Access point only getting half download speed

[risk235]

I have a AirPort Extreme AC. I recently connected a Belkin N300 to it via Ethernet to use as a access point. On the Airport I can get 100 Mbps wirelessly but on the Belkin I can only get 50 Mbps or so wirelessly. Both routers have the same SSID. The Airport is on channel 11 and the Belkin is on channel 1. On the Belkin it's on 20 MHz and WMM is off since I noticed turning it on reduces my speed. Should I replace the Belkin or do I have something setup wrong?

 

[stevech]

I have a AirPort Extreme AC. I recently connected a Belkin N300 to it via Ethernet to use as a access point. On the Airport I can get 100 Mbps wirelessly but on the Belkin I can only get 50 Mbps or so wirelessly. Both routers have the same SSID. The Airport is on channel 11 and the Belkin is on channel 1. On the Belkin it's on 20 MHz and WMM is off since I noticed turning it on reduces my speed. Should I replace the Belkin or do I have something setup wrong?

Is the Belkin configured in Access Point mode, not router mode?

When you say "50 Mbps", you mean the indicated WiFi raw wireless speed, no doubt. Or are you meaning that this speed is measured using Speedtest.net or some such?

Your net-yield IP layer speed is limited to the speed provided by your ISP contract. For Cable modem, that's usually 30Mbps or less, downstream. For DSL, less.

 

[risk235]

Is the Belkin configured in Access Point mode, not router mode?

When you say "50 Mbps", you mean the indicated WiFi raw wireless speed, no doubt. Or are you meaning that this speed is measured using Speedtest.net or some such?

Your net-yield IP layer speed is limited to the speed provided by your ISP contract. For Cable modem, that's usually 30Mbps or less, downstream. For DSL, less.

Yes the Belkin is configured to access point mode. As far as the 50 Mbps I'm using Speedtest.net. I have Comcast and sign up for their Blast service which is 100 Mbps. The Airport is located in the center of the house. The Belkin is located in the guest room/garage. They are connected via a 75 feet Ethernet cable to each LAN port. When I'm in my house I'm able to get 100 Mbps on the Speed test app on my iPhone. When I'm in the guest room/garage I'm only able to get 50 Mbps or so.

 

[stevech]

In guest room/garage... with 2+ types of client devices, what is the indicated WiFi connection speed?

 

[Nullity]

I have a AirPort Extreme AC. I recently connected a Belkin N300 to it via Ethernet to use as a access point. On the Airport I can get 100 Mbps wirelessly but on the Belkin I can only get 50 Mbps or so wirelessly. Both routers have the same SSID. The Airport is on channel 11 and the Belkin is on channel 1. On the Belkin it's on 20 MHz and WMM is off since I noticed turning it on reduces my speed. Should I replace the Belkin or do I have something setup wrong?

If my memory is correct, WMM is required for 802.11n support. 802.11g max rate is 54mbit. When I disabled WMM my 802.11n clients would not even connect to my RT-N66U.

 

[risk235]

When I'm in my house my iPhone, Mac, etc. are able to get the full speed. Here are some example of some speed tests I did while I was in the guest room/garage and I made sure I was actually connected to the Belkin. Top numbers are download and upload speeds on my Mac. Bottom numbers are on my phone.

20mhz WMM on
Afternoon Night
54.07 12.20 41.50 12.65
40.98 11.55 38.32 11.88



20mhz/40mhz WMM on
Afternoon Night
45.04 12.64 47.05 12.71
40.18 12.02 41.37 11.36



20mhz/40mhz WMM off
Afternoon Night
50.20 12.55 47.50 12.61
39.73 12.01 37.51 12.10



20mhz WMM off
Afternoon Night
58.28 12.56 55.77 12.71
43.76 11.10 40.26 11.72

 

[risk235]

Sorry if the numbers are bunched up together. I tried separating them and they keep showing up close. Basically I did test in the afternoon and later on late at night. It should be download speed/upload speed in afternoon and then download/upload at night

 

[Nullity]

Sorry if the numbers are bunched up together. I tried separating them and they keep showing up close. Basically I did test in the afternoon and later on late at night. It should be download speed/upload speed in afternoon and then download/upload at night

It worries me that you experience little difference between when your AP is obeying the 802.11n spec (WMM on) and when it is disregarding the 802.11n spec (WMM off). To me that says that something is screwy.

I would turn on WMM, apply settings then turn off the AP for 5min. While the AP is off I would go to my WiFi clients and delete the AP. Then turn back on the AP and re-add the AP on the clients.

Aside from checking standard practices for setting up LANs and WLANs and confirming that you are not making some obvious setup misconfiguration I am out of ideas. Sorry.

 

[risk235]

It worries me that you experience little difference between when your AP is obeying the 802.11n spec (WMM on) and when it is disregarding the 802.11n spec (WMM off). To me that says that something is screwy.

I would turn on WMM, apply settings then turn off the AP for 5min. While the AP is off I would go to my WiFi clients and delete the AP. Then turn back on the AP and re-add the AP on the clients.

Aside from checking standard practices for setting up LANs and WLANs and confirming that you are not making some obvious setup misconfiguration I am out of ideas. Sorry.

Ok I will try that when I get home. What about channel width. Do I leave it at 20 MHz or change it to Auto 20/40 MHz?

 

[azazel1024]

What is the distance between APs? If the distance is quite far, I'd put it in 40MHz mode as they aren't really going to be stepping on each other. My router and AP are close enough that I have my AP in 40MHz mode and my router in 20MHz mode on the furthest seperate channels so that there is no interference.

If your Airport is in 40MHz mode (or auto) and it is getting twice the speed of the AP...well, there is your problem, halve the channel width, halve the speed.

 

[risk235]

What is the distance between APs? If the distance is quite far, I'd put it in 40MHz mode as they aren't really going to be stepping on each other. My router and AP are close enough that I have my AP in 40MHz mode and my router in 20MHz mode on the furthest seperate channels so that there is no interference.

If your Airport is in 40MHz mode (or auto) and it is getting twice the speed of the AP...well, there is your problem, halve the channel width, halve the speed.

The router and access point are probably around 50 feet apart from each other. On the Airport Extreme you can't choose channel width.

 

[stevech]

40MHz mode uses 2/3 of the entire 2.4GHz US WiFi band.

 

[risk235]

Would the Belkin N150 being a single channel router and I would imagine a basic processor be a factor for my lower speeds.

 

[azazel1024]

Unlikely. Come to think, I think Apple sticks with 20MHz in 2.4GHz only for their routers. Though maybe not? I can't really remember now.

Are you using different clients for testing? Because that can also be the issue. If one is an N150 class and one an N300 class, that would make all the difference too.

Granted, it could just come down to the Belkin being crap (I throughly dislike their products, as they tend to be crud). I suspect it is either a channel width difference (which doesn't sound like it is the case), or else a difference in clients (IE one is operating in 144Mbps mode (2.4GHz 20MHz, 2:2 stream) and one in 65Mbps mode (2.4GHz 20MHz 1:1 stream), though 50Mbps is awfully high yield for operating in 65Mbps mode).

 

[sfx2000]

Unlikely. Come to think, I think Apple sticks with 20MHz in 2.4GHz only for their routers. Though maybe not? I can't really remember now.

Apple sticks to 20MHz in their 2.4GHz stacks to reduce co-channel interference on WiFi and also to minimize Bluetooth impact.

 

[risk235]

I swapped out the Belkin N150 for a Netgear WNDR3400 and the most I am able to get is 55-60 Mbps. I still can't get the full speed like the Airport when I'm inside my house.

 

[azazel1024]

I don't see that you answered (maybe I never asked), what client are you using? Is if the SAME client for testing with both? Are the relative positions between the test client and router/AP the same?

If not, then the results don't mean anything.

 

[risk235]

I don't see that you answered (maybe I never asked), what client are you using? Is if the SAME client for testing with both? Are the relative positions between the test client and router/AP the same?

If not, then the results don't mean anything.

Going by the speed test app on my phone and my computer. Doing the speed test in my house and connected to the Airport gets me around 90-100 Mbps. In the guest room/garage I only get 50-60 Mbps. Only reason I decided to add a access point to my network was because I knew family was staying over for the holidays and I would get a weak signal trying to connect to the Airport inside the house from the guest room/garage.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Two things I would try:

Connect a wired device to a LAN port on the Belkin and compare the speed you get using the same device connected directly to your primary router. This will test the processing power of the Belkin.

Second assign a new and different SSID to the Belkin's radio. Same SSID two different radio types could be causing problems.

 

[azazel1024]

I would also start with seperate SSIDs, but I'd also do a seperate SSID for each band too.

What phone? Also are you actually testing with both the phone and computer for both APs? or is the phone being used on one and the computer another (also 90-100Mbps is rather fast for a phone)?

A number of phones only have a 65Mbps MAC for 2.4GHz, but 150Mbps for 5GHz as a consideration. It may just be that for whatever reason your phone is consistently connecting on 2.4GHz on the Belkin/Netgear and 5GHz on the Airport.