Cable Buffer Bloat

Way back in 2012, I discovered and resolved a problem known as "Buffer Bloat" on my DSL connection. A simple tweak to the router's QoS settings resolved it.

Over the years, I had moved to cable connection with 800 Mbps download. Every now and them I still run across discussions of "Buffer Bloat".

Here's Google's AI explanation:

Bufferbloat is high network latency caused by routers or network equipment storing too many data packets in oversized queues during congestion.

What Causes It

• Oversized Buffers: Network devices hold onto data packets in first-in, first-out (FIFO) queues instead of dropping or prioritizing them.
• Link Saturation: Heavy background tasks like cloud backups, large downloads, or streaming fill up the queue.
• TCP Behavior: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) continues to pump data into the pipeline, amplifying the queue delay.

Common Symptoms

• Lag Spikes: High ping or stuttering during online gaming, even when raw download speeds are fast.
• Poor Video/Audio Calls: Voice over IP (VoIP) or Zoom calls freeze, drop, or become distorted.
• Sluggish Browsing: Web pages stall when another device on the local network starts a heavy transfer.

I hadn't looked at this in almost 15 years so I dug into it again.

waveform.com has a quick test for "Buffer Bloat". Here's my result:

Since there was such a small difference in unloaded and upload active latency, I didn't do anything. If yours is different, you should go look at your router's Quality of Service settings. Google for your router and QoS for settings.

How Long You Can Stay

With the European Union's implementation of Entry/Exit System (archive.org) (EES), there has been much confusion as the various countries get up to speed.

One of the goals of the EES is to automate the "check(ing of) the number of days you are still allowed to stay on the territory of European countries." You are allowed to stay in the Schengen area for 90 days in a 180 day period. If you exceed this, you will not be allowed to enter.

During our trip to Europe in the summer of 2026, we encountered confusion on both entry and exit. This confusion led to one border agent asking "Where did you enter Europe?". Upon answering him, he responded "Well, he didn't do his job." but let us pass.

It seemed mildly amusing at the time, since he let us depart but a recent article put a completely different perspective on it.

This article noted that if you don't clear EES upon exit, the clock is still running on your stay. This could be mitigated by an old fashioned passport stamp but there are dependable reports of this not being done recently.

So the question is "Did the EES note my EXIT from the Schengen area?" If not, the clock could still be running on your stay and you could be denied subsequent re-entry and/or fined. And of course, that would happen at your place of entry AFTER you had flown across the Atlantic.

You can check this at the EU's own web site here.

If the EES didn't record your exit, go check your passport for an exit stamp. If there's no exit stamp, go back to your airline and retrieve your flight itinerary. Present these when you re-enter the Schengen area.

Good luck!

How AirTags Work

 

3-2-1 Backup

I'm always beating the drum on backups. My last post was 2 years ago but it's still pertinent.

It seems like not everybody is following the 3-2-1 backup strategy (archive.org).

It's personally traumatic when it's YOUR data that is lost but when it's an enterprise's data, it's even a bigger problem.

Let's start with the headline:

PBS broadcaster loses access to 50TB of data comprising 70 years of TV history after contracted cloud storage vendor goes defunct

The whole ugly story is here (archive.org).

It seems like Nine PBS skipped right down to the "Cloud Storage" section of 3-2-1. If they had paused for a little bit on the "External hard drives" section they might not have had this problem.

"Might" is the operative word here because they still should have tested their backups.

McDonald's Loyalty App

You know how I feel about apps, particularly "loyalty" apps. Here's a concrete example.

WIRED’s Reece Rogers requested a copy of his data from the McDonald’s loyalty program and received an extensive, personalized report that algorithmically predicted he’d never stop being a customer.

Here's just a taste (pardon the pun) of the data that McDonald's was keeping:

📹 Watch the full video story on WIRED:

"McDonald's Built a 515-Page Dossier on Me. It Says I'll Never Stop Eating There."

Watch Video on WIRED ↗

Delete those apps.

Cloud Single Points of Failure

Probably one of my most frequent blog topics is "cloud". I'm sure that you've all read and incorporated my suggestions in your solutions. You're welcome.

Recently, a twist arose that I hadn't considered.

You've certainly taken advantage of your cloud providers geographic separation. But did you ask the really tacky questions?

In July, Google Cloud had an "incident" that took down customer workloads that were spread across multiple geographic "zones."

It turns out that some of Google Cloud services are tied to a single datacenter.

But YOU certainly inquired about that when you contracted to place your workload across different zones and regions to ensure resilience. And a requirement that all of the cloud's services you require were redundant in your contract with service level commitments.

Didn't you?

Now you know.

The details are here (archive.org) and here (archive.org).

When You Roll Things Out, Stress Test Them

One of my favorite podcasts is Security Weekly News hosted by Doug White.

In a recent episode, Doug got off on testing. Here's a link to that section of the podcast.

So when you roll things out, stress test them. Not just "Oh, yeah, it works. I'm connected."

You know? And the other part of this is, for you, is how reliant are you on things like Wi-Fi?

I mean, which components of your enterprise will no longer function if they just aren't connected?

Say, something goes down. Can you even open a file? Can you even run Word or check your email? Are all your files on the cloud somewhere? Can you no longer communicate with the world  and you're standing in an office window in Manhattan trying to use semaphore flags to contact the Port Authority?

I mean, I don't know but what's your plan? And you know, what are you going to do? Just tell all your customers to come back in a couple of months when we figure it out and hope it works then? Beats me.

Think about it...