What is Bufferbloat?
Bufferbloat is high latency caused by excessive buffering of packets inside your router or modem. When your connection is saturated (e.g. someone downloads a Steam game or streams 4K video), older routers queue up packets in massive memory buffers. Your game packets get stuck in this queue, causing your ping to spike from 25ms to over 300ms.
How to Eliminate Bufferbloat (Grade A+)
The definitive cure for bufferbloat is Smart Queue Management (SQM) using modern algorithms like CAKE or fq_codel. Most modern gaming routers (OpenWrt, ASUS Merlin, eero, IQrouter) feature SQM settings that ensure gaming packets skip past bulk download queues instantly.