12 (**permalink**) 12-23-2006, 09:14 AM

Another interesting thing with windows file sharing, exspecially with windows server OSs is the settings on the file serving service. On Server 2003 you can actually set the network card to prioritise on such transfers.

~~Tom~~ · #13 (**permalink**) 03-24-2007, 08:21 AM

Good tip and excellent feedback from everyone.

The results prior to making any changes in QoS were:
Download Speed: 687 kb/s
Upload Speed: 301 kb/s
Latency: 765 ms

The results after making QoS changes were:
Download Speed: 687 kb/s
Upload Speed: 321 kb/s
Latency: 59 ms

Thus the over all affect of disabling QoS was a slight improvement in Upload speed by 20 kb/s, and a reduced Latency by more than 700 ms.

My biggest improvement was in Latency.

Latency is a network term, meaning "delay".

Quote:

Latency is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. In some usages (for example, AT&T), latency is measured by sending a packet that is returned to the sender and the round-trip time is considered the latency.

Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is your current Internet connection speed. Dial-up or broadband, what broadband speed, etc.

This I can see a slight improvement in connection time without delay, by 700 ms.

fludie · #14 (**permalink**) 05-17-2007, 11:36 PM

I tried it but it hasnt changed at all, i dont think i am doing anything wrong, it is pretty simple from your intructions

kuzbo · #15 (**permalink**) 05-21-2007, 11:55 AM

How do you do this for XP Home edition then?

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