NWA50AX multiple ap poor wifi performance

McDamon
McDamon Posts: 2
edited November 2023 in Nebula
Hi! Am looking for some advice on some poor observed wifi performance in a small installation of 2x NWA50AX APs.

Topology: 2x NWA50AX APs, PoE powered, each with 1 gb ethernet backhaul to layer 3 switch, same VLAN, 1 gb FTTP, APs installed on separate floors of residential building - wall mounted

Configuration: NCC managed, separate 2.4g and 5g SSIDs, WPA3, 802.11k/v on, U-APSD on, DCS client aware, no avoid 5g DFS, auto 5g deployment, smart steering -70/75, <5 clients per AP, inSSIDer shows both APs with 80 MHz bandwidth on 5g SSID

Problem: client (Intel AX200 Wifi 6, right next to AP) very slow (<100mbps) iperf3 on 5ghz (similar on 2.4 ghz), with only 1 AP active things are better (~400 mbps), but still not expected Wifi 6 2+2 rate (~600+ mbps). Other Wifi 5 clients (i.e. phones) show similar performance issues.

Things I've tried:
- PoE is definitely not an issue - am using a 30w 802.3at injector, NCC reports power mode Full for both APs
- Ethernet cable/backhaul not an issue - have tested cable runs via iperf3 - achieving line rate 1 gbE (900+ mbps)
- With 1 AP I get better performance, but still not up to expected Wifi 6 throughput (at least ~600+ mbps expected?)
- Suspect there may be interference between the APs due to proximity? Have posted some inSSIDer scans of the DCS config the two APs have settled on



Any suggestions?

Accepted Solution

  • jpblanch75
    jpblanch75 Posts: 98  Ally Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector
    Answer ✓
    McDamon said:
    Hi! Am looking for some advice on some poor observed wifi performance in a small installation of 2x NWA50AX APs.

    Topology: 2x NWA50AX APs, PoE powered, each with 1 gb ethernet backhaul to layer 3 switch, same VLAN, 1 gb FTTP, APs installed on separate floors of residential building - wall mounted

    Configuration: NCC managed, separate 2.4g and 5g SSIDs, WPA3, 802.11k/v on, U-APSD on, DCS client aware, no avoid 5g DFS, auto 5g deployment, smart steering -70/75, <5 clients per AP, inSSIDer shows both APs with 80 MHz bandwidth on 5g SSID

    Problem: client (Intel AX200 Wifi 6, right next to AP) very slow (<100mbps) iperf3 on 5ghz (similar on 2.4 ghz), with only 1 AP active things are better (~400 mbps), but still not expected Wifi 6 2+2 rate (~600+ mbps). Other Wifi 5 clients (i.e. phones) show similar performance issues.

    Things I've tried:
    - PoE is definitely not an issue - am using a 30w 802.3at injector, NCC reports power mode Full for both APs
    - Ethernet cable/backhaul not an issue - have tested cable runs via iperf3 - achieving line rate 1 gbE (900+ mbps)
    - With 1 AP I get better performance, but still not up to expected Wifi 6 throughput (at least ~600+ mbps expected?)
    - Suspect there may be interference between the APs due to proximity? Have posted some inSSIDer scans of the DCS config the two APs have settled on



    Any suggestions?
    Disable U-APSD....
    Disable DFS and DCS....

    Set channels manually....
    For 5ghz set one in the 36-48 channels and the other in the 149-161 channels.  

    For 2.4ghz... use less used channels around each AP.

All Replies

  • Zyxel_Bella
    Zyxel_Bella Posts: 428  Zyxel Employee
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer

    Hi @McDamon

     

    Thanks for detail description about all your conditions.

    You’ve ensured the band and channels, also did objectively to test wired and wireless speed by using iPerf.

     

    After optimizing the test environment through the process mentioned above, evaluate connection quality before proceeding the throughput test. Here you can check some indicators to verify if the setup and connection status is correct and healthy enough for the test.

    > Signal Strength, Link rate (Tx/Rx rate), Client Capability

     

    1) For windows laptop, type “netsh wlan show interface” in the cmd window to check rate.


     

    On NCC, check the client information on the [Access Point > Monitor > Clients] page.


     

    Note: the link rate displayed is the theoretical maximum speed, which does not equal to the actual throughput due to packet encapsulation and other factors. Here we just use this value to evaluate the signal strength and negotiation result between access point and wireless client.

     

    If you still have performance questions after each part is confirmed in above setup, please enable the Zyxel support at Help > Support request > Invite Zyxel support as administrator, and provide the Org and Site name for us to check.

     

    Thank you.

     

     

    Regards,

    Bella

     

     


  • jpblanch75
    jpblanch75 Posts: 98  Ally Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector
    Answer ✓
    McDamon said:
    Hi! Am looking for some advice on some poor observed wifi performance in a small installation of 2x NWA50AX APs.

    Topology: 2x NWA50AX APs, PoE powered, each with 1 gb ethernet backhaul to layer 3 switch, same VLAN, 1 gb FTTP, APs installed on separate floors of residential building - wall mounted

    Configuration: NCC managed, separate 2.4g and 5g SSIDs, WPA3, 802.11k/v on, U-APSD on, DCS client aware, no avoid 5g DFS, auto 5g deployment, smart steering -70/75, <5 clients per AP, inSSIDer shows both APs with 80 MHz bandwidth on 5g SSID

    Problem: client (Intel AX200 Wifi 6, right next to AP) very slow (<100mbps) iperf3 on 5ghz (similar on 2.4 ghz), with only 1 AP active things are better (~400 mbps), but still not expected Wifi 6 2+2 rate (~600+ mbps). Other Wifi 5 clients (i.e. phones) show similar performance issues.

    Things I've tried:
    - PoE is definitely not an issue - am using a 30w 802.3at injector, NCC reports power mode Full for both APs
    - Ethernet cable/backhaul not an issue - have tested cable runs via iperf3 - achieving line rate 1 gbE (900+ mbps)
    - With 1 AP I get better performance, but still not up to expected Wifi 6 throughput (at least ~600+ mbps expected?)
    - Suspect there may be interference between the APs due to proximity? Have posted some inSSIDer scans of the DCS config the two APs have settled on



    Any suggestions?
    Disable U-APSD....
    Disable DFS and DCS....

    Set channels manually....
    For 5ghz set one in the 36-48 channels and the other in the 149-161 channels.  

    For 2.4ghz... use less used channels around each AP.
  • McDamon
    McDamon Posts: 2
    Thanks all. Due to https://community.zyxel.com/en/discussion/12823/nwa50ax-v6-25-abtf-5-where-is-80-mhz-ch132-144-and-unii-3-ch149-161 it seems I can't select 149-161, but manually selecting 36-48 has made a difference. 

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