What is Multi-Gigabit

Literally speaking, Multi-gigabit refers to the transmission of data at speeds exceeding one gigabit per second (1Gbps), common speeds are 2.5Gbps, 5Gbps, 10Gbps. This enhancement is particularly advantageous for tasks requiring large file transfers, media streaming, online gaming, and more. Multi-gigabit was often used in data centers, large enterprises, and telecommunication companies. Now, with the development of relevant technologies, Multi-gigabit appears in our home network. Hereby we test the Multi-G performance of Wi-Fi 7 product for your reference, taking Archer BE800 as an example.

Why we do the test

Usually, people may want to use Speedtest® to measure the speed of the router when they encounter the problem that the device connected behind the router has a slower rate or that its speed is much slower than the ISP bandwidth.
But the result of Speedtest® may be affected by the ISP and network delay, so we recommend you use the iPerf tool to test. This tool is a little software, and it is convenient to operate. Besides, when using iPerf, the host can connect to the server directly, eliminating the effects of the ISP and network congestion, and it can measure the most accurate speed, reducing the network influence to the lowest.
Additionally, compared to Speedtest®, iPerf can conveniently conduct speed tests between two devices on the same local network as it allows for customizing the server.

Testing Equipment and Tools

TP-Link Archer BE800 (2.5GE*4 + 10GE*2)
PC * 2 + 10G NIC * 2
Tool for testing speed: iperf3

Testing LAN-to-LAN throughput with iPerf3

Network topology for this test is shown in the figure below, both the iperf3 client PC and server PC are connected to the two 2.5G LAN ports of the TP-Link Archer BE800. They both obtain IP addresses from the Router’s DHCP Server, which allows them to communicate with each other over the network. Let’s assume the server PC has an IP address of 192.168.1.100, the client PC has an IP address of 192.168.1.200.

iperf3 commands on Server PC: iperf3 -s 
iperf3 commands on Client PC (download): iperf3 -c 192.168.1.100 -P 1 -R (-R means reversing, sending data from server PC to client PC)
iperf3 commands on Client PC (upload): iperf3 -c 192.168.1.100 -P 1 (no reversing, sending data from Client PC to Server PC)
iperf3 LAN-to-LAN Result: 2.34G/s, running at full capacity of 2.5GE ports. 
LAN-to-LAN:

Testing WAN-to-LAN and LAN-to-WAN throughput with iPerf3:

Network topology for this test is shown in the figure below, one of the PC is connected to the WAN port of the Router and the other is connected to the 10G LAN. In order for this WAN-to-LAN test to work, it requires a static Internet connection on the Router. Please note that the Archer BE800 would have no Internet during this test. IP address configurations are listed below: 
WAN IP on Archer BE800: 192.168.2.2/24, WAN Gateway on Archer BE800: 192.168.2.1
IP address on Server PC: 192.168.2.3
LAN IP on Archer BE800: 192.168.1.1/24
IP address on Client PC: 192.168.1.3/24, Gateway on Client PC: 192.168.1.1

Verify connectivity between Server PC and Client PC: run “ping 192.168.2.3” on the Client PC, remember to temporarily disable the firewall of the Server PC otherwise ping might fail.
iperf3 commands on Server PC: iperf3 -s 
iperf3 commands on Client PC (download): iperf3 -c 192.168.2.3 -P 1 -R (-R means reversing, sending data from server PC to client PC)
iperf3 commands on Client PC (upload): iperf3 -c 192.168.2.3 -P 1 (no reversing, sending data from Client PC to Server PC)
iperf3 WAN-to-LAN Result (download): 9.33G/s, iperf3 LAN-to-WAN Result (upload): 9.39G/s, both running at full capacity of 10GE ports.
WAN-to-LAN:

LAN-to-WAN:

Summary

A summary of the above iperf3 testing results is listed below. 

Note:

• The results may vary from network conditions, client limitations, and environmental factors.
• If the results are not as expected, please increase the number after -P ( detailed explanations in the link below).

If you want to learn more about how to make use of iPerf3 to perform speed tests, please refer to How to use Iperf to test the speed on TP-Link routers.