The Packet Shaper mitigates the bursty nature of computer network transmissions by smoothing transmission peaks over a given period of time, thereby smoothing out network usage to affect a more steady use of the network. The significance of the Packet Shaper becomes apparent: one factor that contributes to network congestion is the bursty nature of computer data transmissions, a side-effect of the "send it all out right now" inherent nature of (TCP or UDP)/IP; packet shaping can take large strides in alleviating at least some of the effects of such activity by spacing out QOS-enabled packet transmissions.