Network Setup Help

[Xcelorin]

I am in charge of maintaining the internet at a fraternity house. The house uses Comcast Business, which is giving us 16 Mb/s at the moment. Our setup runs like this: Modem->Two Switch Racks->Ports in each room. We have 4 Routers connected to these ports in order to get WiFi in all of the rooms. They are ASUS N66U's, which we just purchased recently. These are all setup in Wireless Access Point mode. The Ethernet in all of the rooms works fine; the speed is decent, ping is bearable, etc. Yet the WiFi seems to be incredibly slow, even when sitting directly next to the router. There are about 40 people in the house, all with a few devices connected simultaneously. The 5Ghz band is not used, as our walls are thick, and even the 2.4 Ghz band is unable to reach some areas.

Why are the access points so slow when compared to the Ethernet? Is the setup incorrect? I feel that this is the case, yet I haven't a clue how to fix it.

All suggestions/solutions are extremely appreciated!

 

[thiggins]

First, the 2.4 GHz band is very crowded. So you are competing for bandwidth with all the other networks in range.

Second, your APs may be fighting each other. They should be set to channels 1, 6 and 11 only. The fourth one should also be set to these channels. Just don't put two APs that are physically close to each other on the same channel. Also, use 20 MHz bandwidth mode, not auto 20/40 and certainly not 40 MHz mode.

Finally, your slow devices hold back faster ones. When devices that support different maximum link rates share the same AP, the slowest device limits the total bandwidth available.

Solutions:

1) Set up more APs. This will help with #2. To prevent AP overlap, you may need to reduce (yes, reduce) power setting of adjacent APs. This reduces co-channel interference.

2) Enable 5 GHz so that people have an alternative. Be sure to assign different SSIDs

3) Assign unique SSIDs to each AP if you already haven't. This will allow users to connect to the closest AP. Consider dedicating APs for certain device types (phones, game consoles, streamers).

 

[stevech]

Suggest you set the SSID for each AP to imply its location, such as
AcmeConfRm1201
AcmeLobby

 

[Xcelorin]

First, the 2.4 GHz band is very crowded. So you are competing for bandwidth with all the other networks in range.

Second, your APs may be fighting each other. They should be set to channels 1, 6 and 11 only. The fourth one should also be set to these channels. Just don't put two APs that are physically close to each other on the same channel. Also, use 20 MHz bandwidth mode, not auto 20/40 and certainly not 40 MHz mode.

Finally, your slow devices hold back faster ones. When devices that support different maximum link rates share the same AP, the slowest device limits the total bandwidth available.

Solutions:

1) Set up more APs. This will help with #2. To prevent AP overlap, you may need to reduce (yes, reduce) power setting of adjacent APs. This reduces co-channel interference.

2) Enable 5 GHz so that people have an alternative. Be sure to assign different SSIDs

3) Assign unique SSIDs to each AP if you already haven't. This will allow users to connect to the closest AP. Consider dedicating APs for certain device types (phones, game consoles, streamers).

Three of the AP's are now setup on 1, 6, and 11 respectively, and the last one is on 1, but it is the most far away from the other AP on 1. 5GHz is now enabled, but on a different SSID indicating it is 5GHz. Each AP already had its own SSID indicating its location: Cafeteria, East, West, and OQ. They all have been switched to the 20MHz mode; they were automatically set on 20/40.

Only two questions: How would I reduce the power of the individual AP's? Will this reduce their range, but in turn reduce interference between the two?

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[thiggins]

Only two questions: How would I reduce the power of the individual AP's? Will this reduce their range, but in turn reduce interference between the two?

Look in the Advanced Wireless settings (I think ASUS calls them "professional") for transmit power adjust.

Yes, reducing power reduces range of each AP. Note that you might not need to do this given the other changes you have made.

The main thing you need to do now is communicate the changes you have made and instruct people how to use the new arrangement.

Then, you'll need to monitor the # and type of devices on each AP to see if the rules are being followed.