So i pay for 35mbs. and with openwrt (sqm-scripts QOS) properly tuned i can be maxing out the line downloading (4.3Mbs) and the download drops to 3.8Mbs if someone in the house starts a youtube or netflix video.  However during the good old 6pm-10pm block my connection might drop to 18mbs, and if any downloading is happening, youtube/netflix/surfing is just out of the question.  Lord help me if steam sees and update.

 

My question is if i invest $300 in a standalone router running pfsense or sophos (i have wireless APs) could i rig it up so that netflix/youtube/surfing get priority over downloading, regardless of bandwidth?

 

PFSense doesnt seem to even ask you about bandwidth, but does warn you that downloads could get data starved from light high priority packets.

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Traffic_Shaping_Guide

 

 

Sophos UTM does ask for bandwidth, but may also work based on service priority.

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/knowledgebase/115402.aspx

 

 

PS: for the religious folk(go head and check the pfsense "build threads" if you dont believe me), here is what i was going to run, its a fanless unit that is about 2x slower than the current gen i3.

http://www.shuttle.eu/products/slim/ds57u/

 

Currently i do not use a vpn.

I know for a fact that pfsense will work in your scenario. I used to run it to get something like what you're looking for.

 

You didn't mention which hardware you're running, but I'm guessing something along the lines of a Linksys, Buffalo, etc.

 

You might want to take a look at EdgeRouter (and variations).

 

I switched from pfsense to vyos (which the open source version of the OS that drives EdgeRouter).

 

With a script such as this https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping, I'm able to max out the line (20mbps) with usenet, and at the same time, youtube, surf, etc.

 

For hardware, I have a supermicro avoton (http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/atom/x10/a1sam-2550f.cfm).

I know for a fact that pfsense will work in your scenario. I used to run it to get something like what you're looking for.

 

You didn't mention which hardware you're running, but I'm guessing something along the lines of a Linksys, Buffalo, etc.

 

You might want to take a look at EdgeRouter (and variations).

 

I switched from pfsense to vyos (which the open source version of the OS that drives EdgeRouter).

 

With a script such as this https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Traffic_shaping, I'm able to max out the line (20mbps) with usenet, and at the same time, youtube, surf, etc.

 

For hardware, I have a supermicro avoton (http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/atom/x10/a1sam-2550f.cfm).

 

That traffic shaping of vyos looks very similar to SQM on open wrt.  However just like SQM you need to set it to 90-95% of your bandwidth.  How does vyos deal with dips during prime time?

Not sure, as I don't have those dips

if you are using an adsl type router, this worked well for me https://www.gargoyle-router.com/index.php