Transfer speed slower on media bridge vs wifi only

[Jherb]

Awesome, thanks a lot. I will play around some more but its already a big improvement.

The iperf through the media bridge is now below. Way higher than before.

 

[L&LD]

Again, actual (observed) throughput/lower latency is a better 'test' than theoretical Iperf numbers.

No guarantee you will extract more performance today, but it would be a shame if you could and you left that potential untapped.

Also; test slight changes in the antennae orientations too with each CC. Everything, but everything, makes a difference.

 

[glens]

But full optimization can take considerable time because you want to make changes singularly and keep notes. Also, wifi is not static. What works a smidge better now can go the other way tomorrow (or even later /this/ day).

100% performance is occasionally achievable. At least 80% /all/ the time is a more realistic goal. Accepting that can lead to greater free time and enjoyment.

 

[Tech9]

I looked at all my settings, and changed the below.

Use WPA2-Personal only. WPA/WPA2-Personal is not very secure.

 

[Squall Leonhart]

If your RT-AC66_B1 router is in Media Bridge mode, it cannot be connected via Ethernet cable.

Yes it can, Media bridge acts as a wireless client that allows ethernet only devices to connect to the wireless network, you might be thinking repeater?

 

[heysoundude]

I guess not I thought it would choose what was appropriate. Its an amazing difference now. It peaks at 64MB/s now with the same file.

Thanks so much for your help and pointing me in the right direction.



View attachment 54291

while lurking on this thread, it's occurred to me that something has been overlooked: the units of the speed measurement.

The Media Bridge is reporting it can connect (is connected?) at 1300Mbits per second, and your file transfers are measuring in MegaBYTES per second.

there are 8 bits in a byte, so:
1300Mbps = 162.5 MB/s
and
64MB/s = 512 Mbps

There's still some room for optimization/improvement, theoretically, for faster transfers.
and this thread is inspiring me to try some of the techniques here to boost my own Media Bridge link.

Thank you all! And good luck!

 

[L&LD]

Yes it can, Media bridge acts as a wireless client that allows ethernet only devices to connect to the wireless network, you might be thinking repeater?

I mean it can't be connected (to the main router) as a Media Bridge via Ethernet.

 

[Tech9]

The Media Bridge is reporting it can connect (is connected?) at 1300Mbits per second

Link speed, not throughput. And in a shared medium with whatever else is using Wi-Fi on the same channels. Throughput 64MB/s is excellent.

 

[heysoundude]

Media Bridge setup - don't forget to tell it what timezone it's in, and what clock reference to follow. It seems to have mattered on my setup.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Media Bridge setup - don't forget to tell it what timezone it's in, and what clock reference to follow. It seems to have mattered on my setup.

It makes no difference other that having the correct date and time appear in the system log.

 

[Jherb]

Use WPA2-Personal only. WPA/WPA2-Personal is not very secure.

OK, I don't know why but when I switch to WPA2 personal, the speed plummets again. Moving it back to WPA/WPA2 gets it back to the 64MB/s.
I'm wondering if it could it be another device on the network that is affecting something. I'm not sure if that even makes sense, but Is there a way to figure out which device uses which encryption protocol?

 

[Tech9]

When you select WPA2-personal only the clients must authenticate with more secure WPA2 + AES. When you select WPA/WPA2-Personal you enable less secure WPA + TKIP authentication option. You have to decide what do you want - speed to one device vs security of your entire Wi-Fi network.

 

[Jherb]

When you select WPA2-personal only the clients must authenticate with more secure WPA2 + AES. When you select WPA/WPA2-Personal you enable less secure WPA + TKIP authentication option. You have to decide what do you want - speed to one device vs security of your entire Wi-Fi network.

I understand the choice you are stating. I'm trying to troubleshoot which device is the problem. I don't have old devices on the 5ghz band. I do have some older printers etc on the 2.4 band.

So I'm just trying to understand how to troubleshoot further if possible. Could the 2.4 band be affecting the media bridge even though its connected at 5ghz?

 

[Tech9]

I don't know why the Media Bridge slows down with WPA2-Personal. The changes you make on the main router though affect your entire network. Your 2.4GHz radio settings are perhaps unrelated when the Media Bridge is connected to the 5GHz radio. Keep in mind regular high speed transfers over Wi-Fi to this Media Bridge will slow down your entire Wi-Fi network and perhaps your neighbors' Wi-Fi too. The available bandwidth per channel is shared between all devices using the same channels. Careful what you wish for.

 

[Jherb]

I don't know why the Media Bridge slows down with WPA2-Personal. The changes you make on the main router though affect your entire network. Your 2.4GHz radio settings are perhaps unrelated when the Media Bridge is connected to the 5GHz radio. Keep in mind regular high speed transfers over Wi-Fi to this Media Bridge will slow down your entire Wi-Fi network and perhaps your neighbors' Wi-Fi too. The available bandwidth per channel is shared between all devices using the same channels. Careful what you wish for.

I will be careful what I wish for
Is there any way to know which devices are using which protocol from the web Gui or app?

 

[Tech9]

No such information in GUI or App.

 

[sfx2000]

if you're going with iperf3 - you need to add additional threads...

iperf3 -c sometarget.local -P 3

 

[sfx2000]

I don't know why the Media Bridge slows down with WPA2-Personal.

Actually it shouldn't - as WPA2 (personal or enterprise) is a must for 802.11n, much less 802.11ac...

The iperf through the media bridge is now below. Way higher than before.

Anyways, his revised numbers look ok...

 

[Tech9]

Actually it shouldn't

This router has/had some firmware quirks and is/was cutting down wired connections to AP Mode or wired AiMesh Node to 1/2 of expected Gigabit. I don't know what is going on there in Media Bridge. I have one similar router and can run some tests, but I'm afraid it's a waste of time.

 

[Jherb]

This is really annoying me, so I continued to play with it.
Something weird is going on so I'll share my info in case it provides any clues.

I have fios 300/300 internet. The speedtest seems to be affected only with upload when using the media bridge.

speed with AX card only

speed with media bridge

I tried playing with all kinds of settings. Disable AX mode. Disable the 2.4 radio altogether. Disable beamforming. Turn off most devices in the house, etc. Flashed merlin latest to the media bridge and reconfigured from scratch. Flashed media bridge back to stock, and reconfigured from screatch.

Nothing makes any difference except switching to WPA/WPA2 personal. My main interest is the LAN file transfers as mentioned before, and those are badly impacted when on WPA2 Personal.

I'm at a loss here, but maybe someone will have more suggestions to try.