15

OK lets try to see the difference in setup, the fast bridge connection, and the slow router connection. Still I suppose there is only the ethernet-ethernet connection in your speed test.

If the tested connection is over the 2 LAN ethernet ports, then there should be no difference, as this LAN-LAN connection is a direct connection in the switch (unless "client isolation" is enabled), and neither bridge or router function is needed to have connection between the 2 devices.

But if you use the WAN and LAN ethernet ports then it is a major difference!

  • in router setup the WAN-LAN connection uses : router, firewall, and potential filters like Adguard. Firewall rules for access and for NAT do have to be evaluated. And some (!) TCP/IP implementations in clients will also change from ethernet packet size (1480 bytes) to routed packet size (576 bytes), when sending packets to the gateway. (These smaller packets could reduce the throughput)

  • in "Access Point" mode then WAN and LAN ethernet ports are connected over the bridge

  • I have to check what the "extender" mode does with the ethernet ports, but I do expect the same as "Access Point" mode.

So where is the bottleneck? Firewall rules? Smaller packets? Filters and limits ? TCP congestion control instability? (Usually happens when different network types are mixed : TCP congestion control in lossy wireless networks )