QoS is needed when the internet channel is limited or there is traffic with different priorities on the object: VoIP, POS systems, video surveillance, guest Wi-Fi, office PCs.

When simple queue is sufficient

  • limit a single client or subnet;
  • give guest Wi-Fi less speed;
  • create simple limits for departments;
  • complex firewall mangle classification is not required.

Example: limit guest VLAN

/queue simple add name="guest-limit" target=192.168.20.0/24 max-limit=20M/100M comment="Guest Wi-Fi limit"

Example: limit for a specific client

/queue simple add name="camera-uplink-limit" target=192.168.30.10/32 max-limit=5M/20M comment="NVR uplink limit"
Diagram: the ISP link enters the MikroTik, where simple queues limit the guest network 192.168.20.0/24 to 20M/100M and the NVR 192.168.30.10 to 5M/20M, while the office LAN with VoIP and POS has no hard limit.
Limit guests and secondary traffic, not the whole LAN, so VoIP and POS don't suffer when guests saturate the link.

Verification

/queue simple print stats
/interface monitor-traffic ether1
/tool profile

Common mistakes

  • setting max-limit higher than the actual provider's tariff;
  • limiting the entire LAN instead of guest VLAN;
  • duplicating queues on one IP and getting an unpredictable result;
  • attempting queue tree without proper mangle marks.
For a typical small object, start with simple queues. Use queue tree only when the packet flow logic is understood and there is a requirement for complex priorities.