WiFi speed over eero devices

[GenMaxiu]

Hi All,

Can you please advise what are you wifi speeds over eero pro devices with Full Fibre 900 ? I am not getting more than 500mbps whatever I do. Cable connection is fine - getting over 900 however I cannot run the cables to every device I need fast internet. 

Any ideas on what can speed it up ? Not happy to pay for the half of the advertised speed.

[KeithFrench]

One other thing, you should be able to prove which 5GHz band on the gateway eero that your AX200 is connected to. Just give me (PM me if you like) some of the BSSIDs (MAC addresses) of the gateway eero and let me have a go.

[KeithFrench]

In my post #16 I did say that I could not find out the specification of your phone & hence no idea of the speeds that it supports.

[GenMaxiu]

Keith,

Appreciate your help, absolutely nothing against you. And totally agreed - more nodes usually means more hops, more traffic between nodes which equates to slower speeds.

One correction to your comment about the devices - Samsung S22 Ultra is capable of reaching over 1gig via wifi - I've seen already speeds around 1.12- 1.14 down, obviously not at my place:)

With the 5Ghz channels, I am not sure if I can select the one I want to use. I can see diagrams for both (and 2.4 Ghz) but that's about it, cannot find anything in menu where I would be able to select it manually.

Next step -  diagnosis by TalkTalk engineer coming Thursday 9AM. Will update the thread accordingly.

[KeithFrench]

You can have too many mesh nodes of any manufacturer unless they are well spaced out within a property that actually needs three of them. Otherwise, it will reduce the speeds anyway. I have proved this myself with the mesh that I use. On two nodes it is fine, introduce an extra one & down goes the speed.

I cannot say that the eero Pro 6 can handle the speeds you are expecting or not, I do not have any eero Pro 6 units myself & neither do I have the FF900 package. I can only try & help you get the best you can out of this. 

I will repeat that your only chance is by using the device with the Intel AX200 WiFi adapter in it. Then it must be connected to the gateway eero and its 5GHz (High) WiFi band. The 5GHz (Low) band on the eero is of a slower specification compared to the High band. The specifications of your other devices are not high enough to have any chance of obtaining these speeds.

The data link rate you may achieve then between that device & the gateway's 5GHz (High) band may get close to 2402Mbps, but that is not the same as a speed test result. This will take account of the vast WiFi protocol overheads, which means that the speed test results will always be significantly slower than the data link rate.

[GenMaxiu]

No, not better at all, I would say it is even slower (as I thought it will be). I was moving from node to node and only gateway gave me the speed close to what I used to have before - around 500Mbps. All tests were done 50cm away from devices, on 5Ghz channel using my phone which is capable to reach such speeds.

I have requested an engineer to attend my place and he will be coming this Thursday so I will update you here.

I would love to see anyone who can prove me wrong that eero pro 6 are not capable of handling the advertised speed (900Mbps) over WiFi. 

[KeithFrench]

Is it any better with the three eeros than the two now that you have disabled the Guest networks? Don't forget your Intel AX200 is the only card that might get anywhere close to the 900M, but only if connected to the 5GHz (High) band on the gateway eero.

[GenMaxiu]

As suggested. Guest network switched off, added 3rd eero device (arrived today). Speed test results next to all 3 nodes on the bottom.

      

[KeithFrench]

Personally, I would disable the guest networks & try again.

[KeithFrench]

I'll look at these later.

[GenMaxiu]

Ok, did some checking with analyzer, pictures below:

speedtest

[GenMaxiu]

I am using android version of WiFi Analyzer (paid).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=abdelrahman.wifianalyzerpro&hl=en_GB

Will do as per your request and update this thread accordingly.

[KeithFrench]

Which WiFi analyser?

Generally the AP view, 2.4 & 5GHz channels plus signal strength over time graph run for 5 mins. However, best is always WiFi Scanner if Windows, capturing a snapshot & report.

[GenMaxiu]

Good idea! I'll test the coverage with WiFi Analyzer today when I get back home and will try to post the results here. Is there any specific information you'd like to see in the screenshots, or any particular scenarios you'd like me to test?

[KeithFrench]

I can only guess without a WiFi analyser.

[GenMaxiu]

Thanks for your response Keith. I do not believe the problem I am having lies with the devices/construction of the building. 

I have been researching online and found a lot of articles mentioning that around 550Mbps is the maximum real-world speed for the eero Pro 6 over WiFi. I'm hoping this isn't true, therefore I'm planning to run some tests using the ASUS ZenWiFi Pro XT12 – I'm hoping to borrow this set from a friend to see how it performs at my place as I know you can get over 1Gbps on this setup.

Thanks
Michal

[KeithFrench]

Hi @GenMaxiu 

I can't find any information about your phone, as to the AX class that it supports, but I have found out about the rest of them:-

1. AX210 - supports up to 2402Mbps
2. Samsung S22 Ultra
3. MediaTek WiFi 6 MT7921 Wireless LAN card - AX1800 - that is 1201Mbps
4. Intel Dual Band Wireless AC8265 - dont know (WiFi5) - that is 867Mbps
5. Realtek 8812AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac - dont know (WiFi 5) - that is 867Mbps
6. Realtek 8832BU Dual Antenna Wireless LAN WIFI 6 USB NIC - AX1800  - that is 1201Mbps

In reality, the only card that might stand a chance of reaching 900Mbps is the AX200, but even then, if you get this as its data link speed, the wireless protocol overheads will drastically reduce the speed test figures. The AX (or AC) classes represent the combined speeds of the 2.4GHz & 5GHz data rates that they support.

One of the biggest challenges I think you may suffer from, is the construction techniques that can be found in modern new build houses. I assume all of the internal walls contain insulation, like the external ones? Apparently, it is quite common for that insulation to be encased in a metal foil, which will drastically reduce WiFi signals passing through them & also present reflection of the WiFi signals all over the room, none of which will help you.

Then we come on to the subject of WiFi interference....

[GenMaxiu]

Hi Keith, 

Please see below AX classess for each device I was testing WiFi on:

• Intel WiFi6 AX200 - AX3000
• Samsung S22 Ultra - 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 
• MediaTek WiFi 6 MT7921 Wireless LAN card - AX1800
• Intel Dual Band Wireless AC8265 - dont know (WiFi5)
• Realtek 8812AE Wireless LAN 802.11ac - dont know (WiFi 5)
• Realtek 8832BU Dual Antenna Wireless LAN WIFI 6 USB NIC - AX1800

With regards to the interferences - newly built house with most of the walls being hollow walls and the 1st floor made of timber.

[KeithFrench]

Sorry but that does not eliminate the effects of WiFi interference at all, it can be bad in some properties, with varying amounts in different rooms, including right next to the router. What are the AX classes of your devices, as it is not just do they support WiFi 6, but at what speeds? I appreciate that you may have done some of this before, but if you want my help, I need to know what I am dealing with.

[GenMaxiu]

Keith,

I have done all of the suggested with eero support person, no improvement whatsoever.

Tests were made a meter away from the gateway device which should eliminate any possible interferences, but again, I am open to any suggestions - can you please shed more light on the WiFi Interference bit.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @GenMaxiu 

There are some basic checks that you can do to ensure that your devices have the best chance of achieving these higher speeds:-

1) Check that these devices are connected to the 5GHz WiFi band, not the 2.4GHz band and as you presumably have the eero Pro 6, then as many devices as possible should be using the 5GHz (High) band.

2) Which eero Pro 6 is each device connected to, it should always be the gateway or closest/fastest extender node. The more extender nodes that you go through to get to the gateway, the slower the speed will always be. In fact, you will probably need to be connected to the gateway to have any chance of these speeds.

3) To aid with step 2, is "Client Steering" enabled within the eero app, as well as "Local DNS Caching"?

4) Have you checked for WiFi interference, a topic that I can provide a lot of help with?