Limited VLAN TCP flow

  • Mikrotik RB5009UPr with RouterOS 7.19.4
  • L2 Switch only
  • Asus RT-AX86U running only as an AP

Simplified schema:

Smartphone <---> AP <---> RB5009UPr <---> switch <---> PC

Due to some sluggish SMB transfers, I'm running some Iperf3 tests from a wired PC to a wireless Android, and the results are kind of odd.

The PC is on VLAN 7 (mgm), and the wireless devices are on VLAN 9.

When I run the test in normal mode with the Android as the server, I see a very low speed of about 3Mbps and many retransmissions.

$ iperf3 -b 0 --dont-fragment -P 2 -c 192.168.9.57
Connecting to host 192.168.9.57, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.7.3 port 37010 connected to 192.168.9.57 port 5201
[  7] local 192.168.7.3 port 37024 connected to 192.168.9.57 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   512 KBytes  4.19 Mbits/sec  147   4.24 KBytes       
[  7]   0.00-1.00   sec   384 KBytes  3.14 Mbits/sec  141   4.24 KBytes       
[SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec   896 KBytes  7.33 Mbits/sec  288             
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   384 KBytes  3.15 Mbits/sec  135   4.24 KBytes       
[  7]   1.00-2.00   sec   512 KBytes  4.19 Mbits/sec  131   1.41 KBytes       
[SUM]   1.00-2.00   sec   896 KBytes  7.34 Mbits/sec  266             
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   256 KBytes  2.10 Mbits/sec   81   2.83 KBytes       
[  7]   2.00-3.00   sec   256 KBytes  2.10 Mbits/sec   75   2.83 KBytes       
[SUM]   2.00-3.00   sec   512 KBytes  4.19 Mbits/sec  156             
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   256 KBytes  2.10 Mbits/sec   29   1.41 KBytes       
[  7]   3.00-4.00   sec   128 KBytes  1.05 Mbits/sec   28   2.83 KBytes       
[SUM]   3.00-4.00   sec   384 KBytes  3.15 Mbits/sec   57             
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(...)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.38 MBytes  1.99 Mbits/sec  550            sender
[  5]   0.00-10.04  sec  2.33 MBytes  1.95 Mbits/sec                  receiver
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec  2.38 MBytes  1.99 Mbits/sec  535            sender
[  7]   0.00-10.04  sec  2.34 MBytes  1.96 Mbits/sec                  receiver
[SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec  4.75 MBytes  3.98 Mbits/sec  1085             sender
[SUM]   0.00-10.04  sec  4.67 MBytes  3.90 Mbits/sec

However, when I reverse the flow so that the smartphone sends the data, the speed is more adequate for the wireless connection.

$ iperf3 -b 0 -R --dont-fragment -P 2 -c 192.168.9.57
Connecting to host 192.168.9.57, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.9.57 is sending
[  5] local 192.168.7.3 port 47662 connected to 192.168.9.57 port 5201
[  7] local 192.168.7.3 port 47674 connected to 192.168.9.57 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  33.6 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  
[  7]   0.00-1.00   sec  33.8 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec                  
[SUM]   0.00-1.00   sec  67.4 MBytes   565 Mbits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(...)                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.04  sec   549 MBytes   458 Mbits/sec  372            sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   543 MBytes   455 Mbits/sec                  receiver
[  7]   0.00-10.04  sec   459 MBytes   383 Mbits/sec  518            sender
[  7]   0.00-10.00  sec   453 MBytes   380 Mbits/sec                  receiver
[SUM]   0.00-10.04  sec  1008 MBytes   842 Mbits/sec  890             sender
[SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec   996 MBytes   835 Mbits/sec                  receiver

When I run the same test from the PC to another wired PC on the same VLAN, the transfer reaches the maximum interface bandwidth. The same occurs when testing from an Android client to another Android on the same wireless VLAN 9.
In these cases, I think VLAN 7 should be contained within the switch, and VLAN 9 should be contained within the AP, not going through the Mikrotik router.

Running the test to external (Internet) Iperf3 servers shows the expected results, reaching my ISP's bandwidth limit. Also, there's no active VPN or firewall on the Android devices.

So, it seems to me that the router may be somehow limiting the local flow when routing between VLANs, but I cannot figure out what it is.


Here's mostly my current configuration.

20251008_conf.rsc (20.3 KB)


Please, any thoughts about this?