R710 / R510 5Ghz speed not as fast as I hoped for

[mikegleasonjr]

Hi,

With my previous gear (Mikrotik CAP ACs flashed with OpenWRT), I was able to get 500-550 Mbps on an ideal case on the 5 GHz band (80 MHz) on my Macbook, and 300 Mbps on my phone running iperf3 connected to a wired server on the same switch as the access point in download mode (-R).

Now with a Ruckus R710 on Unleashed, I get a little slower speed. The connection seems great and range is miles better but it seems odd I can't reach faster raw speed!

Clients specs and iperf3 results

Wired client:

• Plugged to the same switch as the R710, on gigabit connection

MacBook #1 wifi reported connection:

• Tx rate: 1,300 Mbps (3x3)
• Channel: 157 (5 GHz, 80 MHz)
• RSSI: -33 dBm
• Noise: -90 dBm
• MCS Index: 9
• NSS: 3
• Distance: 1m
• iperf3 (download) average: 402 Mbps (was able to reach 550 on Cap AC 2x2 running OpenWRT)

MacBook #2 wifi reported connection:

• Tx rate: 867 Mbps (2x2)
• Channel: 157 (5 GHz, 80 MHz)
• RSSI: -50 dBm
• Noise: -92 dBm
• MCS Index: 9
• NSS: 2
• Distance: 3m
• iperf3 (download) average: 315 Mbps (was able to reach 550 on Cap AC 2x2 running OpenWRT)

Samsung Phone:

• Tx/Rx rate: 433 Mbps
• Channel: 157 (5 GHz, 80 MHz)
• Distance: 2m
• iperf3 (download) average: 256 Mbps (was able to reach 300 on Cap AC 2x2)

AP specs

• Ruckus R710 running Unleashed 200.13.6.1.319
• Country Code: CA
• 5GHz Channel: 157 (80 MHz)
• Forced 802.3at mode (Using a genuine Ruckus PoE injector)
• Enabled 802.11r/802.11k
• Background scanning: 300 seconds
• Smart Roam: Enabled and set to 1
• 5GHz Reported Noise Floor: -108
• 5GHz Reported % Retries/% Drops: 0.000127/0.00
• 5GHz connected devices: 3
• 5GHz Reported TX Power: Full
• Everything else default

House spec

• Rural area, no other 5 GHz access points detected
• Wood walls
• Access point is on the floor facing up to simulate its final placement on the ceiling (mirroring the actual position, but on the floor)
• Computers and phones are elevated 1-2 meters from the floor in the same room, distance are given above for each client

Experiments / Overall impressions

The speed is consistent and great. I tried various other channels and country codes, sometimes the speed was lower, but never higher. I tried lowering the power too. I tried to swap the R710 with a R510 and I kind of got the same speeds.

Oddity

The phone roams great when going from the 5 GHz to the 2 GHz band, the iperf3 connection doesn't skip a beat, but when roaming back to the 5 GHz channel, the iperf3 test has 2-3 seconds of 0 mbps before going back full speed. At least the connection doesn't drop, but I find it odd. My old access point (Mikrotik running OpenWRT)  wasn't doing that with the same phone.

Conclusion

As I said, my Mikrotik 2x2 access point was giving me higher raw speed and I read in numerous places that I should be able to get around 550 mbps running iperf3 with a 5 GHz (80 MHz) wifi5 access point in ideal scenarios...

Thanks for the help/pointers!

[mikegleasonjr · Accepted solution]

Turns out I tried to have a R710 as master, a R510 as slave, then connect each MacBook to each, then do an iperf3 between the MacBooks.

I get 600 Mbps in one direction and 500 in the other so I guess everything is right.

What's weird is the APs are connected to the same switch. I guess the problem was the wired computer...