WiFi speed relatively low; what can be the cause?

[kiddingguy]

I have a 1 Gbit/s  x 1 Gbit/s internet connection at home.

When connecting my notebook wired, it's reaching 936/941 (so pretty decent ).

When connecting wireless, the speeds are 470/487 (kinda mediocre).

The notebook I'm connecting with is my ASUS ROG (specs in sig) with a built-in WiFi Intel Wireless AC 9560 160 Mhz; Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)

What can be the cause of the slower speeds on wireless connection? Is it the router - Asus RT-AC86U, the internal WiFi card, other possible interference? The fastest up- and download speeds I got were around 600/600.
What can I do to have faster download en upload speeds?

 

[Jaybonaut]

You are hitting limits of AC wifi pretty much and then add in interference/distance/objects.  You would have to go all wifi 6/6E to get any more - that is router and wifi card, then see if you can get line of sight for that wireless connection.  Basically you are getting some pretty nice speeds with your current setup.

 

EDIT:  you may want to see what wifi 7 is like in a year or two if you want to get all new stuff.

[kiddingguy]

On 25/01/2023 at 12:24, Jaybonaut said:

You are hitting limits of AC wifi pretty much and then add in interference/distance/objects.  You would have to go all wifi 6/6E to get any more - that is router and wifi card, then see if you can get line of sight for that wireless connection.  Basically you are getting some pretty nice speeds with your current setup.

 

EDIT:  you may want to see what wifi 7 is like in a year or two if you want to get all new stuff.

Thx. So basically I’ll have a good setup & speeds given the hardware.

Indeed wondering what WiFi 7 will mean when getting a new computer than (as I think will mostly be case, because at that t8me my notebook is 5/6 years old).

[Riggers]

As I`ve learned of our unique network guru Budman, wi-fi is /2 (halved), as it is Half-Duplex when wireless, as aopposed to Full-Duplex when wired. So it would seem you`re getting pretty decent speeds...

[shockz]

I just got 6E going in my house, and it's the first time I'm pulling down my full internet speeds over wireless. Not even Wifi6 can get close. 

My internet is 1.2gb down. Good spectrum. Not a lot of interference.

5GHz (including Wifi-6): I'm averaging 350 down throughout my house. I occasionally do get 550-600 but that is few and far between.
6GHz - 6E: 1.1g throughout my house. Consistently. 

4 Unifi 6E pods
2 Unifi Pro switches

All relevant infrastructure involved in Wi-Fi is wired with CAT7 (which is overkill, but when I did my runs, 7 was affordable and futureproofs a little).

Only two of my devices so far are 6E capable. Guess I'm ahead of the times for once.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

yeah as others have said you're about hitting the limit of AC

6E is really the first standard that can really achieve true wireless gig speeds at any stable rate. it's amazing and I wish I had more than just my phone that could make use of it (not that my network speeds would saturate that anyway so I haven't bothered getting a 6E router yet)

even older standards seem to be able to achieve more with a 6E router though so with speeds like you have on the mainline the upgrade may well be worth it.

[Jaybonaut]

On 25/01/2023 at 14:18, Brandon H said:

yeah as others have said you're about hitting the limit of AC

6E is really the first standard that can really achieve true wireless gig speeds at any stable rate. it's amazing and I wish I had more than just my phone that could make use of it (not that my network speeds would saturate that anyway so I haven't bothered getting a 6E router yet)

even older standards seem to be able to achieve more with a 6E router though so with speeds like you have on the mainline the upgrade may well be worth it.

I'm waiting to see what 7 is like, it isn't too far away really.  I only have two 6 devices anyway.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Have you checked to make sure the Asus RT-AC86U router has the latest firmware installed, and that both it and the Intel Wireless AC 9560 Wi-Fi card have their respective channel widths set to the maximum?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[kiddingguy]

On 26/01/2023 at 07:07, goretsky said:

Hello,

Have you checked to make sure the Asus RT-AC86U router has the latest firmware installed, and that both it and the Intel Wireless AC 9560 Wi-Fi card have their respective channel widths set to the maximum?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Yes. I checked. All latest firmwares and channel settings are OK (as far as I can see).

Guess it's "old" technology preventing me from getting the maximum speeds.... 

[dwd999]

Besides the various hardware factors discussed here, wifi speed also depends on which channel is being used and how much traffic there is on that channel from other people/devices in your neighborhood. You could use one of the wifi analyzers available in the Microsoft Store to check the amount of traffic you are competing against. As a general rule, if you set your router to manually (not Auto) use the lowest number channel in each band (e.g. channel 36 in the wifi 5 band) you get the best performance.

[+BudMan MVC]

On 25/01/2023 at 04:59, kiddingguy said:

with a built-in WiFi Intel Wireless AC 9560 160 Mhz; Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)

What speeds do you think that card should get - are you actually using 160 VHT?

From the specs of that card, what your seeing is completely normal, there is not much you can do about that.. That card is a 2x2, so with a 80mhz VHT and best you could do is 867 PHY, in real world somewhere between 50 and 60% of that - your looking at exactly what your seeing..

I never understand why people worry about getting gig on their wifi.. What are you doing over wifi that you need the full pipe? For starters its a shared medium - so your sharing it with anyone else on the radio your on.  It has a huge amount of overhead.. if your goal is moving data at fastest speed possible - use a wire.

Your nas doesn't belong on wifi for example Anything that doesn't move and is going to move a bunch of data belongs on a wire to be honest.

Your seeing what seems like pretty optimal performance..  Now I could see wondering what is going on if you were seeing something far lower than what you should expect for your hardware.. But in the 400s is completely normal for a 2 stream ac card..

 

 

 

[shockz]

On 30/01/2023 at 10:02, BudMan said:

I never understand why people worry about getting gig on their wifi.. What are you doing over wifi that you need the full pipe? For starters its a shared medium - so your sharing it with anyone else on the radio your on.  It has a huge amount of overhead.. if your goal is moving data at fastest speed possible - use a wire.

 

 

 

Apartment dwellers, people on slabs with vaulted ceilings for one. Not everyone can have a tidy wired deployment in their house with fancy in wall wiring.

I'm on 6E and thrilled I can do large downloads on my work laptop that has no nic in half the time. Remote work is so much better being on it. I'm glad I can be hardwired on my personal equipment but 6E has been great on my wireless devices. Finally can get 1 gig and is consistent. 

[+BudMan MVC]

On 30/01/2023 at 12:38, shockz said:

Not everyone can have a tidy wired deployment in their house with fancy in wall wirin

Nobody said the wire had to be pretty But nas can for sure be plugged into a wire where the wifi router is, etc.  If you need to move a lot of data to your laptop - plug it in ;)... Moving data between wifi to wifi is going to be extra slow, one part of the connection should be on a wire - even if your moving data to/from your laptop and your nas.. The nas should be on a wire..

If you have a device that can do 6e ok, have at it - but his specific card does not, and its seeing normal/decent speeds for that card.. 400mbps real world is more than enough for normal mobile use.. if your trying to move 10TB of data - plug in.. Or sit back and wait heheh

My point was more to typical use of watching youtube videos and checking your email on your tablet/phone sure doesn't require gig wifi.  Your little media stick you plug into your tv to watch netflix sure doesn't need gig wifi to stream even a 4k movie, etc.

If the goal is moving data, 6e wifi is slow.. I can move data over a wire at 2.5, 5 or even 10ge can be done on a home budget..  How much is the 6e router?  How much is the device that supports 6e wifi?

edit: How much did you spend so you could do gig wifi?

4 Unifi 6E pods
2 Unifi Pro switches

 

I take it your talking the unifi U6 enterprise APs at 279$ each, and what switches.  I assume ones that can do 2.5ge poe or you wouldn't be able to get 1.1 over your 6e wifi if the AP was uplinked at only gig..  Talking some  cash it seems..   Need to move data at high speed with a wire, hmmm lets see couple of usb 2.5ge nics 2x40$, worse case a long cat 5e cable what $25 for like 100ft  

how many 6e clients do you have?

Don't take that the wrong way - hey if I could get that past the budget committee (wife) I would have the same sort of gear, other than the unifi switches - not really a fan of those..

Wire always beats wifi when moving data - even if it a ugly cable laying across the floor..

 

 

 

 

 

[shockz]

On 31/01/2023 at 07:53, BudMan said:

Nobody said the wire had to be pretty But nas can for sure be plugged into a wire where the wifi router is, etc.  If you need to move a lot of data to your laptop - plug it in ;)... Moving data between wifi to wifi is going to be extra slow, one part of the connection should be on a wire - even if your moving data to/from your laptop and your nas.. The nas should be on a wire..

If you have a device that can do 6e ok, have at it - but his specific card does not, and its seeing normal/decent speeds for that card.. 400mbps real world is more than enough for normal mobile use.. if your trying to move 10TB of data - plug in.. Or sit back and wait heheh

My point was more to typical use of watching youtube videos and checking your email on your tablet/phone sure doesn't require gig wifi.  Your little media stick you plug into your tv to watch netflix sure doesn't need gig wifi to stream even a 4k movie, etc.

If the goal is moving data, 6e wifi is slow.. I can move data over a wire at 2.5, 5 or even 10ge can be done on a home budget..  How much is the 6e router?  How much is the device that supports 6e wifi?

edit: How much did you spend so you could do gig wifi?

4 Unifi 6E pods
2 Unifi Pro switches

I take it your talking the unifi U6 enterprise APs at 279$ each, and what switches.  I assume ones that can do 2.5ge poe or you wouldn't be able to get 1.1 over your 6e wifi if the AP was uplinked at only gig..  Talking some  cash it seems..   Need to move data at high speed with a wire, hmmm lets see couple of usb 2.5ge nics 2x40$, worse case a long cat 5e cable what $25 for like 100ft  

how many 6e clients do you have?

Don't take that the wrong way - hey if I could get that past the budget committee (wife) I would have the same sort of gear, other than the unifi switches - not really a fan of those..

Wire always beats wifi when moving data - even if it a ugly cable laying across the floor..

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah. Unifi U6 Enterprise, an older XG switch and then also a Switch Enterprise 8 POE for the one corner of the house that is vaulted and doesn't have a basement, that was a wild, single run.. tight squeeze.

I probably will swap out both the XG and the 8 POE for something newer... POE++  and 2.5/10GB is hard to find with unifi right now-- lots of their stuff remains sold out.

Would really like to not use the POE++ injectors that also don't come with 6E pods, you have to order them separately. (see: nice and tidy). The 6E enterprise upgrade was the first Wi-Fi upgrade in almost a decade for me, was also hard to get that budget approved lol, especially when 6E devices are still few and far between.

Those 6E pods also get very hot, when I climbed up to the celling to adjust the pod (the logo was crooked and pegging my OCD), it was almost too hot to the touch.

There was a debate about just waiting for Wifi 7. Both of us are benefiting though from the 6E/6E devices. They can't get a dock for their work setup, and their laptop doesn't have a NIC, only wifi 6e.

My desktop is 10 for no reason, but that is certainly super speedy internally. My internet plan is the 1g plan, but my modem is 2.5, and along with my switching (2.5/10), it looks like my ISP isn't strict on their bandwidth caps if you manage to get past 1gig with your equipment. I've managed to skirt past 1.2 on good days, but I usually average 1.2 down. They aren't as forgiving on the upload though, which is a complete joke at 60mbit.

Edited January 31, 2023 by shockz

[+BudMan MVC]

On 31/01/2023 at 09:30, shockz said:

really like to not use the POE++ injectors that also don't come with 6E pods,

From my understanding they don't even sell any injectors that do 2.5ge - so your really only option to leverage their enterprise AP with the 2.5gig interfaces is with their switches..

I hear yea - I would be playing with the latest and greatest wifi as well - just can not justify the cost at the moment

I don't have any 6e devices anyway. And my AC devices all get what they should/could be getting over my wifi in 400 range..  Most of my wifi is ###### iot stuff anyway still using 2.4ghz..  And I don't have anything on my network that would need highspeed via wifi... even if it could do it   And my internet is only 500/50 - I would love to go gig or higher, but nothing in my area that does gig, with faster upload.. 500 is more than enough for me for download.  But would love more upload for my remote plex users.. 50 works ok, and have had 8 concurrent users with it without anyone complaining... But sure would like to have gig up.. Or 500/500 even..

Wifi is a finicky beast to be sure - takes a while to catch up.. Look at wpa3.. We should all be using that for sure - but freaking iot devices lag behind tech..  I can do wpa3 enterprise for my phone/laptop/tablets etc.. - but the iot ###### never supports enteprise auth.  And shoot can not even do wpa3 psk on them..  And my AP don't support the 192 fips what would be nice for wpa3 as well..

I sure hope my post didn't come off the wrong way - I applaud you for playing with the latest and greatest, and having something that can actually even leverage it is great.  But typical users what use do they really have for gig wifi, your hard to wire are valid use cases sure for wifi. But if there goal is moving data between their devices - wire is always going to be king, and much cheaper than trying to play with latest and greatest wifi stuff.  I for sure could never go back to gig even if wireless   I see 2.37gpbs between the 2 devices I move tons of data between - my nas and my main pc where I do all my video stuff, etc.   I first broke the gig barrier with smb3 mutlichannel which was great and easy to do since had 2 gig nics and the ports on my switch, etc.  But to get a bit more umph, the 2.5ge usb adapters were cheap way to get about 50MBps more..

When I do update, the wired network will be 10ge, and sure at some point update the wifi.. be that 6e support at some point or whatever is current then..

Currently waiting for that unicorn switch that has like 24 ports, does multigig up to 10, and poe at a price point that won't break the home budget.. If you see one of these unicorns - vlan support as well.. Please let me know!