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KB ID: 1089

Configuring QoS on a Buffalo AirStation

Last Updated: 10/15/2024


QoS (quality of service) is a feature that allows the AirStation to prioritize traffic by type, potentially giving you smoother performance during high-traffic usage such as video streaming. QoS applies to both upstream and downstream data flow.

The AirStation allows you to configure QoS policies. When setting a policy, select the type of traffic to be given the highest priority and lower the priority of other traffic types accordingly. The higher the priority, the higher the allocated bandwidth will be. For example, if Video is selected, streaming video will be given the highest bandwidth priority.

 

  1. Connect the AirStation to a computer with an Ethernet cable and power both devices on.
  2. Launch a web browser and enter the AirStation's IP address into the address bar. If you do not know the AirStation's IP address, check the setup card included in your AirStation's package, or use AirStation Configuration Tool to display it.
  3. Log in to Settings. The default username is "admin" and the default password is "password".
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  4. Click on the Advanced Settings tile.
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  5. Click on the Applications tab, and then click on the QoS subtab.
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  6. Enable "Priority Control QoS".
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  7. Choose an item to optimize.
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    Video: Prioritizes streaming video traffic.
    Voice: Prioritizes voice chats and VoIP traffic.
    Gaming: Prioritizes online gaming traffic.
    Manual: Select this option to customize QoS priority for a selected operation. 

  8. To set a manual policy, select the operation to be prioritized and lower the priority for others. For example, if you set Video as Ultra Premium – High Bandwidth, the bandwidth priority of other operations should be lowered accordingly. For a brief breakdown of various popular traffic types, see below.

    Video:  YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, CinemaNow
    Conference:  Skype, FaceTime, Google Voice
    Gaming: PSN, Xbox Live, Blizzard Battle.NET, Valve Steam
    Audio:  Pandora, Spotify, Slacker, Last.fm, Yahoo Music (Rhapsody)
    Browsing:  HTTP/Web, FTP
    Download:  BitTorrent, Windows Update, iTunes
  9. Click Apply.
  10. Next, you can configure custom QoS priority settings for individual applications. Click Add to open the manual entry page.
  11. Enter a name for the new rule.
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  12. Select a value from the dropdown menu to define the priority level for incoming packets.
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  13. Select a protocol for the application's incoming packets. For example, most VoIP and multimedia applications use UDP, while the Internet and emails use TCP.
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  14. Set the WAN-side server IP address under "Remote Settings".
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  15. If you need to use a specific port, most network applications and services will have their required protocols and ports listed in their documentation. Leaving it blank will encompass all ports.
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  16. Enter the IP address or MAC address of the local network device for QoS priority, as well as the port number.
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  17. Click Add. Once an entry has been saved, you can click Edit to change it or Delete to remove the entry. Click Delete Allto remove all saved entries.
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  18. When finished, log out of Settings and close the web browser.
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