help with wifi config

[Khoa Nguyen]

I have the Asus AC68 but i can't seem to get decent wifi speed. I set my 2.4 ghz to use the least cluttered channel with N-only mode. I use speedtest to test and my ISP cap is at 45Mbps. Through wired, i've confirmed that I do get 45. With wireless, even while being next to the router, i'm getting 34@5ghz and 26@2.4ghz. I ran the test muliptle times with multiple servers with no other clients sharing the bandwidth.

What is the expected real world speed of 2.4 and 5 ghz N-only wifi?

 

[L&LD]

Do not use n-only. Use Auto instead for best performance.

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

Just to be sure you read this before

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/guide-troubleshooting-wifi-issues.12825/

Thanks for the link. I just scan through the article but i did not find anything wrong with my settings. What change did you do to get your to 60Mbps on 2.4ghz or did it just work out of the box?

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

i wonder if it has anything to do with where i live. wifi analyzer shows that every channel is being used by at-least 2 sid. your 2.4ghz is doing better than my 5ghz.

what about 5ghz?

 

[azazel1024]

What is your client?

 

[sfx2000]

No change at all, set 2.4 Auto,i got around 35 and 45 mbps by wifi,**60 wired**.

I'm not really seeing anything excessively wrong here to be honest... some of it might be your client WiFi card perhaps, so check drivers there....

And as L&LD suggested, run the 2.4GHz in B/G/N mode, rather than N only (same goes for the 5GHz, run in A/N/AC mode).

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

What is your client?

nexus 7 FHD tablet. it has N dual band wifi

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

What is your client?

nexus 7 FHD tablet. it has N dual band w

I'm not really seeing anything excessively wrong here to be honest... some of it might be your client WiFi card perhaps, so check drivers there....

And as L&LD suggested, run the 2.4GHz in B/G/N mode, rather than N only (same goes for the 5GHz, run in A/N/AC mode).

I was coming from the default B/G/N and A/N/AC mode. there was an write up on snb saying that leaving your router in this mode may affect its performance.

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

I wonder if there is an Asus firmware bug somewhere. Would you guys recommend switching over to merlin?

 

[azazel1024]

Nope, no Asus bug. The Nexus 7 isn't terribly fast in the Wifi department. That sounds roughly like the best numbers you should expect to get out of it.

Most wifi clients, especially ones that are a couple of years old just aren't going to post big numbers. It wasn't until they started switching over to 802.11ac that most were capable of more than 20MHz in either band, even if they WERE dual band. Almost all are single stream. That means 65Mbps max rate, but a usable speed of more like 30-45Mbps. With 802.11ac a lot of manufacturers seem to have moved to true 80MHz operation in 5GHz (and 40MHz for 11n) as system buses that the wifi is connected to that can actually HANDLE the performance (most of the older buses can't handle more than 100Mbps, before overhead, even if it had a fast enough wifi chipset. A lot of the newer buses are HSIC, which is serial and USB2 "based"...which means all of the draw backs of it, but it also means 480Mbps interconnect to the wifi chipset, even if real usable performance might be 300Mbps on a good day, that is a heck of a lot better than it used to be and just fine for 433Mbps wireless, with a phone/tablet sized antenna).

 

[azazel1024]

Hmmm, maybe I'll ignore what I just said. I pulled a Nexus 7 review and it looks like it is 40MHz 5GHz capable (top tested performance of about 90Mbps). Could be some other load on there resulting in it. I am not entirely sure what was used for the benchmarking (local file transfer, speedtest, or something else).

 

[sfx2000]

I was coming from the default B/G/N and A/N/AC mode. there was an write up on snb saying that leaving your router in this mode may affect its performance.

Link please?

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

Hmmm, maybe I'll ignore what I just said. I pulled a Nexus 7 review and it looks like it is 40MHz 5GHz capable (top tested performance of about 90Mbps). Could be some other load on there resulting in it. I am not entirely sure what was used for the benchmarking (local file transfer, speedtest, or something else).

iperf shows 40mbps for 2.4 and 56 mbps for 5ghz. i also use ookla's speedtest since that's what i use my wifi mostly for, internet streaming. I first find a server that i can consistently get 50Mbps through the wire. Then i use wireless (standing next to the AP) and the result is disappointing.

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

Link please?

i only have this on in the bookmarks. it does not explicitly say such but its something along the line. I have a dedicated G network. Since all my network use the same password, people may accidentally connect to the N network.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basics/wireless-basics/30664-5-ways-to-fix-slow-80211n-speed

 

[sfx2000]

i only have this on in the bookmarks. it does not explicitly say such but its something along the line. I have a dedicated G network. Since all my network use the same password, people may accidentally connect to the N network.

The article does not say that one should use N-Only, it does suggest that one try not to use B/G clients on an N network...

Greenfield (N-Only mode) is impacted when a G-client is seen - even if that G-client is part of an overlapping BSS - If an N-only AP sees it (and it has to scan for non-HT mode BSS's) it will invoke protection modes to minimize impact on the legacy mode BSS - and this protection, for lack of a better word, is expensive.

A mixed-mode HT (802.11n) uses different protections, namely the legacy headers, which is less expensive in terms of time.

In any event, the current crop of 11n/11ac chipsets are pretty clever about things - they take the user setting as a preferred mode, but generally will make up their own mind - most will start in mixed mode anyways, and then, and only then, if they do not see any legacy BSS's, they'll shift modes... and automatically shift back to mixed if a legacy BSS is seen, rather than go into full blown Greenfield protection.

With a AC class AP/Router, they're pretty smart, and you'll have less impact of a G client jumping on to it, then you would with a dedicated B/G only AP just for the G-clients. There's a definite benefit to moving all clients to N obviously - single stream USB dongle can be found for less than $20 to retrofit older laptops and desktops.

Unfortunately, there are two popular gaming consoles that are 11g - PS3 and the Wii, along with every Nintendo DS handheld (with the exception of the DS/DSLite which as 11b/WEP only, so time to upgrade the kids there if you still have those two models around).

Key thing - and this goes for both 11g and 11n - really don't want 11b anywhere even close, as they will force the entire BSS into ERP protection, and this is a big impact... huge actually, and trust me, just don't bring 11b clients into the mix if at all possible...

We've many cases here on the forums where the collective advice has been to move to mixed-mode when helping out 2.4GHz 11n, and the results have been good.

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

The article does not say that one should use N-Only, it does suggest that one try not to use B/G clients on an N network...

Greenfield (N-Only mode) is impacted when a G-client is seen - even if that G-client is part of an overlapping BSS - If an N-only AP sees it (and it has to scan for non-HT mode BSS's) it will invoke protection modes to minimize impact on the legacy mode BSS - and this protection, for lack of a better word, is expensive.

A mixed-mode HT (802.11n) uses different protections, namely the legacy headers, which is less expensive in terms of time.

In any event, the current crop of 11n/11ac chipsets are pretty clever about things - they take the user setting as a preferred mode, but generally will make up their own mind - most will start in mixed mode anyways, and then, and only then, if they do not see any legacy BSS's, they'll shift modes... and automatically shift back to mixed if a legacy BSS is seen, rather than go into full blown Greenfield protection.

With a AC class AP/Router, they're pretty smart, and you'll have less impact of a G client jumping on to it, then you would with a dedicated B/G only AP just for the G-clients. There's a definite benefit to moving all clients to N obviously - single stream USB dongle can be found for less than $20 to retrofit older laptops and desktops.

Unfortunately, there are two popular gaming consoles that are 11g - PS3 and the Wii, along with every Nintendo DS handheld (with the exception of the DS/DSLite which as 11b/WEP only, so time to upgrade the kids there if you still have those two models around).

Key thing - and this goes for both 11g and 11n - really don't want 11b anywhere even close, as they will force the entire BSS into ERP protection, and this is a big impact... huge actually, and trust me, just don't bring 11b clients into the mix if at all possible...

We've many cases here on the forums where the collective advice has been to move to mixed-mode when helping out 2.4GHz 11n, and the results have been good.

What's your recommendation for channel and Mhz? Should i leave these on Auto?

 

[sfx2000]

leave it on auto and be happy

sfx

 

[sfx2000]

Move the AP to where the people are or move the clients - location is everything in WiFi...

 

[Khoa Nguyen]

My whole house is surrounded by atleast 15 other 2.4 ghz network so its futile to even try. I used my laptop to do speed test lately and i'm getting much better number. I'm able to saturate my ISP bandwidth on 5ghz while getting about 40mbps/50 using 2.4ghz. My Nexus 7, while having dual link N, is not up to the task. Thanks for helping everyone.

 

[Wirelessguru]

Should be a lot speedier. The max transfer rate is about 300mbps and can reach close to 450mbps with 3 antennae. Try downloading the Cloudcheck app for a more in-depth look at the issue.