What is a reasonable speed to expect over Wifi in 2017?
October 15, 2017 11:42 AM Subscribe
My internet speeds over wifi kind of suck, but before I spend too much money and time trying to fix that, I'd like to figure out how close I am to a reasonable ceiling. Assuming a very fast (fiber) wired connection where wifi bandwidth is the limiting factor, what kinds of speeds should I be topping out at?
I ask because I get around 900Mbps (symmetrical) when testing over a wired link, but that drops by two orders of magnitude to about 9Mbps when testing over Wifi, even from a few feet away in the same room with clear line-of-sight, with a brand new well-reviewed router. (All components of the network support b/g/n/ac). In other rooms, it drops off even more dramatically.
Some googling suggests that other people are seeing speeds in the couple-hundred-Mbps range these days. Is that a realistic goal?
I ask because I get around 900Mbps (symmetrical) when testing over a wired link, but that drops by two orders of magnitude to about 9Mbps when testing over Wifi, even from a few feet away in the same room with clear line-of-sight, with a brand new well-reviewed router. (All components of the network support b/g/n/ac). In other rooms, it drops off even more dramatically.
Some googling suggests that other people are seeing speeds in the couple-hundred-Mbps range these days. Is that a realistic goal?
Response by poster: Sorry, I made a mistake in my question. It's the access point that's brand-new (2 weeks old, Ubiquiti UAC-AP-LR), not the router (which is old and crappy, but unlikely to be the bottleneck since my wired connection also goes through it).
The test device is a mid-2014 Retina Macbook Pro. I can't find anything that tells me if it supports MIMO.
posted by enn at 12:49 PM on October 15, 2017
The test device is a mid-2014 Retina Macbook Pro. I can't find anything that tells me if it supports MIMO.
posted by enn at 12:49 PM on October 15, 2017
20-100 Mbps sustained.
posted by Nelson at 3:20 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 3:20 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Standing next to my router I get either 54 Mbps on 5Ghz, or 30 Mbps on 2.4GHz. These are with a phone from 2015 and from fast.com, so not from two computers on the LAN.
If I had to guess I'd say your access point is misconfigured to use a very old and slow (but well-supported) wireless protocol.
posted by meowzilla at 8:58 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
If I had to guess I'd say your access point is misconfigured to use a very old and slow (but well-supported) wireless protocol.
posted by meowzilla at 8:58 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
I've seen speeds that bad (or worse) on 2.4GHz in areas with lots of networks, but >100Mbps on 5GHz. Ubiquiti makes good wireless gear, so your access point probably isn't the weak point on your network. If you have the same SSID for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, most devices will choose the 2.4GHz since the signal will be stronger, despite offering worse performance. The Ubiquiti should be able to be configured to direct capable devices to 5GHz, so make sure it's doing that, or use separate SSIDs.
posted by zsazsa at 9:00 PM on October 15, 2017
posted by zsazsa at 9:00 PM on October 15, 2017
the router (which is old and crappy, but unlikely to be the bottleneck since my wired connection also goes through it).
So I'm trying to understand here......you have ethernet cable coming through a router first, then your "access point?"
posted by kuanes at 4:42 AM on October 16, 2017
So I'm trying to understand here......you have ethernet cable coming through a router first, then your "access point?"
posted by kuanes at 4:42 AM on October 16, 2017
Response by poster: kuanes: yes, the router is only routing (its wifi functions are disabled), and then the standalone AP is connected to it by ethernet cable.
It looks like this might be an issue with this AP. Googling shows a number of people with performance problems with this device. There are various suggestions for tweaking settings which I've tried, none of which has had an effect either positive or negative. I will try separating out the 5GHz network into its own SSID and see if that helps, then maybe replace it with something else if not. I am definitely in a congested area (20-30 SSIDs visible).
posted by enn at 5:06 AM on October 16, 2017
It looks like this might be an issue with this AP. Googling shows a number of people with performance problems with this device. There are various suggestions for tweaking settings which I've tried, none of which has had an effect either positive or negative. I will try separating out the 5GHz network into its own SSID and see if that helps, then maybe replace it with something else if not. I am definitely in a congested area (20-30 SSIDs visible).
posted by enn at 5:06 AM on October 16, 2017
You mention 802.11b, which has been obsolete for over a decade and really shouldn't be used or enabled these days. Is something else on the network actually using 802.11b? A wireless client using 802.11b can torpedo the speed of other 2.4ghz wireless clients down to 10mbps speeds.
Also, have you tried using a different cable between the router and AP, or a different port on the router? It sounds like the router might be negotiating a 10mbps (10baseT) connection to the AP, which can happen due to wiring idiosyncrasies.
Seconded zsazsa, if neither of those are the issue, test on 5ghz and 2.4ghz separately. I can consistently get 100-300mbps speeds with my AC1900 gear and 2015 MBP, even between floors. IMO, the UAP-AC-LR should easily be able to give you this.
posted by eschatfische at 5:19 AM on October 16, 2017
Also, have you tried using a different cable between the router and AP, or a different port on the router? It sounds like the router might be negotiating a 10mbps (10baseT) connection to the AP, which can happen due to wiring idiosyncrasies.
Seconded zsazsa, if neither of those are the issue, test on 5ghz and 2.4ghz separately. I can consistently get 100-300mbps speeds with my AC1900 gear and 2015 MBP, even between floors. IMO, the UAP-AC-LR should easily be able to give you this.
posted by eschatfische at 5:19 AM on October 16, 2017
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. It looks like it was a combination of two issues. There does seem to have been some problem with the UAC-AP-LR, because a firmware update got me up to 27Mbps down on 2.4GHz, even from a couple rooms away. Then I tried disabling 2.4GHz altogether and forcing 5GHz and I am seeing 50Mbps down—hopefully enough to let me take Zoom meetings in the living room, which was my goal in buying this AP.
posted by enn at 5:40 AM on October 16, 2017
posted by enn at 5:40 AM on October 16, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
Try moving your old devices to 2.4GHz channel 1
Put your 11ac test device onto a 5GHz channel and then retest.
Are the speeds realistic? Yes, but only if you are using MIMO 11ac devices on a clear 5GHz channel within short line of sight of the AP. Otherwise, no.
posted by pdoege at 12:08 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]