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Which cheap 3x3 router to bridge with Netgear R7800 for 120MBps?

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fvvx

New Around Here
Hey guys, I have a Fritz!Repeater AX 1200 tied to a NAS since I can't route cables. This thing's capability is 2x2 80Mhz. My router is a Netgear Nighthawk X4S R7800, so that's 4x4 80Mhz (160Mhz doesn't play nice with this repeater). This pair can apparently do 866+100mbps download and 866+130mbps upload. They're only 8 meters apart with good line-in-sight (don't ask why I can't route cables). Please see this image https://ibb.co/HnBWnKB


In actual testing (copying files to/from NAS), it will do 80MByte/s download and 80 MByte/s upload.


Which cheap 3x3 or 4x4 5ghz 802.11ac AP in bridge mode would you guys recommend? I aim to saturate the gigabit ethernet on my NAS (120MB/s upload and download separately) ? Note the upload and downloads won't be simultaneous since my NAS is primarily for backup.


Thanks for your advice. I'm based in the EU.
 
Welcome to the forums @fvvx.

In your testing, are you copying a single (very) large file, or are you copying many small files? If the latter, I don't think you will be able to improve things substantially, 'inexpensively'. Mostly because of the wireless overhead involved.

Nothing stops you from testing out new equipment though, as long as you can test within the return window.

If your testing involves mostly/only large files (each, over 1GB in size), getting around a 50% improvement may be possible with a 4x4:4 router/Media Bridge. You'll have to decide if the benefits outweigh the cost after you've done some actual testing in your network, of course.

An RT-AC86U that a customer uses as a Media Bridge to an RT-AX68U main router works extremely well for them (but they didn't have to buy the Media Bridge either).
 
120MB/s would be the top end of gigabit and taking into consideration overhead not likely to be the speed most of the time. The disks also play into the speed as spinners can range from USB speeds to 2GE / 250MB/s. The backplane on the NAS makes a difference too in dictating what kind of speed to expect.

First thing I would do is connect via Ethernet to the NAS and test the speeds to make sure you're not going down a rabbit hole for something it can't actually do. Depending on the NAS you might be able to boost the speed of the network side with a different NIC that does 2.5GE or 5GE but, that means upgrading everything else to get beyond the 1GE limitation.

AX WFII will get you closer to the 120MB/s which means swapping out the Netgear / repeater to get that kind of speed.

For example my DIY setup w/ Raid 10 (4x8TB) yields 450-490MB/s in disk speed. This puts me just under 5GE network needs to get that across the wire. Laptops don't have that kind or bandwidth which means USB-C 5GE adapter and on the NAS side a 5GE NIC. I can get the speed tested speeds this way. Over WIFI/AX I can hit 1.2-1.5gbps using an AP + AX210 WIFI card in the laptop.

Cheap + Speed = no bueno

Cheaper + Speed = possible

Cost always factors into how far you want to go with this sort of setup. Moving the NAS to where the router is means less cost in networking equipment. The whole purpose of the NAS is to be able to share across the network from any device connected to said network. A couple of quick upgrades between the NIC / WIFI6 could get you there.
 
Welcome to the forums @fvvx.

In your testing, are you copying a single (very) large file, or are you copying many small files? If the latter, I don't think you will be able to improve things substantially, 'inexpensively'. Mostly because of the wireless overhead involved.

Nothing stops you from testing out new equipment though, as long as you can test within the return window.

If your testing involves mostly/only large files (each, over 1GB in size), getting around a 50% improvement may be possible with a 4x4:4 router/Media Bridge. You'll have to decide if the benefits outweigh the cost after you've done some actual testing in your network, of course.

An RT-AC86U that a customer uses as a Media Bridge to an RT-AX68U main router works extremely well for them (but they didn't have to buy the Media Bridge either).
Thanks for welcoming me. I have a mixture of both. Lots of videos so the 4x4 will definitely improve my situation. Thanks for recommending the RT-AC86U.
 
120MB/s would be the top end of gigabit and taking into consideration overhead not likely to be the speed most of the time. The disks also play into the speed as spinners can range from USB speeds to 2GE / 250MB/s. The backplane on the NAS makes a difference too in dictating what kind of speed to expect.

First thing I would do is connect via Ethernet to the NAS and test the speeds to make sure you're not going down a rabbit hole for something it can't actually do. Depending on the NAS you might be able to boost the speed of the network side with a different NIC that does 2.5GE or 5GE but, that means upgrading everything else to get beyond the 1GE limitation.

AX WFII will get you closer to the 120MB/s which means swapping out the Netgear / repeater to get that kind of speed.

For example my DIY setup w/ Raid 10 (4x8TB) yields 450-490MB/s in disk speed. This puts me just under 5GE network needs to get that across the wire. Laptops don't have that kind or bandwidth which means USB-C 5GE adapter and on the NAS side a 5GE NIC. I can get the speed tested speeds this way. Over WIFI/AX I can hit 1.2-1.5gbps using an AP + AX210 WIFI card in the laptop.

Cheap + Speed = no bueno

Cheaper + Speed = possible

Cost always factors into how far you want to go with this sort of setup. Moving the NAS to where the router is means less cost in networking equipment. The whole purpose of the NAS is to be able to share across the network from any device connected to said network. A couple of quick upgrades between the NIC / WIFI6 could get you there.
Unfortunately, I can't place them next close to one another due to noise. And yes, I've tried the maximum possible speed with cable. It's limited to 120MBps due to the 1Gig Ethernet connection. Thanks for the tip on the AX equipment. I will consider them later once prices drop.
 
@fvvx

What kind of NAS is this anyway? Might be able to convert the NIC to a WIFI PCIE adapter or hook up something through USB and eliminate the whole repeater option.
 
@fvvx

What kind of NAS is this anyway? Might be able to convert the NIC to a WIFI PCIE adapter or hook up something through USB and eliminate the whole repeater option.

It is a Synology DS220+. So I have 2x 1GbE ports and can do link aggregation. But most of my equipment are limited to a single 1Gb Ethernet port.
 
LACP / LAG isn't going to do much w/o multi-thread use.


So, there's a way to hack this WIFI option which would increase your bandwidth options using AX .
 
That's interesting. I never knew that one could do that but it's marked end of life (EOL). I shall browse through the forums looking for an answer there. Cheers.
 
Doesn't mean it doesn't work and the adapter list isn't comprehensive. I would just order a USB ax adapter and plug it in and see if you can connect. If not then someone might have posted a file to import to get it working.
 

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