I often hear people saying they have bad responsiveness / high latency on their high-speed internet connection. Even though they have a contract for 500 mbps+ service from their ISP, a speedtest shows high ping times when the link is loaded.

The answer is well-known – install a router with SQM that knows how to control latency (“bufferbloat”). But… they counter, a router to handle my high-speed network is expensive! And that blows out my budget!

I posted a contrarian viewpoint in a post on the OpenWrt forum:

Save money and purchase a 250mbps to 350mbps connection and use good SQM (for example, the IQrouter v3, or any reasonable performance OpenWrt compatible router.)

Unless you’re unusual, and the transfer speeds of your bulk up/downloads are unacceptable, it’s likely that a lower speed to your ISP with a modestly-priced router that controls latency will make you just as happy.

Not only will you save money with a less-expensive router, you save every month with a lower ISP bill.