Why is my wireless LAN speed slower than my wireless internet speed on AX86U?

[torstein]

TL;DR:
My WiFi internet speed is way faster than my WiFi LAN speeds. Why?

Answer:
It's because using samba to transfer a file between two computers, the AX86U's single 5GHz radio both receives and sends data at the same time - so bidirectional traffic. This saturates the radio, effectively cutting the radio's bandwith in half sharing it equally between receiving from one computer and sending it to the second computer. When I'm testing my internet speed on speedtest.net, the radio is simply relaying or just sending the traffic to my mac unidirectionally, allowing the radio to use all its potential bandwith on just sending data, not receiving anything. That's why I get 500mbps on speedtest.net, while testing in iperf I only get 280-300mbps because iperf tests with bidirectional traffic - ie the AX86U is both receiving and sending at the same time, choking the radio.


ORIGINAL POST:

Hi! I hope you smart people can help explain this.

My setup:

• Router: AX86U with merlin 3004.388.4
• Laptop: Macbook Pro M1 connected to 5Ghz wireless radio
• Media server: Mac Mini M1 connected to AX86U with ethernet cat5e, stock macOS with File Sharing enabled.

On speedtest.net I get 500/25 on my laptop. Which is great. It's what I pay for. When I connect to my media server (mac mini) and stream a movie from the media server's ssd to my laptop it streams only at 130mbps. Strange. It appears that my laptop gets faster speeds from the wireless internet, than it does when wirelessly streaming from my wired media server. When I plug my laptop (macbook pro) directly into the router (with an ethernet adapter) I stream files at 600mbps from my media server.


Illustrated it looks like this:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| media server <––––wired–––––> AX86U <- - - - wireless - - - -> laptop
| Internet speed on wireless laptop is 500mbps, but streaming from local wired media server to wireless laptop gives
| only 130mbps on LAN. That's just crazy!?!
|________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| media server <––––wired–––––> AX86U <––––wired–––––> laptop
| Internet speed on wired laptop is 500mbps, and streaming from local wired media server to wired laptop gives
| 600mbps on LAN. As expected. Nothing wrong with my laptop or my media server it seems. It must be the WLAN?
|________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Why is that? Is this normal? I understand that wired to wired connections are faster on LAN, fair enough, but why is the wireless internet speed (way) faster than wireless LAN? Shouldn't it be opposite? Shouldn't the local network stream as fast as the wireless can possibly handle, and at least match the internet speed, if not faster, not be slower than the internet speed?

Sorry for decorating this post with the rainbow, colors help me at least to keep track of setups and not get confused. For what it's worth, I have tried resetting to factory settings on merlin-asuswrt and stock asuswrt. Same results. I have no QoS enabled.

UPDATE:

iPerf3 results

Wireless laptop (client) to Wireless mac mini media server (server) gives 280Mbits

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  35.5 MBytes   298 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   121ms
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  33.9 MBytes   284 Mbits/sec  39096   2.80 MBytes   65ms
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  34.5 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec    0   2.95 MBytes   73ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  35.1 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec  11584   2.16 MBytes   47ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  31.7 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec    0   2.27 MBytes   62ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  32.9 MBytes   275 Mbits/sec    0   2.36 MBytes   52ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  32.2 MBytes   271 Mbits/sec    0   2.43 MBytes   40ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  34.4 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec    0   2.48 MBytes   21ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  33.4 MBytes   280 Mbits/sec    0   2.51 MBytes   45ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec    0   2.53 MBytes   101ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   338 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec  50680             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   336 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Wireless laptop (client) to wired mac mini media server (server) gives 750Mbits

[  5] local 192.168.50.144 port 63286 connected to 192.168.50.204 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  92.9 MBytes   779 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   36ms
[  5]   1.00-2.01   sec  89.8 MBytes   749 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   29ms
[  5]   2.01-3.00   sec  83.8 MBytes   707 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   37ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  89.0 MBytes   746 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   20ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  92.4 MBytes   773 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   33ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  91.2 MBytes   765 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   9ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  88.6 MBytes   744 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   25ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  84.1 MBytes   704 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   33ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  91.6 MBytes   770 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   47ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  95.9 MBytes   803 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   33ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   899 MBytes   754 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   897 MBytes   752 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Wired laptop (client) to wired mac mini media server (server) gives 940Mbits

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   113 MBytes   946 Mbits/sec    0   3.24 MBytes   27ms
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.92 MBytes   33ms
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.93 MBytes   34ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   2.91 MBytes   19ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.76 MBytes   30ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   112 MBytes   942 Mbits/sec    0   3.87 MBytes   34ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   2.74 MBytes   15ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.58 MBytes   30ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.81 MBytes   34ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   2.31 MBytes   10ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.10 GBytes   942 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.09 GBytes   939 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Hmm, I just don't understand this. So iPerf3 says everything is fine, judging from the results above. Yet somehow streaming movies in Infuse from server to client over SMB is slow and only gives 90mbps wireless (client) to wireless (server) and 130 wireless (client) to wired (server), but wired (client) to wired (server) gives 600mbps in Infuse app. So is it Infuse that's the problem then? Or is it Samba in macOS?

 

[grateful70]

are you testing with the same laptop for wired and wireless? Technically, if both devices are on the same switch, it now handled by the switch and not the router. If it's the same laptop, then yes there is definitely something up with the wireless handling. If it's a different laptop are you using a USB 2.0 drive on the slower one?

 

[bennor]

How exactly are you testing the wifi speed from the wifi laptop to the wired media server? Its possible the "media server" is detecting the wifi connection and down grading the streaming speed versus when connected via wired. If the "media server" has an administration interface check it's settings to see if there are limitations being placed on streaming clients or on wifi clients.

 

[torstein]

are you testing with the same laptop for wired and wireless? Technically, if both devices are on the same switch, it now handled by the switch and not the router. If it's the same laptop, then yes there is definitely something up with the wireless handling. If it's a different laptop are you using a USB 2.0 drive on the slower one?

I'm testing for wired and wireless with the same laptop - a macbook pro m1.

 

[torstein]

How exactly are you testing the wifi speed from the wifi laptop to the wired media server? Its possible the "media server" is detecting the wifi connection and down grading the streaming speed versus when connected via wired. If the "media server" has an administration interface check it's settings to see if there are limitations being placed on streaming clients or on wifi clients.

I test the wifi speed from the wifi laptop two ways. 1) Through the Infuse video app I use to stream. It has a "network speed test" feature. 2) I also tried the app called LAN_SpeedTest. The "media server" is just a mac mini with stock macOS with "File Sharing" enabled in system settings to allow other comptuers / macs / apple tvs to connect to it through samba. Nothing fancy or any smarts detecting and downgrading anything from my understanding. It's just macOS handling the "media server" part.

 

[bennor]

Maybe try using Iperf/Iperf3 (https://iperf.fr/) on each Mac to test the bandwidth/speed between the two Mac computers to see if that yields similar results.

 

[torstein]

Maybe try using Iperf/Iperf3 (https://iperf.fr/) on each Mac to test the bandwidth/speed between the two Mac computers to see if that yields similar results.

iPerf3 results.

Wireless laptop (client) to Wireless mac mini media server (server) gives 280Mbits

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  35.5 MBytes   298 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   121ms
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  33.9 MBytes   284 Mbits/sec  39096   2.80 MBytes   65ms
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  34.5 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec    0   2.95 MBytes   73ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  35.1 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec  11584   2.16 MBytes   47ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  31.7 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec    0   2.27 MBytes   62ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  32.9 MBytes   275 Mbits/sec    0   2.36 MBytes   52ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  32.2 MBytes   271 Mbits/sec    0   2.43 MBytes   40ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  34.4 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec    0   2.48 MBytes   21ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  33.4 MBytes   280 Mbits/sec    0   2.51 MBytes   45ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec    0   2.53 MBytes   101ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   338 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec  50680             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   336 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Wireless laptop (client) to wired mac mini media server (server) gives 750Mbits

[  5] local 192.168.50.144 port 63286 connected to 192.168.50.204 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  92.9 MBytes   779 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   36ms
[  5]   1.00-2.01   sec  89.8 MBytes   749 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   29ms
[  5]   2.01-3.00   sec  83.8 MBytes   707 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   37ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  89.0 MBytes   746 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   20ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  92.4 MBytes   773 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   33ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  91.2 MBytes   765 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   9ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  88.6 MBytes   744 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   25ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  84.1 MBytes   704 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   33ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  91.6 MBytes   770 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   47ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  95.9 MBytes   803 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   33ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   899 MBytes   754 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   897 MBytes   752 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Wired laptop (client) to wired mac mini media server (server) gives 940Mbits

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   113 MBytes   946 Mbits/sec    0   3.24 MBytes   27ms
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.92 MBytes   33ms
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.93 MBytes   34ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   2.91 MBytes   19ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.76 MBytes   30ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   112 MBytes   942 Mbits/sec    0   3.87 MBytes   34ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   2.74 MBytes   15ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.58 MBytes   30ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   3.81 MBytes   34ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   112 MBytes   941 Mbits/sec    0   2.31 MBytes   10ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.10 GBytes   942 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.09 GBytes   939 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Hmm, I just don't understand this. So iPerf3 says everything is fine, judging from the results above. Yet somehow streaming movies in Infuse from server to client over SMB is slow and only gives 90mbps wireless (client) to wireless (server) and 130 wireless (client) to wired (server), but wired (client) to wired (server) gives 600mbps in Infuse app. So is it Infuse that's the problem then? Or is it Samba in macOS?

 

[bennor]

Hmm, I just don't understand this. So iPerf3 says everything is fine, judging from the results above. Yet somehow streaming movies in Infuse from server to client over SMB is slow and only gives 90mbps wireless (client) to wireless (server) and 130 wireless (client) to wired (server), but wired (client) to wired (server) gives 600mbps in Infuse app. So is it Infuse that's the problem then? Or is it Samba in macOS?

Do you have another computer to test with to see if you replicate the same results? Have you tried a different video player app other than the Infuse app?

 

[torstein]

No I don't have another computer to test with, sadly. At least not for a few days at least, but I have tried the following:

1) A different router - the ISP WiFi-router. Same weak performance as AX86U on WLAN.
2) Reformating my Mac mini (server) with a clean macOS Ventura install. Did nothing.

I just don't get it. Why is my wifi internet 5 times faster than my wifi samba? Is it Apple's Samba implementation? iPerf shows everything is fine, but samba is clearly super slow in comparison.

In fact I'm starting to think it's just how it is on macs. Samba is slow, and on wifi deadslow. The best way is obviously to have the Mac mini wired instead of wireless, since that increased the LAN-speed and samba speed (although not nearly as much) significantly. I think perhaps that when both macs (server and client) are using the same 5Ghz radio talking to each other by streaming video, it "chokes" the wireless bandwith on the 5Ghz radio, that coupled with Apples samba implementation gives me poor speeds? But I don't know. I'm just guessing.

I feel like I've tried everything, and I'm kinda exhausted and defeated. Setting the headless mac up again today has taken the entire day.I think the conclusion is; nothing's wrong. The WiFi is fine, it works as intended, and Infuse's own builtin speedtest is apparantly just a "simulation" of LAN-speeds, with lots of overhead in order to allow scrubbing with thumbnails etc etc, according to Infuse community forum. It works fine. Until I move the Mac mini-server and connect it directly to the router, this is as good as it gets.

I'm gonna try iPerf3 on my wifes macbook air when shes home in a couple of days, and see if there's a difference. Kinda hope it isnt.

 

[Justinh]

Knowing your iPerf results, is the streaming hindered in any way using a wire? Do you need to chase it further?

 

[drinkingbird]

iPerf3 results

Wireless laptop (client) to Wireless mac mini media server (server) gives 280Mbits

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd          RTT
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  35.5 MBytes   298 Mbits/sec    0   4.00 MBytes   121ms
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  33.9 MBytes   284 Mbits/sec  39096   2.80 MBytes   65ms
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  34.5 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec    0   2.95 MBytes   73ms
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  35.1 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec  11584   2.16 MBytes   47ms
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  31.7 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec    0   2.27 MBytes   62ms
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  32.9 MBytes   275 Mbits/sec    0   2.36 MBytes   52ms
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  32.2 MBytes   271 Mbits/sec    0   2.43 MBytes   40ms
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  34.4 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec    0   2.48 MBytes   21ms
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  33.4 MBytes   280 Mbits/sec    0   2.51 MBytes   45ms
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec    0   2.53 MBytes   101ms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   338 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec  50680             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   336 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

The answer is staring you right in the face in the "Retr" column. The wireless on the media server has an issue (since the retransmissions only happen when that is wireless).

Have you tested to a different wireless device from the same laptop?

Also keep in mind that wireless to wireless puts double the load on the wireless chipset in the router. The AX86U I'd think should be able to do 500M (or more) no problem but I know on my old AC1900 I can can get around 600 wireless to wired (full speed for an 866M link) and under 400 wireless to wireless. Additional collisions and overhead come into play too. However you should definitely be able to get more than 280M, but dropped and retransmitted packets will severely impact that.

 

[torstein]

The answer is staring you right in the face in the "Retr" column. The wireless on the media server has an issue (since the retransmissions only happen when that is wireless).

Have you tested to a different wireless device from the same laptop?

Also keep in mind that wireless to wireless puts double the load on the wireless chipset in the router. The AX86U I'd think should be able to do 500M (or more) no problem but I know on my old AC1900 I can can get around 600 wireless to wired (full speed for an 866M link) and under 400 wireless to wireless. Additional collisions and overhead come into play too. However you should definitely be able to get more than 280M, but dropped and retransmitted packets will severely impact that.

Thanks so much!! I didn't know what that meant or that it was bad. I googled it and like you say, Retr is retransmitted packets due to faults in the transmission, either from congestion or corruption due to faulty hardware. Crap... The Mac mini M1 is just one years old, and has been in the same place until I just recently moved a few weeks ago. The mac mini was always plugged in by ethernet, so I didn't notice anything wrong before. According to the article I read, Rets should be 0, and anything higher than 1 missed packets is bad. My network drops 50,000 of them. Yesterday I did a full reformat and clean install of the mac mini to newest macOS Ventura, so I'll try again today and see if it still drops packets.

We don't have too many devices in our household, maybe 8 or 9 in total, and they're mostly idle, so it can't be congestion, unless it's congestion from neighboring WiFis? there's a ton of them in the apartment complex I live in. Could perhaps be the reason? Or is faulty hardware more likely? I'll try and check iperf with my wifes macbook air when she comes home in a couple of days.

Thanks so much, again, I thought it was just one of those "no idea why it doesn't work, and we'll never find out - live with it"-sort of thing.

 

[bennor]

I think perhaps that when both macs (server and client) are using the same 5Ghz radio talking to each other by streaming video, it "chokes" the wireless bandwith on the 5Ghz radio, that coupled with Apples samba implementation gives me poor speeds?

It works fine. Until I move the Mac mini-server and connect it directly to the router, this is as good as it gets.

In your initial post you indicated; "Mac Mini M1 connected to AX86U with ethernet cat5e". But now appears you are indicating you have connected the Mini M1 using WiFi. As others have pointed out WiFi can introduce additional issues and speed degradation. If possible one should always try to have their media server (Mini M1 in this case) connected via Ethernet (wired) to avoid any possible WiFi issues.

One thing to check is if the Mini M1 is using both WiFi and Ethernet to connect to the router (RT-AX86U). Using two network adapters at once on the client device may introduce possible issues if those adapters are not configured properly (ex. bridged for example). If both network adapters are enabled and connected; you may want to disable the WiFi either by disassociating the SSID name, or by turning off the WiFi option. in the Mini M1's configuration/OS.

Edit to add: One suggestion if you haven't tired or done it already. If your Mini M1 Ethernet port is, as indicated by Apple, "configurable to 10Gb Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb, and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)". Then connect the Mini's Ethernet port to the RT-AX86U's 2.5GB Ethernet port (if that port is not used for WAN). If the Mini M1 doesn't auto configure it's Ethernet port to 2.5Gb then see if that option is configurable in the Mini's operating system/GUI.

 

[drinkingbird]

Thanks so much!! I didn't know what that meant or that it was bad. I googled it and like you say, Retr is retransmitted packets due to faults in the transmission, either from congestion or corruption due to faulty hardware. Crap... The Mac mini M1 is just one years old, and has been in the same place until I just recently moved a few weeks ago. The mac mini was always plugged in by ethernet, so I didn't notice anything wrong before. According to the article I read, Rets should be 0, and anything higher than 1 missed packets is bad. My network drops 50,000 of them. Yesterday I did a full reformat and clean install of the mac mini to newest macOS Ventura, so I'll try again today and see if it still drops packets.

We don't have too many devices in our household, maybe 8 or 9 in total, and they're mostly idle, so it can't be congestion, unless it's congestion from neighboring WiFis? there's a ton of them in the apartment complex I live in. Could perhaps be the reason? Or is faulty hardware more likely? I'll try and check iperf with my wifes macbook air when she comes home in a couple of days.

Thanks so much, again, I thought it was just one of those "no idea why it doesn't work, and we'll never find out - live with it"-sort of thing.

Wifi congestion can certainly cause some retransmissions but the fact that you have 0 when using wireless to wired would imply your wifi is fine. But to be sure you can try testing from the same laptop to another wireless device.

 

[torstein]

In your initial post you indicated; "Mac Mini M1 connected to AX86U with ethernet cat5e". But now appears you are indicating you have connected the Mini M1 using WiFi. As others have pointed out WiFi can introduce additional issues and speed degradation. If possible one should always try to have their media server (Mini M1 in this case) connected via Ethernet (wired) to avoid any possible WiFi issues.

Correct, and I apologise for the change. In my previous apartment both Apple TV and Mac mini server was connected via ethernet, and I never saw a problem with streaming large video files (Remuxes mostly( to Infuse video player on Apple TV. Then I moved to my current apartment a few weeks back, and due to where the modem and router is located relative to the TV in this apartment, I had to set up both apple tv and mac mini (server) over WiFi, and no ethernet cables. I figured it didn't matter. It's just one thin wall between them, and I have the glorious AX86U hehe. I then noticed I couldn't watch 80mbps bitrate Remuxes without Infuse stuttering and buffring. I ran a speedtest inside Infuse video player which revealed a network speed of only 60mbps(!!!!). I figured makes sense, wifi is not as fast as wireless, so I reluctantly moved my mac mini closer to the AX86U and connected it with a cat5e cable. The setup looks very cluttered and busy in this apartment (in our old everything was hidden nicely away, but that's not possible here) but I accepted it as long as I could watch 80mbps Remuxes. Infuse stopped stuttering, luckily, but just for fun I wanted to see how much streaming had improved, so I ran a new speedtest inside Infuse videplayer and now it showed only a modest increase from 60mbps to 110-130mbps (fluctuating between the 110-130 in an unstable manner). I thought this was dissapointngly low, so I firgured perhaps the Apple TVs hardware or Wifi is too weak? And that's when I started testing with my Macbook Pro M1 and saw the same poor results, and started investigating and posting here on SNBForums asking you for help, and at the time - the Mac mini connected directly to the router via ethernet. But as I worked on this problem, I realised the mac mini can't stay connected to the router, and I will have to put it back where it originally was and have it connected to wifi for the time being. Wife (and I for that matter) is not going to accept how bad the mac mini-to-router setup looked, with the mac mini shoved into the bookshelf with cables dangling. She already reluctanly accepted the AX86U on top of the shelf (I argued wifi performance would be better the higher tha router is), but she will not accept the mac mini and cables hanging out in front. (The AX86Us cables are running from top of the shelf behind the shelf and thusly are hidden, the mac mini cant fit up there, so has to be placed lower and it just looks tacky and out of place), so mac mini will have to be on wireless until I can figure out something else. Pheww, that was a long and uninteresting story. Sorry I can't give you those minutes of your life back.

Still weird how Samba is so slow even on wireless-to-wired with only 130mbps (16,25mb/s) coming from the mac minis ssd (2200mbps), when iPerf shows 700mbps.

One thing to check is if the Mini M1 is using both WiFi and Ethernet to connect to the router (RT-AX86U).

I disabled Wifi when I was testing with ethernet

If your Mini M1 Ethernet port is, as indicated by Apple, "configurable to 10Gb Ethernet

It is not 10gigabit, sadly, "only" 1gigabit. I got the cheapest mac mini m1 I could get. Figured I didn't need more.

Wifi congestion can certainly cause some retransmissions but the fact that you have 0 when using wireless to wired would imply your wifi is fine. But to be sure you can try testing from the same laptop to another wireless device.

I will once my partner is home But can you please explain to me why you consider my Wifi to be "fine"? I don't think I understand it. Is it because iPerf didnt report any retransmissions on the "Wireless (laptop client) to wired (mac mini server)? Doesn't that just mean that my laptop (macbook pro) wireless is fine, and that the mac mini's wireless has faults, since the retransmissions stopped once the mac mini was off wifi?

I ran some new tests both ways on my laptop and mac mini server after I did a clean install on the mac mini.

From mac mini wireless (iPerf running as server) to laptop wireless (iPerf running as client)

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.01   sec  27.0 MBytes   226 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   1.01-2.00   sec  27.4 MBytes   231 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   2.00-3.01   sec  27.7 MBytes   231 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   3.01-4.00   sec  26.4 MBytes   222 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  27.6 MBytes   232 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  25.2 MBytes   211 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  29.7 MBytes   249 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  27.7 MBytes   232 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  31.3 MBytes   262 Mbits/sec       
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  32.0 MBytes   268 Mbits/sec       
[  4]  10.00-11.00  sec  32.7 MBytes   275 Mbits/sec       
[  4]  11.00-12.00  sec  31.7 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec       
[  4]  12.00-13.00  sec  28.2 MBytes   237 Mbits/sec       
[  4]  13.00-14.00  sec  29.2 MBytes   244 Mbits/sec       
[  4]  14.00-15.00  sec  29.2 MBytes   245 Mbits/sec       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-15.00  sec   433 MBytes   242 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-15.00  sec   431 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec                  receiver

From laptop wireless (iPerf running as server) to mac mini wireless (iPerf running as client)

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Rwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  24.2 MBytes   203 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  27.8 MBytes   233 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  27.5 MBytes   231 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  28.0 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  29.4 MBytes   247 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  30.5 MBytes   256 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  27.8 MBytes   233 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  29.2 MBytes   246 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  32.1 MBytes   269 Mbits/sec  4.00 MBytes       
[  5]  10.00-10.03  sec  1.12 MBytes   375 Mbits/sec  3.97 MBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.03  sec   287 MBytes   240 Mbits/sec                  receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201
-----------------------------------------------------------

No retransmissions now it seems, so I guess a clean-install "fixed" the wifi... still can't explain why the speeds are so slow as 200-250mbps, though. I'll test with my partners macbook air when she's back.

 

[doczenith1]

I get much better speeds when testing wireless with iPerf3 when using the

-w 4M

switch

 

[drinkingbird]

I will once my partner is home But can you please explain to me why you consider my Wifi to be "fine"? I don't think I understand it. Is it because iPerf didnt report any retransmissions on the "Wireless (laptop client) to wired (mac mini server)? Doesn't that just mean that my laptop (macbook pro) wireless is fine, and that the mac mini's wireless has faults, since the retransmissions stopped once the mac mini was off wifi?

Yes clean because wireless to wired had no retransmissions and expected throughput.

Your speeds are still low, even on my old AC1900 I can get about 350 to 400M wireless to wireless (and it is limited by the wireless chipset). Just because it is not reporting retransmissions doesn't mean there isn't an issue with the Mac (it may be that the main issue is that is causes slow throughput, and eventually as stuff backs up enough it starts dropping packets). Do the test with another wireless device when the Misses is home and that will help narrow it down. You should be able to get significantly higher than 2xx megs.

 

[torstein]

So the missus came home, and I ran the tests from my macbook pro (client) to her macbook air (serer) over wireless in the living room (so not next doors to where the AX86U is located). Same results, perhaps slightly worse than the mac mini.

[  4] local 192.168.50.144 port 60834 connected to 192.168.50.128 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  20.8 MBytes   175 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  24.4 MBytes   205 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  27.7 MBytes   232 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   234 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.1 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  30.9 MBytes   260 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  29.0 MBytes   243 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  30.1 MBytes   254 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  25.7 MBytes   216 Mbits/sec                 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   273 MBytes   229 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   271 MBytes   228 Mbits/sec                  receiver

And here is the results of the test ran but in the same room as the AX86U.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   301 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  38.0 MBytes   320 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  33.9 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  33.7 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   302 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  34.8 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   301 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  34.7 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec                 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   351 MBytes   295 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   350 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So it's the same poor result, despite testing towards a different mac. I then tried running the test from the missus' macbook air to the mac mini. Here's the results:

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  33.3 MBytes   279 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  36.7 MBytes   308 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.1 MBytes   303 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  37.1 MBytes   311 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.7 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  36.8 MBytes   309 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  32.8 MBytes   276 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.1 MBytes   269 Mbits/sec                  
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.8 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   338 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   337 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

The same test-results but on the mac minis terminal window. It says "0" under sender for some reason, and the speeds are different too for some reason when comparing them side-by-side to the macbook air. Isn't that strange? I thought they'd be identical to what the terminal on the missus' macbook air says.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  30.5 MBytes   256 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  35.8 MBytes   300 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.6 MBytes   307 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  36.9 MBytes   310 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.8 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  30.3 MBytes   254 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  36.4 MBytes   305 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  31.9 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.8 MBytes   277 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.0 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec                 
[  5]  10.00-10.05  sec  2.60 MBytes   414 Mbits/sec                 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec   337 MBytes   281 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So, what does all this mean? It's more or less the same crappy results no matter which mac (macbook pro, macbook air or mac mini) is sending and receiving. Clean install of the mac mini did nothing. Clean install of the AX86U did nothing. Reverting back to ASUS-WRT original firmware did nothing.

Are all my macs' wireless cards broken, or is it the AX86U perhaps that is broken? Or is it congestion due to me living in a neighborhood with a lot of WiFi's?

 

[drinkingbird]

So the missus came home, and I ran the tests from my macbook pro (client) to her macbook air (serer) over wireless in the living room (so not next doors to where the AX86U is located). Same results, perhaps slightly worse than the mac mini.

[  4] local 192.168.50.144 port 60834 connected to 192.168.50.128 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  20.8 MBytes   175 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  24.4 MBytes   205 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  27.7 MBytes   232 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   234 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.1 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  30.9 MBytes   260 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  29.0 MBytes   243 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  30.1 MBytes   254 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  25.7 MBytes   216 Mbits/sec                
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   273 MBytes   229 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   271 MBytes   228 Mbits/sec                  receiver

And here is the results of the test ran but in the same room as the AX86U.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   301 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  38.0 MBytes   320 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  33.9 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  33.7 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   302 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  34.8 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   301 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  34.7 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec                
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   351 MBytes   295 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   350 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So it's the same poor result, despite testing towards a different mac. I then tried running the test from the missus' macbook air to the mac mini. Here's the results:

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  33.3 MBytes   279 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  36.7 MBytes   308 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.1 MBytes   303 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  37.1 MBytes   311 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.7 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  36.8 MBytes   309 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  32.8 MBytes   276 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.1 MBytes   269 Mbits/sec                 
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.8 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   338 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   337 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

The same test-results but on the mac minis terminal window. It says "0" under sender for some reason, and the speeds are different too for some reason when comparing them side-by-side to the macbook air. Isn't that strange? I thought they'd be identical to what the terminal on the missus' macbook air says.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  30.5 MBytes   256 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  35.8 MBytes   300 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.6 MBytes   307 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  36.9 MBytes   310 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.8 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  30.3 MBytes   254 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  36.4 MBytes   305 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  31.9 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.8 MBytes   277 Mbits/sec                
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.0 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec                
[  5]  10.00-10.05  sec  2.60 MBytes   414 Mbits/sec                
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec   337 MBytes   281 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So, what does all this mean? It's more or less the same crappy results no matter which mac (macbook pro, macbook air or mac mini) is sending and receiving. Clean install of the mac mini did nothing. Clean install of the AX86U did nothing. Reverting back to ASUS-WRT original firmware did nothing.

Are all my macs' wireless cards broken, or is it the AX86U perhaps that is broken? Or is it congestion due to me living in a neighborhood with a lot of WiFi's?

Try running iperf with 5 or 10 parallel streams. The latency of dual wifi may be limiting throughout of a single stream. It is either -p or -P I forget which. Actually I like to use powers of 2 like 4 or 8.

 

[drinkingbird]

So the missus came home, and I ran the tests from my macbook pro (client) to her macbook air (serer) over wireless in the living room (so not next doors to where the AX86U is located). Same results, perhaps slightly worse than the mac mini.

[  4] local 192.168.50.144 port 60834 connected to 192.168.50.128 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  20.8 MBytes   175 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  24.4 MBytes   205 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  27.7 MBytes   232 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   234 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.1 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   235 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  30.9 MBytes   260 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  29.0 MBytes   243 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  30.1 MBytes   254 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  25.7 MBytes   216 Mbits/sec               
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   273 MBytes   229 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   271 MBytes   228 Mbits/sec                  receiver

And here is the results of the test ran but in the same room as the AX86U.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   301 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  38.0 MBytes   320 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  33.9 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  33.7 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   302 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  34.8 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  36.0 MBytes   301 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  34.7 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec               
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec               
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   351 MBytes   295 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   350 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So it's the same poor result, despite testing towards a different mac. I then tried running the test from the missus' macbook air to the mac mini. Here's the results:

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  33.3 MBytes   279 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  36.7 MBytes   308 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.1 MBytes   303 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  37.1 MBytes   311 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.7 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  36.8 MBytes   309 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  32.8 MBytes   276 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.1 MBytes   269 Mbits/sec                
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.8 MBytes   292 Mbits/sec                
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   338 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   337 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

The same test-results but on the mac minis terminal window. It says "0" under sender for some reason, and the speeds are different too for some reason when comparing them side-by-side to the macbook air. Isn't that strange? I thought they'd be identical to what the terminal on the missus' macbook air says.

[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  30.5 MBytes   256 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  35.8 MBytes   300 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  36.6 MBytes   307 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  36.9 MBytes   310 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  28.8 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  30.3 MBytes   254 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  36.4 MBytes   305 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  31.9 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.8 MBytes   277 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  34.0 MBytes   285 Mbits/sec               
[  5]  10.00-10.05  sec  2.60 MBytes   414 Mbits/sec               
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec   337 MBytes   281 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So, what does all this mean? It's more or less the same crappy results no matter which mac (macbook pro, macbook air or mac mini) is sending and receiving. Clean install of the mac mini did nothing. Clean install of the AX86U did nothing. Reverting back to ASUS-WRT original firmware did nothing.

Are all my macs' wireless cards broken, or is it the AX86U perhaps that is broken? Or is it congestion due to me living in a neighborhood with a lot of WiFi's?

Also even though you're getting good numbers when one side is wired, maybe the MAC build of IPERF is buggy, try transferring a large uncompressable file (like a movie) between the machines. You can watch the transfer rate (multiply by 8 to get bits) or calculate the time it takes to transfer vs the file size. See if results are any better.