RT-AC68U 5GHz ac throughput

[JakeT]

Hi all,

Recently purchased the ac68u and I have a couple of questions about throughput.

1) What is the max throughput you could expect when transferring files between two 5GHz clients both with a link rate of 866Mbps (specifically, streaming video from MacBook to Apple TV 4)? There are no other networks on this band anywhere close to me. Currently I'm getting a throughput of ~180Mbps using various client-server type apps.

2) If I use the upper channels (149-161) throughput drops dramatically to ~20Mbps, why would this be?

Throughput of 180Mbps is consistent between various devices, I've tried all possible combinations using iPad Air 2, iPhone 7, MacBook Air and ATV4 - all have a link rate of 866Mbps Tx and Rx.

Sorry for any ignorance l, I'm a total amateur but I like to try and understand things. Thanks in advance if you can help me out

 

[doczenith1]

1) I'll take a stab at this but I'm sure the experts will chime in soon with the correct answer. I've read that getting around 50% of the theoretical bandwidth (in this case 866 Mbps) is common in real world situations so now we're at 433. And then I'm wondering since both devices are using the wifi do they have to share the available 433 Mbps which would get you close to what you are seeing. Half duplex may be the correct term here.

2) I have no clue on this one. I wonder if the clients don't like the higher channels. I don't have any issues with my Android clients using the higher channels.

 

[JakeT]

Hi doc, thanks for your reply!

My thoughts were much the same as yours for both of those questions.
I've also tried running the throughput tests on 4 clients at once (i.e. MacBook to ATV and iPad to iPhone), all clients dropped down to a throughput of ~80Mbps which is very close to half again. I've been reading a lot about this but having a hard time understanding bandwidth/throughput where multiple wifi clients are involved. I assumed the throughput wouldn't change much when testing all 4 clients as the ac68u seems capable of higher overall throughput, but I don't really understand all the background voodoo.

Another question - What throughput should I expect if I ran the test with MacBook on GbE and iPad on wifi with the same link rate etc.? From what I have read it should be ~60% of the link rate would that be correct?

 

[doczenith1]

~60% of link rate is possible. With my phone I will see 500 Mbps (hit 638 once) on occasion using the Android Ookla speedtest app with my AC68U. I'm not sure how accurate that app is but 60% is for sure doable.