Mesh network
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Hello,
I have just installed a mesh network with 2 wired EAP650 and 1 wireless EAP650.
The Root Mesh is installed on the ground floor and the other wired EAP is is connected in the basement (30-36f from Root mesh). So far away.
The challenge is to have good speeds at the attic.
On the 1st floor I try to find the best place for the wireless EAP650. Depending on the place you see differences in the speed of internet (from 120 - 180Mbps) at the attic.
The closer to the Root mesh the higher the speed on the attaque. So that is good.
But then the problem arrives that devices connecting on the 1st floor with the wireless EAP instead of the Root mesh. And the Root mesh provides much higher speeds (450 Mbps) on the first floor in comparison to the wireless (around 250 Mbps).
I have 2 questions: t
- Is the speed of 180-250Mbps (180 on attaque/250 (first floor) a good performance for a wireless EAP650? Of should i be much higer?
- How can I arrange that devices are connecting on the 1st floor with the Root mesh instead of the wiresless EAP? Doesn't make sense that the device connects to the stronger but slower signal.
thank you
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Thanks for your quick en elaborate answer.
I only want to get the optimal result out of the mesh system. And yes the speeds at the attic are high enough.
At average I have in the house around 200-250Mbs speed on the first floor and attic. In the rest of the house speeds from 350-500. so that is all ok.
And the provider gives 500mpbs.
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In order for the two APs to mesh, they must be on a common radio channel, so yes, absolutely normal that the child node channel tracks the root node channel. Meshing is accomplished using a hidden SSID running over the same 5.8Ghz radio as any user SSIDs.
Worst case scenario is say 1 root node, a handful of meshed APs and a couple of dozen users all fighting for the same radio channel. This is made worse as that channel must be used multiple times for users connected to meshed APs (ie user to meshAP, meshAP to rootAP and in reverse for downstream packets). This can get particularly bad when you users that can only see the meshAP and not the rootAP, and so can start to 'talk over' other traffic (ie distant user starts radio communication at the same time rootAP starts radio communication to the mesh AP). This is the reason you want to tightly control/engineer who is using the radio channel used by the rootAPs. It also explains why throughput from a first hop AP is always <50% the throughput you'd get from a wiredAP. Add multiple first hop APs, or worse some second and third hop APs and your throughput get's very ugly very quickly...
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Here's some info we need to know before we make a decision on whats going on:
We need to know during the speed test were you on the 5ghz or the 2.4ghz? Sounds like you were on the 2.4 and then tested again and being on the 5ghz.
To confirm this... you can look into the controller/AP GUI to see the band and signal strength you are sitting at... right before you test the speeds.
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Mesh isn't magic, it's just a "better than having to run a wire" technology.
Some key points on meshes:
1. It only uses 5.8Ghz radio
2. It uses and competes for the same radio resources as users do (at both root and mesh APs)
3. Mesh APs must relay all traffic, which doubles the load and RF congestion
4. Mesh processing adds packet delay which reduces max throughput
5. Imagine what this looks like when there are multiple wireless hops to a meshed AP
If you are getting >100Mbps on a meshed node, I'd say you're doing well. Do you really *need* more than that in the attic?
As for your device picking the stronger signal...that's on the device, and nothing to do with the mesh system. Have you enabled band steering? This feature will force (capable) users onto the 5.8Ghz channels where they typically get higher performance. You could always split the SSIDs so that 2.4 and 5.8 have different names to force this.
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Thanks for your quick en elaborate answer.
I only want to get the optimal result out of the mesh system. And yes the speeds at the attic are high enough.
At average I have in the house around 200-250Mbs speed on the first floor and attic. In the rest of the house speeds from 350-500. so that is all ok.
And the provider gives 500mpbs.
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Hello,
I have often the messag High Channel Utilization for EAP650's.
And this is both on the wired Root Mesh and the node (wireless).
I see that both EAP are on the same channel and I can not change this.
whick options to I have to solve it?
Dirk
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Hi, please review this thread, specifically my posts #2 and #4 for some optimization ideas
https://community.tp-link.com/en/business/forum/topic/640848?replyId=1278220
Some tricks I use for better mesh performance:
1. disable user access to 5.8G radio on key wired/root nodes (ie 2.4G access only for local users) as this reserves the radio capacity for downstream mesh traffic
2. ensure you are using the channel(s) with the highest power permitted in your region for the mesh link (in my region I use 149 and 157)
3. review your topology and ensure that the links make sense (for instance, if you have two roots, are the children evenly distributed?)
4. restrict your design to 3-hops and 3-neighbours (in general an additional neighbour is preferable to an additional hop)
5. leverage back-to-back APs in the field to enable more mesh wireless channels
switch--cable--rootAP(Ch1) ((wifi)) meshAP(Ch1)--cable--pseudorootAP(Ch2) ((wifi)) meshAP(Ch2)
6. Line of Sight is often better than shorter distance with obstructions (location planning will help performance)
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thanks.
is it correct that the root mesh uses the same channel as the wireless node mesh? I can only change the channel of the root mesh and automatically the node mesh channel is changed to the same. Or is this the right way in a mesh network?
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In order for the two APs to mesh, they must be on a common radio channel, so yes, absolutely normal that the child node channel tracks the root node channel. Meshing is accomplished using a hidden SSID running over the same 5.8Ghz radio as any user SSIDs.
Worst case scenario is say 1 root node, a handful of meshed APs and a couple of dozen users all fighting for the same radio channel. This is made worse as that channel must be used multiple times for users connected to meshed APs (ie user to meshAP, meshAP to rootAP and in reverse for downstream packets). This can get particularly bad when you users that can only see the meshAP and not the rootAP, and so can start to 'talk over' other traffic (ie distant user starts radio communication at the same time rootAP starts radio communication to the mesh AP). This is the reason you want to tightly control/engineer who is using the radio channel used by the rootAPs. It also explains why throughput from a first hop AP is always <50% the throughput you'd get from a wiredAP. Add multiple first hop APs, or worse some second and third hop APs and your throughput get's very ugly very quickly...
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thanks for your clear answer.
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