What is PCQ in MikroTik, and when should you use it?

• A. A method to limit traffic using per-user rules
• B. A device feature for traffic monitoring
• C. Per-connection fair queuing; use to fairly share bandwidth among many concurrent connections
• D. A function to schedule maintenance windows

Answer: (C)

PCQ stands for Per Connection Queuing in MikroTik. It’s a queueing mechanism that fairness-distributes the available bandwidth across active connections rather than letting a single connection grab most of it. By creating a separate sub-queue for each active connection and pulling from those sub-queues in a fair order, the total link capacity is shared among many concurrent flows.

Use it when many clients or applications are competing for a single uplink and you want predictable, equitable performance for everyone. It helps prevent bandwidth hogging by a few connections, which is common in shared networks or hotspots. It’s not about monitoring or scheduling maintenance; its purpose is fair bandwidth distribution among concurrent connections.