Trying an EAP670 to (maybe) switch to omada to replace RT-AX86U

[snaky69]

Good day everyone.

I currently own 2 Omada managed switches(TL-SG2008 and TL-SG2218) and have wired much of my home. I am currently using a mesh network with wired backhaul.

Main router: RT-AX86U in PPPOE passthrough mode on fiber internet (1500 down/940up)
Mesh node: RT-AX58U

I have a third router, double-NATed running DD-WRT to create an isolated IOT network. The only device part of both networks is my home assistant instance.

I'd like to introduce VLANs in my environment to hopefully remove that 3rd router from the picture. But I can't do that with my current router.

I was thinking of going the Omada route, but I wanted to dip my toes in first and see if I'd be happy with the wireless performance. I purchased an EAP670 and just gave it a try.

Inside my home, throughput is mostly good though often less than my current Asus setup. Where I'm disappointed is the range of the unit. I disabled radios on all other devices so as to not skew results with interference, but as soon as I leave the house for a few feet reception is absolutely horrible and speeds slow to a crawl (2mbps speedtest about 20 feet from my front door).

QOS, load balancing, airtime fairness are all turned off. UAPSD is turned off. I am broadcasting on both bands at max Tx Power.

Is this simply the nature of the beast or am I doing something wrong?

 

[ex313]

That unit has more antenna than the smaller Tp Link EAP models, I was looking to pick one up for my new setup. Its a bit concerning that you are not happy with it. Have you contacted TP Link support? I am assuming you are using it in the same location as the other equipment - have you tried moving it at all?
Curious to hear how you end up with this equipment, may influence my purchase decision.

 

[tgl]

Like @ex313 , I'm curious to see where this ends up.

QOS, load balancing, airtime fairness are all turned off. UAPSD is turned off. I am broadcasting on both bands at max Tx Power.

I'm not sure that "max TX power" is a great idea. Depending on where you live, APs are typically licensed to run at up to 1 watt (30 dBm) radiated power; but the client devices won't emit more than a tiny fraction of that, usually 12-15 dBm (a dozen or two mW). It does the clients no good to hear the AP if they can't answer back, so that sort of power imbalance is useless. Also, it's commonly recommended to run the 2.4GHz radio at much less than the power of the 5GHz radio, so that clients are encouraged to pick the 5GHz band -- so I wonder if you checked which band your client picked?

 

[snaky69]

Like @ex313 , I'm curious to see where this ends up.



I'm not sure that "max TX power" is a great idea. Depending on where you live, APs are typically licensed to run at up to 1 watt (30 dBm) radiated power; but the client devices won't emit more than a tiny fraction of that, usually 12-15 dBm (a dozen or two mW). It does the clients no good to hear the AP if they can't answer back, so that sort of power imbalance is useless. Also, it's commonly recommended to run the 2.4GHz radio at much less than the power of the 5GHz radio, so that clients are encouraged to pick the 5GHz band -- so I wonder if you checked which band your client picked?

Duly noted. Though max transmit power on this unit is 28dBm on 5Ghz and 25dBm on 2.4Ghz. I believe the Asus pushes 30 on both bands, which is the legal maximum?

I did notice something yesterday and I am further experiementing. The unit was self reporting as V1, on 1.0.9 firmware. Canadian site showed the latest for that hardware revision was 1.0.6.

I flipped it over and saw it was a V1.20. I so I was able to flash 1.0.12 on it from TP-Link's US site.

Performance has improved. I'm still experimenting with it.

 

[snaky69]

That unit has more antenna than the smaller Tp Link EAP models, I was looking to pick one up for my new setup. Its a bit concerning that you are not happy with it. Have you contacted TP Link support? I am assuming you are using it in the same location as the other equipment - have you tried moving it at all?
Curious to hear how you end up with this equipment, may influence my purchase decision.

Yes it is in the same spot. I did notice a hardware vs firmware mismatch that I fixed yesterday. I am still experimenting with it.

Speeds are good on 5Ghz when near it. It's mostly the range I'm disappointed in, but perhaps my RT-AX86U has spoiled me on this?

 

[sfx2000]

Duly noted. Though max transmit power on this unit is 28dBm on 5Ghz and 25dBm on 2.4Ghz. I believe the Asus pushes 30 on both bands, which is the legal maximum?

FWIW - range limits are usually client based, not AP based... more Tx power on the AP generally doesn't help.

 

[snaky69]

FWIW - range limits are usually client based, not AP based... more Tx power on the AP generally doesn't help.

Thank you for your i nput.

 

[bar1]

Maybe the RT-AX86U has the better radio transmitter/receiver
I went for 2xEAP653, OC200, ER605 (TL-R605) V2 and TL-SG2008P to replace a setup with Asus-RT-AX88U (merlin) with RT-AX55 as wired aimesh node.
I've got much better wifi-coverage with the new setup, vlan support, etc. Only thing the Asus setup did better was VPN. Old setup still in use at an other location.

 

[Tech9]

I went for 2xEAP653, OC200, ER605 (TL-R605) V2 and TL-SG2008P

Nice little Omada setup. Good choice for home use.

 

[glens]

I went for 2xEAP653, OC200, ER605 (TL-R605) V2 and TL-SG2008P

Now that looks like a lot of fun and satisfaction!