eBook: Ethernet traffic shaping

Do you suffer from reduced throughput in your WAN connections? Here’s the solution

By now it has become the most normal thing in the world: data goes undisturbed via network connections from A to B and vice versa. And yet, it can still go wrong sometimes. This may be because the configuration of the network equipment (such as a router) is not matched to the bandwidth purchased from the connectivity provider. The solution to that? Optimal traffic shaping in your network apparatus.

Attuning data traffic to bandwidth

According to Erwin Louwers, Commercial Product Manager for Eurofiber Nederland, it happens in practice. “For example, a customer purchases an Ethernet or internet service from us with a maximum bandwidth of 100 Mb/s. And then the data traffic slows down, without our digital infrastructure being the cause. This is because the amount of data sent to our network via the LAN is greater than the bandwidth used. In concrete terms: data streams with peaks above 100 Mb/s are then sent. However, this can be prevented by attuning the client’s network equipment to the maximum bandwidth available at Eurofiber. This technique is called ‘Ethernet Traffic Shaping’. The bottom line is that the ‘excess data’ is buffered and then sent when bandwidth is available again. This is usually so fast that you hardly notice it when sending or retrieving data from a remote location.”