Small Business Wireless WAP 561

[atout.majeur]

Hello everybody,

First of all i want to apologize for my English which is not as good as i want. But i will do my best.

So here is my problem :

My company has just bought a Cisco Small Business Wireless WAP561. This device has a theoric speed of 450Mbps for Wifi (i hope at least 300Mbps for Wifi 802.11n)

When i take some measurements (with LAN speedtest software) between two PCs (which are very closed to Wifi) the results are 20Mbps (average).

I know i will never reach 450Mbps but i thought i will get something like 100-150Mbps maybe a little more.

When i do the same measurements with 100Mbps switch and cable, i get 80Mbps (average) which is good i think.

So is there someone that can help me to find Why i only get 20Mbps with WIFI ?

My WIFI settings are the default ones and i choose a channel which is not use by other WIFI in the area. Furthermore, our WIFI is near -60db.

I'm looking foward to your reply. Thx

[Andrew Lien]

Hello,

My name is Andrew, and I am a content developer for the Cisco Knowledge Base.

Is your WAP561 been updated to the latest firmware? From the release notes, it seems that Cisco resolved a few issues regarding slow throughput speeds, so you might benefit from that.

If you are updated, some WAP561 owners found success in playing around with Broadcast/Multicast Rate Limiting. Try enabling Broadcast/Multicast Rate Limiting and set rate limit to 25 and left burst at 75. Other users found success in  turning on (in VLAN and IPv4 Address section) Untagged Vlan to Enable, and leave 1 VLAN ID as default Untagged Vlan ID.

I hope a few of these suggestions can help you find a solution to your problem!

-Andrew

[atout.majeur]

Thx for your answer.

I've done all what you said but nothing works. Besides, i think your advices can help getting a little more speed but for me i measure 20Mbps for a device which can make 450Mbps (it's not a little).

I can understand why i loose 96% of the speed. It's really crazy. We've bought WAP561 to replace cables and cables are still much more efficients !!!

Is there someone who ever had the same probleme ?

Sorry but i need more advices.

Thx

[Eric Moyers]

My name Eric Moyers. I am an Engineer in the Small Business Support Center.

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing this issue. 

What kind of traffic are you primarily using across your wireless network? G/N or N only?

Remember that wireless traffic is half-duplex not Full-Duplex like wired. IF you have "G" devices connecting your "N" devices will only communicate ate the lowest denominating speed which would be "G" or 54 Mbps. Half -Duplex, would put that at approx 26  Mbps and then depending on the environment and any interference or attenuation you could truly see 20 Mbps. 

To your statement "cables are still much more efficients", Yes Sir, they are. If complete speed of delivery is your main focus, then cables are your better option. Wireless is for convenience and areas where running wiring is not feasible.  

How long have you had the WAP's? If it has been less than a year, please call our support center and open a case so that one of our engineers can work directly with you. They can help ensure that you have your access points setup optimally.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/tsd-cisco-small-business-support-center-contacts.html

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

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[atout.majeur]

Thank you for your answer Sir

"IF you have "G" devices connecting your "N" devices will only communicate ate the lowest denominating speed which would be "G" or 54 Mbps." When i did the speed test it was with only 2 PC with N Wireless card so i dont think this is the problem.

Can you tell me what is the rate that i must get (i m not interested by the theorical rate). I mean you have lots of customers so you must know what is the average speed for the WAP561. Can i expect something like 80-100Mbps with it ???

I'm looking foward to your reply. Thx

[Eric Moyers]

An avg. speed is something that would be hard to do. When you are dealing with multiple devices in different environments, you can not truly say this speed is an average. There are too many different variables in the different environments. There is just no way to account for all of them. 

That is why most Companies will only list theoretical speeds with their wireless devices.  

So what can we do to get as true a test as possible in your environment?

Here's what I would do. There are two tools that you need, one to scan your area to see what signals are currently present besides yours and another to do the actual speed test. There are several tools available that can do both jobs. While not endorsing any particular product, I will tell you the ones that I use, only because they are free. For checking the wireless signals in the area I use WiFi Analytics (WA), for speed testing I use Tamosoft Throughput Test (TTT). This can be dome for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz

I would run the WA and see what signals are in the area and to see the strength of my signals. I would test this in all the spots where there could be a client trying to connect to the WAP561. You should notice that some areas will have a better signal that others. Make note of the area where the signal is weaker, what is there in that area that may be giving out interference, what is between the area and the WAP561, How many walls, what type of construction, etc.

Now I would install and run the TTT. I would run it between a wireless PC'c and a wired pc. Then just to see a difference, run between two wireless PCs and then two wired PC's. The two wired PC's will have the greatest throughput the wired and wireless next and then the two wireless.

Then I would run this TTT test several times in a day at different hours. That should give you a good average for your environment.

After all of this is done then I would look at the results from the WA and TTT and see where I needed to try and make some changes. They could either be from re-positioning the WAP561,  changing wireless channels or other things.

Hope this helps.

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

Please rate helpful Posts and Let others know when your Question has been answered.