Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 4:16 Post subject: I can't get considerable speeds using DD-WRT
As reported in another thread, wifi speeds with the C7 v2 US with DD-WRT are lower than what the stock firmware delivers. I've tried several settings without significant improvements, including the ones recommended here https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=324014
These are the current settings.
I get much higher speed connecting the Galaxy S10 directly to the main network in my room, in the same place I only get what is shown in the second image of the speedtest.
In stability it's great, only the speeds are not good.
I suspect it's because of the heat, where I live it's hot and with DD-WRT I notice medium heating, with stock the C7 works cold.[/url]
You use the 5ghz band of the Archer as a client and connect to the 2.4Ghz band with your smartphone.
The 2.4Ghz band does not have the capacity to reach 450Mbit with any firmware, not even the stock firmware.
It seems that the Archer has an IEEE 802.11n 3x3 radio with a maximum Phy rate of 450Mbit.
And with a Phy rate of 450Mbit you don't achieve 450Mbit throughput but at most ~60% of it, moreover, with a 3x3 client (with 3 antennas).
Your smartphone certainly does not have 3x3 MIMO, so the maximum Phy rate drops further ...........
You use the 5ghz band of the Archer as a client and connect to the 2.4Ghz band with your smartphone.
The 2.4Ghz band does not have the capacity to reach 450Mbit with any firmware, not even the stock firmware.
It seems that the Archer has an IEEE 802.11n 3x3 radio with a maximum Phy rate of 450Mbit.
And with a Phy rate of 450Mbit you don't achieve 450Mbit throughput but at most ~60% of it, moreover, with a 3x3 client (with 3 antennas).
Your smartphone certainly does not have 3x3 MIMO, so the maximum Phy rate drops further ...........
Just a moment!
As I understand it, you said that I use 5GHz as a client and connect the smart to 2.4GHz?
No!
I connect to the 5GHz network and the SNR at Archer's location is 50~54. Because it's 3x3 and has MIMO, it should have great speed, but not the maximum, obviously. Those who have little knowledge know that in 2.4 it doesn't go beyond 100 most of the time, with the exception of the AX standard, I wouldn't commit this nonsense.
Obs.: I may have misunderstood, the translator is not helping
They both look like they were done from a mobile device... (the same device)
and if the 2nd screenshot is from a mobile device, then it must be connected to the Archer via WLAN somehow, and based on the settings you posted, that can only be 2.4Ghz.
They both look like they were done from a mobile device... (the same device)
and if the 2nd screenshot is from a mobile device, then it must be connected to the Archer via WLAN somehow, and based on the settings you posted, that can only be 2.4Ghz.
The two tests were done with the same device connected at 5GHz, the first shows the result when connected to the isp modem, the second is the result when connected to the C7, both in the same place. I'm using VAP on 5GHz, don't include it in the screenshot because I thought it was obvious.
A few years ago when I had 15Mbps of speed available, using a wr841 as a repeater in client or bridge mode provided full speed, so I'm finding it strange to only have half of what the galaxy S10 is capable of receiving.
Well, I'm not used to using dd-wrt. I used it for a few months and didn't delve into it. I'm back now to be able to use client mode
So is there no advantage to using dd-wrt as a client?
WLAN is only half duplex
That means it can only send or receive but not both at the same time.
And if you use 1 radio as a client and as a VAP at the same time, it will always receive and transmit at the same time, which halves the possible throughput.
100Mbit download on the end device:
100Mbit RX (radio in client mode) + 100Mbit TX (radio in VAP mode) = 200Mbit combined throughput on the radio.
This has nothing to do with dd-wrt ...
To repeat a WLAN with full bandwidth you need 2 physical radios (in your case 2 physical 5Ghz radios).
and not only one
and a fast processor in the router
Edit:
Please show a screenshot of "WebIF > Status > WLAN" with the connected clients and the uplink router.
Depending on this, it could also be somewhat faster if you use 2.4Ghz as backhaul.
WLAN is only half duplex
That means it can only send or receive but not both at the same time.
And if you use 1 radio as a client and as a VAP at the same time, it will always receive and transmit at the same time, which halves the possible throughput.
100Mbit download on the end device:
100Mbit RX (radio in client mode) + 100Mbit TX (radio in VAP mode) = 200Mbit combined throughput on the radio.
This has nothing to do with dd-wrt ...
To repeat a WLAN with full bandwidth you need 2 physical radios (in your case 2 physical 5Ghz radios).
and not only one
and a fast processor in the router
Edit:
Please show a screenshot of "WebIF > Status > WLAN" with the connected clients and the uplink router.
Depending on this, it could also be somewhat faster if you use 2.4Ghz as backhaul.
Is there a wired client connected?
(it shows 4 clients and 3 WLAN clients)
Maybe test it with the wired client.
Otherwise you could test the 2.4Ghz radio in client mode (with 40Mhz and 3x3 MIMO up to ~280Mbit are possible).
And also observe the processor load during a longer speedtest.
At https://fast.com/ you can set the duration (min 60sec as the CPU load in WebIF is very sluggish).
Depending on the configuration, client mode is also very CPU-intensive. (firewall deactivated?)
Otherwise, as I said, the selected setup is unfavourable, you have 2 APs in a relatively short distance that transmit at high power on the same channel and interfere with each other and take away the bandwidth, and the client+VAP setup on the same radio also reduces the bandwidth.
Is there a wired client connected?
(it shows 4 clients and 3 WLAN clients)
Maybe test it with the wired client.
Otherwise you could test the 2.4Ghz radio in client mode (with 40Mhz and 3x3 MIMO up to ~280Mbit are possible).
And also observe the processor load during a longer speedtest.
At https://fast.com/ you can set the duration (min 60sec as the CPU load in WebIF is very sluggish).
Depending on the configuration, client mode is also very CPU-intensive. (firewall deactivated?)
Otherwise, as I said, the selected setup is unfavourable, you have 2 APs in a relatively short distance that transmit at high power on the same channel and interfere with each other and take away the bandwidth, and the client+VAP setup on the same radio also reduces the bandwidth.
Yes, the laptop is connected with CAT 5E cable. On cable and with previous versions it reached 320Mbps (down)- 47Mbps (up), now 245Mbps - 45Mbps.
During the tests the CPU load varies between 38 to 53%, the temperature does not change, staying at 45%. I suspected the temperature was high, but I saw that it's normal.
It took me a while to give the feedback because I did several tests in search of improvements. In 2.4 the signal is full and does not exceed 100Mbps.
The solution is to buy another router, I intended to do that, but the new ones here are expensive, I will buy used, some laymen end up selling their used new ones for not so low prices, but this can be considered a bargain, due to the change of ISP they offer modem routers because they think they won't need the routers anymore.
Hard to find triband, I found a dir-885 and a dir-895 for very low values. Can you tell if they perform better with DD-WRT or is there not much of an advantage?
Well, the client mode has a WAN interface and you are measuring the WAN, i.e. Internet speed.
All traffic flows through the firewall and is NATted.
This is of course very processor intensive and very slow.
That's why I asked if you have disabled the firewall?
WDS is better for linking routers...
But it has the same limitations. (all WDS APs use the same channel and the bandwidth is reduced with each additional HOP).
The only high speed solution would be as said with 2x 5Ghz radios working on different channels.
But as you already stated, there are rather few routers with multiple 5ghz radios and the few are not all supported by dd-wrt or are not recommended...
With a lot of money you can build your own x86 with multiple radios... but that is quite "advanced"
Otherwise there is only the good old cable.
Connect each AP / WAP with cable and use different channels then you have a real high-speed WLAN.
Ultimately, however, as I said, this is also a question of CPU performance.
A Netgear R7800 with a 2x1.7Ghz processor already has almost 100% CPU load with 800Mbit WLAN traffic.
If you use it as a WDS AP and WDS station at the same time, the client will certainly not receive more than 400Mbit.
So I don't know, either you pull cables or use Power LAN, or buy a so-called tri-band repeater or build your own router for a lot of money.
WDS etc is not really designed for high speed...
WDS is supposed to increase the WLAN range, e.g. a good router with good radios can still have a good signal where common clients no longer have a stable connection.
Well, the client mode has a WAN interface and you are measuring the WAN, i.e. Internet speed.
All traffic flows through the firewall and is NATted.
This is of course very processor intensive and very slow.
That's why I asked if you have disabled the firewall?
WDS is better for linking routers...
But it has the same limitations. (all WDS APs use the same channel and the bandwidth is reduced with each additional HOP).
The only high speed solution would be as said with 2x 5Ghz radios working on different channels.
But as you already stated, there are rather few routers with multiple 5ghz radios and the few are not all supported by dd-wrt or are not recommended...
Quote:
With a lot of money you can build your own x86 with multiple radios... but that is quite "advanced"
I thought about it!
For now I'm researching some triband available, it doesn't matter if it doesn't reach full speed, as long as it's not as slow as it is now.
Otherwise there is only the good old cable.
Connect each AP / WAP with cable and use different channels then you have a real high-speed WLAN.
Ultimately, however, as I said, this is also a question of CPU performance.
A Netgear R7800 with a 2x1.7Ghz processor already has almost 100% CPU load with 800Mbit WLAN traffic.
If you use it as a WDS AP and WDS station at the same time, the client will certainly not receive more than 400Mbit.
So I don't know, either you pull cables or use Power LAN, or buy a so-called tri-band repeater or build your own router for a lot of money.
WDS etc is not really designed for high speed...
WDS is supposed to increase the WLAN range, e.g. a good router with good radios can still have a good signal where common clients no longer have a stable connection.
For now I'm researching some triband available, it doesn't matter if it doesn't reach full speed, as long as it's not as slow as it is now.
I can consider the thread as resolved.
Danke Kamerad!
Well, the client mode has a WAN interface and you are measuring the WAN, i.e. Internet speed.
All traffic flows through the firewall and is NATted.
This is of course very processor intensive and very slow.
That's why I asked if you have disabled the firewall?
WDS is better for linking routers...
But it has the same limitations. (all WDS APs use the same channel and the bandwidth is reduced with each additional HOP).
The only high speed solution would be as said with 2x 5Ghz radios working on different channels.
But as you already stated, there are rather few routers with multiple 5ghz radios and the few are not all supported by dd-wrt or are not recommended...
Quote:
With a lot of money you can build your own x86 with multiple radios... but that is quite "advanced"
I thought about it!
For now I'm researching some triband available, it doesn't matter if it doesn't reach full speed, as long as it's not as slow as it is now.
Otherwise there is only the good old cable.
Connect each AP / WAP with cable and use different channels then you have a real high-speed WLAN.
Ultimately, however, as I said, this is also a question of CPU performance.
A Netgear R7800 with a 2x1.7Ghz processor already has almost 100% CPU load with 800Mbit WLAN traffic.
If you use it as a WDS AP and WDS station at the same time, the client will certainly not receive more than 400Mbit.
So I don't know, either you pull cables or use Power LAN, or buy a so-called tri-band repeater or build your own router for a lot of money.
WDS etc is not really designed for high speed...
WDS is supposed to increase the WLAN range, e.g. a good router with good radios can still have a good signal where common clients no longer have a stable connection.
For now I'm researching some triband available, it doesn't matter if it doesn't reach full speed, as long as it's not as slow as it is now.
I can consider the thread as resolved.
Danke Kamerad!
Edit: Yes I disabled the firewall but there was no difference
The C7 CPU is low end, and the speed maybe build related. Did you see that post:
https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=331650
You may try with a build that was reported as a faster one...
I cannot confirm the speed differences because I do not own a C7. Could be informative for other C7 owners
If you need a quick fix or triband extender see EX7500, EX7700 or EX8000 but only if you do not mind stock.
As already mentioned avoid client and bridge modes, use WDS or good old fashioned Ethernet cable instead.
These models are hard to find here when they are expensive. I found some used from 300 to 400 dollars, in the international market I find new ones for less, but the import tax is high, it rarely goes without tax, but it's like a lottery.
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll do a lot of research.