topic Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds in Wireless

Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

aidanc — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 18:58:35 GMT

Hello all. I am running some older 3500i access points that I received from my organization. I set them up in autonomous mode. I have a full gigabit internet connection as well as hardware and cabling. As of now with my current configuration my download speed is only about 120mbps which is nothing near the rated 300. I made sure my testing device was connected to the 5g band. What gives? Here is my config:

!
! Last configuration change at 20:53:19 UTC Mon Mar 22 1993
version 15.2
no service pad
service timestamps debug datetime msec
service timestamps log datetime msec
service password-encryption
!
hostname CNS_AP02_BB
!
!
logging rate-limit console 9
enable secret 5 $1$RVm.$1otXVoRpFC1jACZOIeGX0/
!
aaa new-model
!
!
aaa group server radius rad_eap
!
aaa group server radius rad_mac
!
aaa group server radius rad_acct
!
aaa group server radius rad_admin
!
aaa group server tacacs+ tac_admin
!
aaa group server radius rad_pmip
!
aaa group server radius dummy
!
aaa authentication login eap_methods group rad_eap
aaa authentication login mac_methods local
aaa authorization exec default local 
aaa accounting network acct_methods start-stop group rad_acct
!
!
!
!
!
aaa session-id common
no ip cef
ip admission name webauth proxy http
ip admission name webpass consent
!
!
!
!
dot11 syslog
dot11 vlan-name Guest vlan 5
dot11 vlan-name IoT vlan 2
!
dot11 ssid CroftGuest
   vlan 5
   authentication open 
   mbssid guest-mode
!
dot11 ssid CroftNetwork
   vlan 2
   authentication open 
   authentication key-management wpa version 2
   mbssid guest-mode
   wpa-psk ascii 7 08751B1D5A41514447585C
!
!
dot11 guest
!
!
!
username Cisco password 7 14341B180F0B
username aedanc privilege 15 password 7 0502160320551C5C49
!
!
bridge irb
!
!
!
interface Dot11Radio0
 no ip address
 !
 encryption vlan 2 mode ciphers aes-ccm 
 !
 ssid CroftGuest
 !
 ssid CroftNetwork
 !
 mbssid
 speed  basic-1.0 basic-2.0 basic-5.5 basic-11.0 6.0 9.0 12.0 18.0 24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0 m0. m1. m2. m3. m4. m5. m6. m7. m8. m9. m10. m11. m12. m13. m14. m15.
 station-role root
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
!
interface Dot11Radio0.2
 encapsulation dot1Q 2
 bridge-group 2
 bridge-group 2 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 2 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 2 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 2 source-learning
 no bridge-group 2 unicast-flooding
!
interface Dot11Radio0.5
 encapsulation dot1Q 5
 bridge-group 5
 bridge-group 5 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 5 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 5 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 5 source-learning
 no bridge-group 5 unicast-flooding
!
interface Dot11Radio1
 no ip address
 !
 encryption vlan 2 mode ciphers aes-ccm 
 !
 ssid CroftGuest
 !
 ssid CroftNetwork
 !
 peakdetect
 no dfs band block
 mbssid
 speed  basic-6.0 9.0 basic-12.0 18.0 basic-24.0 36.0 48.0 54.0 m0. m1. m2. m3. m4. m5. m6. m7. m8. m9. m10. m11. m12. m13. m14. m15.
 channel width 40-above
 channel dfs
 station-role root
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 1 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
 no bridge-group 1 unicast-flooding
!
interface Dot11Radio1.2
 encapsulation dot1Q 2
 bridge-group 2
 bridge-group 2 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 2 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 2 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 2 source-learning
 no bridge-group 2 unicast-flooding
!
interface Dot11Radio1.5
 encapsulation dot1Q 5
 bridge-group 5
 bridge-group 5 subscriber-loop-control
 bridge-group 5 spanning-disabled
 bridge-group 5 block-unknown-source
 no bridge-group 5 source-learning
 no bridge-group 5 unicast-flooding
!
interface GigabitEthernet0
 no ip address
 duplex auto
 speed auto
 bridge-group 1
 bridge-group 1 spanning-disabled
 no bridge-group 1 source-learning
!
interface GigabitEthernet0.2
 encapsulation dot1Q 2
 bridge-group 2
 bridge-group 2 spanning-disabled
 no bridge-group 2 source-learning
!
interface GigabitEthernet0.5
 encapsulation dot1Q 5
 bridge-group 5
 bridge-group 5 spanning-disabled
 no bridge-group 5 source-learning
!
interface BVI1
 ip address 10.10.2.3 255.255.255.0
 ipv6 address dhcp
 ipv6 address autoconfig
 ipv6 enable
!
ip default-gateway 10.10.2.1
ip forward-protocol nd
ip http server
no ip http secure-server
ip http help-path http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/smbiz/prodconfig/help/eag
ip radius source-interface BVI1 
!
!
!
snmp-server community private1 RO
radius-server local
!
radius-server attribute 32 include-in-access-req format %h
radius-server vsa send accounting
!
bridge 1 route ip
!
!
!
line con 0
line vty 0 4
 length 0
 transport input all
!
end

Thanks for any help and wishing best of health to you all.

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

Leo Laohoo — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 01:29:58 GMT

@aidanc wrote:

As of now with my current configuration my download speed is only about 120 mbps which is nothing near the rated 300.

1. What is the make and model of the wireless NIC used to test this?

2. What data rate was the wireless client connected to?

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

aidanc — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 07:26:43 GMT

Hi, thanks for your response.

The testing was done on a Pixel 4XL and an Intel Dual Band Wirelss-AC 7265. Standing directly in front of AP the status of my NIC on laptop it says the speed is 300Mbps. (Never realized how useful that little speed indicator is haha.)

-Aidan

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

Leo Laohoo — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 10:14:59 GMT

So what is the firmware of the Intel 7265?

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

aidanc — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 19:18:15 GMT

Couldn't find out where that info was located so I just updated it to 19.51.28.1 from intel site. This is the latest release. Tested again, link speed is 300, download was only 112.

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

aidanc — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 20:44:01 GMT

Just wanted to post a little side note, I enabled band select and made sure I was on 5G. Nothing.

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

Rasika Nayanajith — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 22:04:48 GMT

Hi Aidan,

if you are getting 120Mbps throughput, I would say that is not bad.

Let me explain why.

As you already know 3502 is 802.11n (2x3:2 ie 2Tx, 3 Rx & 2 spatial stream support) with 2SS support. If you look at MCS values, you realize it can max get 300Mbps (refer http://mcsindex.com/)

It looks like your laptop also 2 SS hence it can support up to 300Mbps data rates.

Now if you think about wireless, it is a half-duplex medium. When one device transmit all other device has to wait. Because of this nature, your device throughput will be reduced to 50% of that data rate. In other words, if you have only your laptop connect to AP & no other devices in the cell, the theoretical max you can get is 150Mbps.

In wireless, there are 3 types of frames

1. Management frames (beacon, probe req/res, association req/res, authentication req/res, etc)

2. Control frames (Ack, Block Ack, RTC/CTS,etc)

3. Data frames (this is the only type of frame that carries users data)

In any given wireless cell, you need to have Management & Control frames for cell operation. If you have many SSID, then those management frames & control frame overhead will increase. Effectively time to transmit data frame reduce or data frame has to wait longer. Due to this further % airtime will be gone for management & control frame transmission. Therefore data throughput will be less than 50% of max data rate. Also, note that even data frames have overhead (headers that add in transmission addition to real data that user want to transmit)

In your case you got around 40% ( 120Mbps out of 300Mbps) which I would think not bad. Considering a typical wireless environment. If you test your laptop & pixel at the same time (that is speed test att the same time) you will realize individual device throughput is reduced from 120Mbps.

HTH

Rasika

*** Pls rate all useful responses ***

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

aidanc — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 00:12:12 GMT

Rasika,

Wow! What an amazing response. That helps out a ton. From what I understand (I am much better with switching than WiFi) I got these free because they are practically obsolete. Ideally if I wanted better speeds at affordable cost I should switch out my wifi equipment to something that does 802.11ac.

Your explanation is extremely clear and gave me a very good understanding of the "issue" I am facing.

Thanks! Have a great one!

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

patoberli — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 07:46:22 GMT

Yes this is correct, although when buying new hardware now, get 802.11ax which offers a LOT of new and great features.

Re: Autonomous 3500i Slow Speeds

aidanc — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:52:03 GMT

I hope to get 802.11ax hardware! Just a bit expensive.