Abstract : The performance of Internet services heavily relies on efficient traffic management mechanisms. This paper investigates the impact of imposing a local bottleneck at the access networks’ side compared to the conventional approach of traffic shaping by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) through First-In-First-Out (FIFO) queues. The proposed local bottleneck strategy aims to enhance Internet performance by reducing latency, mitigating congestion, isolating distinct traffic flows, and enabling Quality of Service (QoS) differentiation. Through extensive experimentation on various home and office network setups, including Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC), Fiber to the Home (FTTH), and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), we demonstrate the efficacy of the local bottleneck approach in delivering consistent and high-quality Internet performance, especially in congested environments. The results reveal that the traditional ISP bottleneck struggles to maintain a high-performance standard under congested conditions, highlighting the need for innovative traffic management techniques.
Index terms : Bottlenecks, Congestion Control, Internet Traffic, Latency, QoS