GL-MT300N-V2 Mango mixed speed results on GL.iNet firmware

Hi guys, I've been playing with my Mango router for a bit to test its maximum limits, comparing three different firmware versions. All setups were tested in access point mode with the best quality signal I could achieve (50cm away from AP), so that firewall/other processes wouldn't clog up the CPU/RAM.

With openWRT 23.05.5 pulled from their website ([OpenWrt Wiki] GL.iNet GL-MT300N V2) and with openWRT wiki to create an AP only setup, I managed 79mbps down and 80mbps up:

The second test was done using GL.iNet firmware 3.216, managed 54 down 61 up:

And lastly, using GL.iNet firmware 4.3.18, I managed 79 down 56 up at best:

Even going into LuCI and disabling + stopping unnecessary services in acces point mode (firewall, dnsmasq, odhcpd for example), I did not manage to improve speeds up to the clean openWRT firmware standards. My question is, is this firmware still being improved? it feels like it's still got hidden potential. I see a clear improvement from v3 to v4 firmware.

Are you running the speed tests from the shell of the router?

How would running speedtests from the router shell prove wifi performance?

My ISP speed is 150mbps symmetrical so I'm maxing out the 100mbps LAN in any case.

run iperf3 on the Mango, then you are testing throughput simply between the Mango and the wireless client running iperf3 to test throughput of the WiFi.

iperf3 LAN results are worse than speedtest.net but the trend follows my initial statement. All tests performed in best quality wifi, around -30dBm.

Mango in AP mode, reaching iperf server on LAN, stock FW 4.3.18:

C:\Users\MacVM\Desktop\iperf 3.17.1>iperf3 -c 192.168.1.223
Connecting to host 192.168.1.223, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.1.32 port 51222 connected to 192.168.1.223 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.02   sec  4.62 MBytes  38.2 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.02-2.00   sec  4.12 MBytes  35.1 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  4.12 MBytes  34.5 Mbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  4.75 MBytes  39.8 Mbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.01   sec  4.00 MBytes  33.5 Mbits/sec
[  5]   5.01-6.02   sec  3.75 MBytes  30.9 Mbits/sec
[  5]   6.02-7.01   sec  3.88 MBytes  33.0 Mbits/sec
[  5]   7.01-8.03   sec  4.50 MBytes  37.1 Mbits/sec
[  5]   8.03-9.01   sec  4.00 MBytes  34.1 Mbits/sec
[  5]   9.01-10.03  sec  4.38 MBytes  36.0 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.03  sec  42.1 MBytes  35.2 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.04  sec  42.0 MBytes  35.1 Mbits/sec                  receiver

Reversed, still AP mode... much worse:

C:\Users\MacVM\Desktop\iperf 3.17.1>iperf3 -c 192.168.1.223 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.1.223, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.1.223 is sending
[  5] local 192.168.1.32 port 51216 connected to 192.168.1.223 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.01   sec   256 KBytes  2.09 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.01-2.00   sec  2.50 MBytes  21.0 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  1.62 MBytes  13.6 Mbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.01   sec  2.00 MBytes  16.8 Mbits/sec
[  5]   4.01-5.01   sec  1.50 MBytes  12.6 Mbits/sec
[  5]   5.01-6.01   sec  2.50 MBytes  21.0 Mbits/sec
[  5]   6.01-7.01   sec  3.62 MBytes  30.4 Mbits/sec
[  5]   7.01-8.01   sec  3.62 MBytes  30.3 Mbits/sec
[  5]   8.01-9.01   sec   768 KBytes  6.28 Mbits/sec
[  5]   9.01-10.00  sec  1.88 MBytes  15.8 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  20.8 MBytes  17.4 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  20.2 MBytes  17.0 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Iperf internally installed in Mango:

C:\Users\MacVM\Desktop\iperf 3.17.1>iperf3 -c 192.168.1.108 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.1.108, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.1.108 is sending
[  5] local 192.168.1.32 port 51232 connected to 192.168.1.108 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  5.75 MBytes  48.1 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  6.50 MBytes  54.5 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  6.38 MBytes  53.5 Mbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  6.25 MBytes  52.4 Mbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  6.62 MBytes  55.6 Mbits/sec
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  8.12 MBytes  68.2 Mbits/sec
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  8.12 MBytes  68.1 Mbits/sec
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  7.88 MBytes  66.0 Mbits/sec
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  8.12 MBytes  68.2 Mbits/sec
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  8.38 MBytes  70.2 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  72.9 MBytes  61.1 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  72.1 MBytes  60.5 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Openwrt 23.05.5 installed for this test:

C:\Users\MacVM\Desktop\iperf 3.17.1>iperf3 -c 192.168.1.108 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.1.108, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.1.108 is sending
[  5] local 192.168.1.32 port 51145 connected to 192.168.1.108 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.02   sec  8.62 MBytes  71.2 Mbits/sec
[  5]   1.02-2.02   sec  9.38 MBytes  78.6 Mbits/sec
[  5]   2.02-3.00   sec  9.00 MBytes  76.7 Mbits/sec
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  8.88 MBytes  74.4 Mbits/sec
[  5]   4.00-5.02   sec  8.88 MBytes  73.3 Mbits/sec
[  5]   5.02-6.00   sec  8.88 MBytes  75.7 Mbits/sec
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  9.12 MBytes  76.5 Mbits/sec
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  9.12 MBytes  76.5 Mbits/sec
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  9.12 MBytes  76.6 Mbits/sec
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  9.00 MBytes  75.4 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.01  sec  90.8 MBytes  76.1 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  90.0 MBytes  75.5 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Try adding -w 4M to the iperf command. I've found that in certain circumstances I get much better results.

1 Like