Poor Throughput on WAP371

[southerndoc]

I have 4 WAP371's installed around my home.  I upgraded my Comcast Extreme 105 to Extreme 250.  On my iMac (which is hardwired), I can get 300 Mbps.

On my laptops, I can only get 40-60 Mbps max even though the computer says the WiFi is connected via 802.11ac at 785 Mbps.

I switched back to my Ubiquiti UAP-AC WAP's and I'm getting 200-300 Mbps on the same laptops.

I've tinkered with the wireless settings, but cannot get more than 60 Mbps on the WAP371.  I have VLAN's enabled (I cannot seem to create a wireless network without a VLAN/VAP ID attached).

From what I've read, this is a known issue.  Was this issue supposedly fixed with the latest firmware update?  Are there any suggestions how to fix this?  The Ubiquiti WAP's are unreliable and have frequent disconnects.  The Cisco WAP371's are very reliable, devices roam easily between them, etc., but they're slow.

Thanks!

[southerndoc]

I did find the settings under LAN -> VLAN and IPv4 Address to enable untagged VLAN.  If I uncheck it, I lose the ability to configure the WAP (via both hardwired connections as well as WiFi connections).

[southerndoc]

This is listed as being fixed in the latest firmware.  However, no matter what I try, I cannot get more than 50-70 Mbps downstream (even though my WiFi states I'm connected at 500+ Mbps).

Has anyone been able to get 200+ Mbps data transfer through the WAPs?

[Michiel Beenen]

Anyone any update on this? Im seeing indeed what you are all seeing aswell, my macbook says connected at 702mbps but when i speedtest to the internet (we have 500mbps down) i get 60mbps while, when i connect on a  LAN cable i get the full 500mbps down.

Update: I got this fixed by disabling the MFP options on both radios. With this disabled I now get over 400mbps.

[southerndoc]

I'm guessing nobody else is experiencing this since I've seen no other comments.

The best I've gotten out of the WAP371 has been 80-85 Mbps when my MacBook states the connection rate is 500+.

On another note, if I switch my wireless to another network (that has the same SSID for 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz with band steering active), I get up to 160 Mbps downstream while connected to the same 5 GHz channel (108, DFS) as with the other SSID that is 5 GHz only.  (In other words, I have SSID "wifi" that is 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz with band steering active and SSID "wifiac" that is 5 GHz only).

The only difference in network setups is wifiac is WPA2-AES only with MFP capable checked and wifi is both WPA2-AES and WPA-TKIP.

I'm wondering if the bug lies with limiting it to WPA2-AES only.

I confirmed that when using the wifi network, my MacBook is reporting I'm connecting via WPA2.

[southerndoc]

OK, this is definitely a bug.

I had wifiac hidden.  I started broadcasting the SSID and enabled WPA-TKIP and wifiac is now getting 200+ Mbps downstream.

How can I submit a bug report?  I'm still connecting with WPA2.  Not sure if this is a problem with the SSID being hidden causing the throughput to be diminished.  Unfortunately, my wife is at wits end for me tinkering with the wifi the past few days, so for my own safety (LOL) I'm going to wait a week or two before I start tinkering with it again.

[brandon.applegate]

Consider this a "me too" post.  Running latest (1.2.0.2 ).

My first instinct / pass at the config was to disable TKIP.  I got about 60mbit.  Did some more testing and finally hit google (and found this thread).  I reenabled TKIP and I can get 400-600mbit now (awesome).

I'm normally on the enterprise / TAC side of things at work, so I'm not quite sure how to submit a bug report about this (TAC case ?  I don't really have Smartnet.. hmm).

I'll try to reply if I can figure out how to submit a bug on this type of SOHO gear.  If anyone knows how/where to submit it - that would be great.

[southerndoc]

Brandon, do you mind posting some of your config info?  I cannot get nowhere near the speeds you're getting.

What channel are you using?  802.11n/ac only?  DFS support and shortguard interval on?  VHT features enabled?  Frame burst on or off?

Do you have any additional VLAN ID's?  (I have one, VLAN3 for guest wifi).

Thanks!

[brandon.applegate]

FYI - I talked to a chat support agent and he opened a TAC case on this.  Will try to troubleshoot via Webex Monday.

Disclaimer - my speed test is using 'iperf' - so this is generated data sent from one machine to another and it's sunk to the bit bucket.  So nothing touches disk - this is all in-memory / software / discard.

I pretty much left Cisco's defaults with regard to radio settings - but I will answer your question with regard to anything specific or anything I changed.

I'm using the 5ghz radio only (2.4 is turned off).  802.11n/ac mode (no a).  Channel is auto.  DFS is on, Short GI is Yes.  VHT not enabled.  Frame burst off.  No VLANs on this guy - plain vanilla untagged / vlan1.

Wired network is same vlan/subnet - 1gig on 'server'.  Macbook Air 'client'.  iperf on both sides, various tests ran in each direction.

[brandon.applegate]

I actually worked a TAC case on this.  The engineer made several changes to defaults - but the one that seems to make the most difference is MFP.  When you disable TKIP - the MFP settings become relevant and are made visible.  Changing mine to "Not Required" seems to have gotten the speed back up.

Here is a another thread regarding MFP on the 371.  Not exactly the same issue as this thread - but it seems the MFP settings are biting others in various ways:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12543141/wap371-firmware-v1202-wireless-client-incompatibility

[southerndoc]

Here's hoping a firmware update will fix this.

With TKIP enabled, I was getting 550-600 Mbps testing speed between my iMac and MacBook.  I'm averaging about 250 Mbps down with speedtest.net.  Not bad.

[southerndoc]

Brandon,

I was able to get good speeds with my above post.  If I disable SSID broadcast, the speed goes back down.  I was able to disable TKIP with must WPA2-AES, but I had to select MFP as not required.

I've been getting 500+ Mbps intranet, and I get around 250-290 Mbps through my internet.

[Eric Moyers]

Hello Brandon,

To answer your question about a bug report. and smartnet contract: With products in the Cisco Small Business Portfolio, you do not have to have a contract to get support. All SMB products come with 1yr free phone support and a limited lifetime hardware warranty. You do have the option of purchasing a Smartnet contract for your technical support past that first year or for enhanced support like NBD replacement for certain products.

With that said, in order to report a possible bug, all you need to do is call the Support Center and open a case. Just need your CCOID and the serial number of the device you calling about. 

Hope this helps. 

Eric Moyers
.:|:.:|:. CISCO | Cisco Presales Technical Support | Wireless Subject Matter Expert

[brandon.applegate]

I'm scratching my head on the SSID broadcast.  Once your client probes and associates - I'm struggling to understand how not broadcasting the SSID would affect your traffic.  Wondering if turning that off turns another knob under the hood.

[Eric Moyers]

The only correlation that I can put together is that on your wireless client device (phone, tablet, laptop) (at least on windows os) there is a setting, when you save the profile, that says connect to this device even when not broadcasting. (see attachment) if this is not check, devices will not try to connect.even though the wireless profile is saved.

Just my thoughts.

Eric Moyers