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Forum Discussion
RBS 20 speed drop when daisy chained
Hey guys,
I have an RBK20 system set up with RBR20 and 2 RBS20 repeaters. First RBS20 to the router and second to the first (daisy chained).
Wifi Speeds at the Router and at first satellite are the same (250x97) but when comnnected to the second RBS20 I get 150x97. I have tried rebooting everything, firmware is latest version in all, router to first repeater is about 12m through the house and a couple of walls, to the next repeater is one wall, one window and about 6m. Its inside a steel shed, but sitting in the window facing the house/repeater. I have tried moving the first repeater in the house closer to the second and further away but doesnt seem to make any difference (at all - exactly the same)
I have tried everything I can think of, all says connected at 5G, links say quality is Good, any idea on how to increase speed or test for causes at the second repeater?
3 Replies
This may be a consequence of Daisy Chaining the satellites. WiFi is inherently "one radio gets to transmit while the other radios must listen." This means that
- While a data packet is going from the router to satellite 1, nothing can be going from satellite 2 to satellite 3.
- While that data packet is being repeated from satellite 2 to satellite 3, nothing can be tramsmitted by satellite 3 or by the router.
- And, it is the same on the way back. As a response jumps from satellite 3 to 2, neither the router nor satellite 2 can be transmitting.
The post does not mention what sort of device is being used to measure speed. A device 'wired' to the system will get the highest speed. One connected with WiFi will be substantially slower.
It might be a useful experiment to see what difference 'wiring' the satellites makes. A 100ft. Cat6 Ethernet cable is under $20 on Amazon. (50 ft. for under $10.) It would be fairly simple to temporarily connect satellite 1 to the router with an Ethernet cable, wait for the satellite connection to switch to 'wired' and do a speed measurement. That would establish how much improvement could be had for the cost of installing a permanent cable inside the house.
Thanks for that and food for thought. However the one with the issues in out the back in a shed where my office is. If I could run cable out to there I wouldnt have installed a Mesh system 🙂
Speeds are being measured with Speed test on my phone whilst within a metre or two of each access point, first turn wifi off and back on, wait for it to connect to the closest access point then wait for it to connect at 5g. I have also now swapped the repeaters to see if that was the issue but no change at all. Must be the speed connection between them.Is there any way to measure the speed achieved between the steps in the chain?
JustAskDave wrote:
Is there any way to measure the speed achieved between the steps in the chain?
There was a telnet command that reported the "Link Rate" of each connection. Not actual speed, but a rough measure of the maximum theoretical connection rate. Alas, Netgear removed the telnet feature some years ago.
The purpose of the $10 test is to eliminate one of the two WiFi "hops" in the Daisy Chain. If it results in no significant improvement at satellite 2, then there would be no benefit to installing Ethernet cable within the walls. If it does, then it is a cost/benefit discussion. (Is the improvement worth the cost/hassle of installing cable?)
