Highly variable wifi speeds when in repeater mode, 11/26 firmware

Technical Support for Routers
1

Most of my testing so far has been using the MT3000 hard wired, but I started testing wirelessly today. My general impression is that the wireless speeds are kind of all over the map. I’m currently tethered to my Unifi 6 LR access point, and during a speedtest run (no VPN enabled), my speeds range from 300mbps down to 90mbps, and may even exhibit that range in a single test (e.g. start at 300, drop to 90, pick back up to 150).

For a sanity check, I used the same laptop (14" Macbook M1 Pro) connected directly to the Unifi AP and got a pretty consistent 400mbps.

Behavior was similar when using the 2.4ghz channel as the repeater, though overall speeds were slower, as one would expect. Still quite variable.

2

Did you use speedtest.com for wifi testing?The fluctuation of wifi speed may be related to the speedtest service.Can you choose a test service with a close distance to test again?

3

I did use speed test on a server located about a mile from my house. I can test on the LAN as well and report back.

4

iperf3 to a machine located on the same switch as the AP the MT3000 is connected to:

jdub@compy ~ % iperf3 -c 10.72.10.200 -t 30
Connecting to host 10.72.10.200, port 5201
[ 5] local 100.64.0.11 port 54776 connected to 10.72.10.200 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 11.9 MBytes 100 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 397 KBytes 3.25 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.01 sec 6.25 MBytes 52.1 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.01-4.01 sec 2.19 MBytes 18.3 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.01-5.00 sec 1.68 MBytes 14.2 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 876 KBytes 7.18 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 3.21 MBytes 27.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 9.76 MBytes 81.6 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 8.81 MBytes 74.2 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 6.00 MBytes 50.3 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 10.00-11.00 sec 7.65 MBytes 64.1 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 11.00-12.00 sec 4.01 MBytes 33.7 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 12.00-13.00 sec 6.10 MBytes 51.1 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 13.00-14.00 sec 6.56 MBytes 55.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 14.00-15.00 sec 4.30 MBytes 36.1 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 15.00-16.00 sec 9.31 MBytes 78.1 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 16.00-17.00 sec 5.12 MBytes 42.9 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 17.00-18.00 sec 5.83 MBytes 48.7 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 18.00-19.00 sec 451 KBytes 3.70 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 19.00-20.00 sec 1022 KBytes 8.39 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 20.00-21.00 sec 1.31 MBytes 11.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 21.00-22.00 sec 6.27 MBytes 52.6 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 22.00-23.00 sec 11.1 MBytes 93.4 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 23.00-24.00 sec 4.45 MBytes 37.3 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 24.00-25.00 sec 5.10 MBytes 42.8 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 25.00-26.00 sec 6.34 MBytes 53.3 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 26.00-27.00 sec 8.82 MBytes 74.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 27.00-28.00 sec 6.80 MBytes 57.1 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 28.00-29.00 sec 4.84 MBytes 40.6 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 29.00-30.00 sec 5.91 MBytes 49.5 Mbits/sec

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-30.00 sec 162 MBytes 45.4 Mbits/sec sender
[ 5] 0.00-30.01 sec 162 MBytes 45.4 Mbits/sec receiver

5

Directly connected to the AP, for comparison:

jdub@compy ~ % iperf3 -c 10.72.10.200 -t 10
Connecting to host 10.72.10.200, port 5201
[ 5] local 10.72.1.30 port 55097 connected to 10.72.10.200 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 63.2 MBytes 529 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 64.1 MBytes 538 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 64.7 MBytes 544 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 67.6 MBytes 566 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 63.6 MBytes 533 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.01 sec 63.8 MBytes 533 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.01-7.00 sec 64.7 MBytes 545 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 66.3 MBytes 556 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 64.6 MBytes 541 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 66.3 MBytes 556 Mbits/sec

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 649 MBytes 544 Mbits/sec sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 647 MBytes 542 Mbits/sec receiver

6

Things were better after restarting the MT3000 - I’ll see how it does over time:

jdub@compy ~ % iperf3 -c 10.72.10.200 -t 30
Connecting to host 10.72.10.200, port 5201
[ 5] local 192.168.8.126 port 55852 connected to 10.72.10.200 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 44.8 MBytes 375 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.01 sec 44.1 MBytes 368 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.01-3.00 sec 42.5 MBytes 358 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 45.5 MBytes 382 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 41.5 MBytes 347 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 42.5 MBytes 357 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 39.6 MBytes 332 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 13.8 MBytes 116 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 9.35 MBytes 78.3 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.01 sec 8.61 MBytes 72.0 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 10.01-11.00 sec 38.6 MBytes 325 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 11.00-12.00 sec 38.9 MBytes 327 Mbits/sec

7

There is improvement after restarting the device. Did you set the auto channel? Is it possible that the device restarted and chose a channel with less interference?

8

Channel 36 both times. I did not restart the Unifi AP