With a single connection I get about 400 mbps through snort. Multiple connections drop it down to ~300-325 mbps. So it takes ~3-4 connections to fully saturate the pipe. No way would the rt handle that. Not sure about the newer models.
This is really interesting to me.
We have a 300 Mbps feed into the building I'm in right now and it usually runs 325-350 down/15-16 up. There are commonly 28-33 mixed devices connected here and all but 6 are WiFi. The topology is pretty simple:
....... .......<> ))) ....2.4 GHz endpoints
....|
.....\-> Gb LAN <-> Gb dumb switch <-> Gb LAN end points
No fancy VM, no Sophos box, no extra UTM. The router serves DHCP and 20+ of these devices are online via LAN &/or Wi-Fi 24/7/365. They stream multiple feeds at minimum pre-dawn to midnight, sometimes 24-hrs. On top of that there is active market trading on US & foreign exchanges throughout the trading hours, routine business functions, etc. I've been fighting connection drops by iPad and laptop traders for years. Running these down even resulted in AT&T replacing servers in Atlanta, Chicago & Connecticut, which helped but did not fix our problem.
We have more than 30 active Wi-Fi networks in the immediate area (our other site is much worse). Every one thinks they have to 'out-power' the neighbors to get a decent signal and since I'm no network whiz I was right there with the rest of them doing the same thing. Three routers later and still fighting, I tried getting smarter instead. That's what actually prompted me to buy ASUS RT-AC87R routers (aka:RT-AC87U).
I played with channels, polling aggression, thresholds, beacons, intervals, even relays, etc., on routers and clients until I was blue in the face. Sniffers, including WireShark, various WiFi analyzers, etc., have all played their part. Most changes have helped to some degree; relays were a total waste. The ASUS router is fairly decent at auto-selecting bandwidth but lousy at auto-selecting channels. Surprise, surprise: bad channel choices lead to inadequate bandwidth which lead to bad channel choices. Since the router seems to like "non-standard" channels and uses bandwidth to limit cross-talk instead of 'taking turns', ensuring we use 'standard-be-polite' channels actually helped-
ish.
I might have finally turned the corner though. Recently I tried WinFi
* from Helge-Kech which is recommended here on SNB and was able to visualize more data. (Like I said, I'm no whiz — I like pictures.) Based on that I selected
optimized MHz bandwidths and
correct standard channels for those bandwidths chosen, set the 2.4 GHz band to 'N' exclusive mode, cut off the 'mixed mode' choice for my heavy hitters and put all of them on 5 GHz enjoying ac. With the router's 2.4 GHz now running in 40 MHz with 450 Mbps and the 5 GHz in 80 MHz humming along at over 1.7 Gbps life is good.
These last two-weeks have seen extreme market volatility and very heavy trading, just the scenarios that were getting my traders kicked out. Not now. Our network hasn't suffered a dropped connection during any of this, and I
never come close to saturating our bandwidth.
My rather long-winded way of saying sometimes the cat you see is not the one you need to skin.
Sky, actual cat lover
(no cats were hurt during this post)
*https://www.helge-keck.com/
