packet losses, high latency, disconections, almost a month b

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Not sure if this should have being posted in the beginner´s forum or in this one. Admins, feel free to move it anytime.

I started having problems with my small mikrotik based ISP (1 mikrotik server and 1 mikrotik ap-bridge, both v2.9.27). Clients have excellent signals (between -50 and -60dBm) and in majority of the time acktimeout 30us dealing with the ap-bridge (if someone get a higher one, i disconnect him and he rejoin with a good one), but they have a lot of problem logging on my pppoe server on the mikrotik server, and they get errors like “no response from the server” or “the port used for this connection was closed”, and even when they connect on the pppoe server, they tend to get disconnected after a while. I pinged random clients and all that i get is packets lost and few packets returned with astronomical times. Changed my antenna, afraid of being victim of an infiltration, but it helped nothing at all.

the config of my wireless adapter (Atheros AR5212)

name=“wlan” mtu=1500 mac-address=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX arp=enabled
disable-running-check=no interface-type=Atheros AR5212
radio-name=“torre1” mode=ap-bridge ssid=“myispsname” area=“”
frequency-mode=manual-txpower country=no_country_set antenna-gain=0
frequency=2412 band=2.4ghz-b scan-list=default rate-set=configured
supported-rates-b=1Mbps,11Mbps supported-rates-a/g=“”
basic-rates-b=1Mbps,11Mbps basic-rates-a/g=“” max-station-count=2007
ack-timeout=dynamic tx-power-mode=default noise-floor-threshold=default
periodic-calibration=default periodic-calibration-interval=60
burst-time=disabled dfs-mode=none antenna-mode=ant-a wds-mode=disabled
wds-default-bridge=none wds-default-cost=100 wds-cost-range=50-150
wds-ignore-ssid=no update-stats-interval=disabled
default-authentication=yes default-forwarding=no default-ap-tx-limit=0
default-client-tx-limit=0 proprietary-extensions=post-2.9.25
hide-ssid=no security-profile=default disconnect-timeout=3s
on-fail-retry-time=100ms preamble-mode=long compression=no

Some pics of my testings today:

inlab test. brought my ap to the ground and tested it with just one pc connected on it by the wlan interface.
1.JPG
notice that the ping is <1ms if i stop the btest (no restrictions on up or dl) i was running on the client.

Here with the ap-bridge back onto the tower, i do some checking like the current traffic on the interface, amount of clients connected and timeouts:
wireless.JPG
and right after take the screenshot i run ping tests on some clients:
ping.JPG
and here some logging from the server:

I have no firewall rules in my ap, and i recently removed almost all of them from my server as well (the problem started before the removal, and the removal itself was a attempt to fix it). I have no idea what the problem can be, and im really not excited about the idea of changing every part of every machine (both are pcs running mkt OS) untill to find or not the problem. To be honest i dont even cant do that. I dont think it may be a malfunction from the pcs, but if u have reasons to think other way, let me to know and i post the system specs later, this post is getting huge, and i have to sleep a bit otherwise my head will just to blow up.

Thanks for the atencion, and as i said in the beginning, if it have being posted on the wrong forum, pls move it admins.

2

Most of the time, when I see weirdness like what you are describing, it has been interference. Can be very tough to track down.

3

Trying upgrading to v2.9.49 you’re way behind on 2.9.27. There were some fixes introduced around v2.9.45, I forget exactly when, that did a lot to improve instability problems.

4

heres the survey´s screen:
survey.JPG
If its really interference, what can i do about?
About the versions, whats the newest stable one? Do i have to change too many configs to update the version? Never updated it b4, i dont know how it works. It would to be painfull to have to reconfigure my entire server. Can i use it only in the ap-bridge, maintaining the server on the current config? Should help me considering that my problems really are interferences.

I was thinking about to use both of my omnis at same time, once the problem is smaller when theres less clients connected at same time. But Will they interfere on each other´s functionality? thats my doubt right now. Id use them on 1 and 11 channels, and a distance of 5m from eachother. Id use another atheros AR5212 for the second omni aswell.

Thoughts?

5

hmmm, http://www.routerclub.com - Where can I get that edition? … As everyone would have probably said you are about 13 versions behind (some changes being major) … upgrade.

6

Well, you can see quite a few networks, but I’d be most concerned with the first 5 or so that have really strong signals as they may be overloading your AP. It could also be at the client side too.

One thing to note: even with nearby AP’s on the same channel as you, they seem to play pretty well together. May slow things down but usually not knock connections all the way offline. Cordelss phones and other “non 802.11 stuff” usually does much more damage.

Have you tried changing channels?

7

yea ive tried many different channels. At first (when that second stronger signal dont even existed) i was on channel 6. Then i tried channel 11 due the strong signal on channel 5. Few days ago i tried channel 1 in an attempt to diminish the problem. Dont worked at all. I have to stay on the extremes of the channel´s pool, due these 2 very strong signals in channel 5.

About the wireless phone, i have one here at the office, that is less than 5m from the base of the tower. But the tower have 30m, and the cordless phone is on the ground, and theres a wall between the phone and the base of the tower. Im going to turn it off by a day to check it, but do u really believes that it can be the cause?

Ive checked all the client´s sides and they was all ok. You only see some clients with less than -65 because my older antenna had a weird irradiation range and could to attend the clients near the base of the tower very well. The current one havent that freak irradiation. But as i said before, the problem started many days before the change of the antennas.

8

I personally haven’t done much testing with 2.4 ghz phones and 802.11 signals.

Most of my experience is with 900 mhz gear and I do know that a 900 mhz phone will knock out an SR9 or XR9 up to about 50 feet, and can slow things down with interference up to a couple hundred feet (or maybe more). But at the same time, I have run multiple XR9 AP’s and even an SR9 and XR9 on the same channel with the antennas only 3 feet apart with almost no noticeable interference.

9

I have the same problem. And there are no noise, just my 4 AP on 802.11 B.On ap i have 17 clients.

10

What method are you using to determine that there is no noise?

11

Ive been seeing some weirdness somewhat like this, and it has turned out 3 times now to be a bad radio in the field that as soon as it connects it makes everyone’s connection run like garbage, and as soon as I turn his access off, the network returns to normal. (no not a packet storm)

Now, we are using a lot of prism based clients so were using a prism based AP as well.

Ive not been able to nail down what the actual problem is with the radios, they appear to be completely normal otherwise.

try turning off each client and seeing if it improves the performance of everyone else, and when you turn them back on, it starts to suck again. Then just replace that one radio.

hope it helps.

12

Have you tried configuring the client to be only at 1 mbps or 2 mbps?

13

Evan;

On your registration screen, rightclick, and expand the show columns, then check the TX signal Strength.
Do the same and check the TX/RX CCQ.

You may hear the clients fine but can the clients hear you fine?

14

Why resurrect a dead thread almost a year old?