If you play any multiplayer online shooters, you know that you can always blame LAG for your poor game play. We here at Port80 come clean to the fact that some of us just aren't as spry as we used to be -- so lag is a great excuse. Well, now along comes these folks claiming they can help reduce lag (otherwise known as latency or jitter to other folks) using something called a Broadband Booster. Hey, that is a flashy name!
Given that we don't want our excuse ruined, and we actually do care a little bit about network performance, Port80 took a look into the technology. Basically, what we found out is that, given the asymmetric nature of most broadband connections (fast down, slow up), coupled with fast LANs in the home, there are congestion problems. So, if you are trying to upload a big file via FTP at the same time your kid Jimmy is playing Halo, well, he might just get fragged a few times due to network jitter from your upload packets clogging things up. Enter some rudimentary Quality of Service (QoS) ideas to help out.
To save poor Jimmy's online rep, you could try to reprioritize your FTP uploads, email sends, and other non-time sensitive data so that some types of content are upload at slower rate while Jimmy's grenade and rocket launches get through on time. That's the basic approach one of these broadband boosting tools takes. Of course, if you aren't doing much of anything at the same time during your VoIP call, you aren't going to see diddly from the product. However, if you are a network multitasker (or you actually have a family sharing a connection), this might actually be a reasonable purchase. However, note that it is pretty likely this stuff will be built into broadband home routers pretty soon anyway -- so your gaming edge may not last for long!
Oh, and if you actually want to read a semi-technical discussion about the technology that powers these devices, take a look at the white paper here.
Cheers,
Port80ians