Archer C6 2.4GHz latency, packet loss problems
Hello everyone!
This is my first time testing network equipment. My home network layout is as shown below:
Did not check what firmware the Archers came with. Updated all to 1.3.4 due to the 2.4Ghz channel being stuck on 5. On 1.3.4, when all 3 2.4Ghz networks were online (with guest networks also online), I could induce packet losses and latency spikes for all devices connected to the network by loading the network using 1 device – just browsing through a news feed or social media from my phone really fast. The devices use the same SSID and password. From the monitoring device, it looked like this:
Wifi signals at the monitoring device looked like:
Disabling one of the networks resulted in a reduction of packet losses and latency spikes, but they were still present (here r0 and f0 are active, f1 disabled):
Just running 1 network, packet losses and latency problems were reduced further, but didn’t go away (only r0 active):
So I upgraded firmware for all three to 1.3.5. Stability improved dramatically and packet losses and latency spikes have gone down with the three networks active. However, if I go to the edge of the network and load it, there are spikes in packet losses and latency:
This is not normal behaviour right? How do I fix this? The devices are all brand new and still under warranty.
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Update: I was told to update to 1.3.6 Build 20200819 rel.50735 (4555). Here is the test data for the 2.4GHz network:
Packet losses have gone down dramatically with the same loading test as before. Could someone please tell me if this is representative of a stable 2.4 GHz network?
Also some new problems have come up:
1. Internet is very slow on mobile devices, both on 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Images and videos fail to load in news feeds and social media.
2. When I move from a low RSSI area (around -70dBm) to a reasonable RSSI area (around -60dBm), the connectivity speed does not improve on the device. I have to restart wifi multiple times before I get workable speeds (still slower than with 1.3.5). There was no such problem on 1.3.5.
Also please give me speed vs RSSI data for testing.
Finally, why are there so many problems with this router? As a customer, I am quite frustrated with this fiasco and it is annoying to have wasted so much time testing and troubleshooting without any end to the problems.
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@nemesis9 Can you please share this new beta firmware? I wanna do some tests here too. PM ME please.
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Hi @Nyamp, I am not supposed to share the firmware with anybody according to the email they sent me, sorry! Perhaps you can ask them to send it to you?
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Noticed something that didn't catch my eye before on 1.3.5:
All 5 GHz APs are set to 20 MHz channel widths on separate channels. They show up as 20 MHz in the WebUI as well. But that is not what is actually being transmitted. The APs are broadcasting at 80 MHz. I think this is what is causing router instability for me - overlapping 5GHz channels. Look at what happens when I turn two of the APs off:
The hidden Onemesh networks go to 20 MHz.
On the 1.3.6 beta this problem wasn't present, granted everything else was broken.
What kind of gameboy level QC do you guys do over there? This is a finished product people are paying good money for. Is this all a joke to you? And your technical support is too slow to do any good. Can you send me a firmware based on 1.3.5 with 5 GHz channel width fixed? Otherwise please take these back and refund me the product cost.
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Update to anyone reading. Been running 1.3.6 Build 20200907 rel.60850(4555) for some time now.
5 GHz channel width problem is gone.
2.4 GHz is mostly working. However, packet loss problems as per previous posts still exist.
Connectivity problems I've mentioned in my previous post still exist.
I'd been talking to Steven Zhang in engineering. He has stopped replying to my emails.
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I am Also having this issue of packet loss I also have tested almost all firmwares and all possible configurations to get rid of this issue but unfortunately no change in behavior of router it would still discard packets for no reason.
Here is the link where i mentioned some troubleshooting that i did to find possible workaround
https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/236036
Dear TP Link Please do Something this is really bad, people are suffering because of your development team's failure, please have another look at your developers to motivate them to work correctly.
If you have any solution we are waiting here. Please share if available.
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This is the test data for the 2.4 GHz wifi for 1.3.6 Build 20200907 rel.60850(4555):
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Finally got a reply. Been running 1.3.6 Build 20201030 rel.60104(4555) for a while now. OneMesh is disabled on all C6s:
All synthetic packet loss problems have gone away. 2.4 Ghz:
5 GHz:
Obviously, OneMesh was causing all the problems on 2.4 Ghz.
However, now 5 GHz is now slow. Images and videos load slowly. The same problem also occurs when I switch between 2.4 GHz and 5 Ghz network (this was not present before).
As usual, no reply from TP-Link even after 4-5 emails. Waiting for a reply.
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Glad to hear that the 2.4G package loss and high ping issue is resolved by the latest beta firmware, while sorry to hear that you are still suffering from a new issue with the 5G, please keep in touch with the engineers, they will try to help you out ASAP. Thanks again for your great patience on this.
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