RB751G-2HnD Slow Wireless With Full Signal

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

I just purchased my first Mikrotik product, the RB751G. It works great when hardwired, but the wireless is REALLY SLOW. I’m able to get about a grand total of 6 megaBYTES per second (48Mbps) throughput on actual file transfers from the wireless to a hardwired server on one of the gigabit ports. I’ve seen reports that people were having better luck than I am by disabling certain chains and setting the accepted rates of the network to only the higher rates. I did, at one point get a blazing fast 100Mbps or so out of the unit, but the very next file I transferred went back down to 48Mbps. Any thoughts or direction would be very much appreciated at this point.

I’ve also tried setting it to Wireless-N only and the speed did not improve. I would like to be able to support 802.11g devices as well so I set it back to what’s “usable” for me, although I’m up for changing anything at any time to try and get something better out of it. If you have a suggestion, do not hesitate to offer it up – I’ll try it and post back the results!

Here’s the export of my CURRENT wireless config:

# aug/22/2012 15:18:28 by RouterOS 5.20
# software id = Y71M-33GF
#
/interface wireless security-profiles
set [ find default=yes ] group-ciphers="" supplicant-identity=MikroTik \
    unicast-ciphers=""
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk eap-methods=passthrough mode=dynamic-keys \
    name=myWifiNetSecurityProfile supplicant-identity=MikroTik \
    wpa-pre-shared-key=myPreSharedKey wpa2-pre-shared-key=myPreSharedKey
/interface wireless
set 0 band=2ghz-b/g/n basic-rates-a/g=24Mbps,36Mbps,48Mbps,54Mbps \
    basic-rates-b="" channel-width=20/40mhz-ht-above country="united states" \
    disabled=no ht-ampdu-priorities=0,1,2 ht-rxchains=0,1 ht-txchains=1 l2mtu=\
    2290 mode=ap-bridge name=myWifiNet rate-set=configured security-profile=\
    myWifiNetSecurityProfile ssid=myWifiNet supported-rates-a/g=\
    24Mbps,36Mbps,48Mbps,54Mbps supported-rates-b="" wireless-protocol=802.11
/interface wireless nstreme
set myWifiNet enable-polling=no

Thanks,
Archie

2

That is far better speeds than I have been able to get on the RB751 (Not gigabit version), what speeds are you expecting? 6MBps isn’t bad for the RB751, best real time throughput I have been able to get is 35Mbps.

3

I was hoping for actual throughput of 15-16 megabytes per second. Well, I’m close. I moved the client closer to the router (about 2 meters away from it now) and I’ve been regularly getting around 13-14 megabytes per second. The connected tx/rx rate of the client fluctuates quite a bit, but it’s usually ~270-300Mbps for the majority of the time. When it’s in that range, I’m getting my best transfer rates.

Here’s my current config for anyone who wants to have a go at it:

# aug/23/2012 23:16:56 by RouterOS 5.20
# software id = Y71M-33GF
#
/interface wireless security-profiles
set [ find default=yes ] authentication-types="" eap-methods=passthrough \
    group-ciphers="" group-key-update=5m interim-update=0s \
    management-protection=disabled management-protection-key="" mode=none \
    name=default radius-eap-accounting=no radius-mac-accounting=no \
    radius-mac-authentication=no radius-mac-caching=disabled \
    radius-mac-format=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX radius-mac-mode=as-username \
    static-algo-0=none static-algo-1=none static-algo-2=none static-algo-3=\
    none static-key-0="" static-key-1="" static-key-2="" static-key-3="" \
    static-sta-private-algo=none static-sta-private-key="" \
    static-transmit-key=key-0 supplicant-identity=MikroTik tls-certificate=\
    none tls-mode=no-certificates unicast-ciphers="" wpa-pre-shared-key="" \
    wpa2-pre-shared-key=""
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk eap-methods="" group-ciphers=aes-ccm \
    group-key-update=5m interim-update=0s management-protection=disabled \
    management-protection-key="" mode=dynamic-keys name=\
    myWiFiNetSecurityProfile radius-eap-accounting=no radius-mac-accounting=no \
    radius-mac-authentication=no radius-mac-caching=disabled \
    radius-mac-format=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX radius-mac-mode=as-username \
    static-algo-0=none static-algo-1=none static-algo-2=none static-algo-3=\
    none static-key-0="" static-key-1="" static-key-2="" static-key-3="" \
    static-sta-private-algo=none static-sta-private-key="" \
    static-transmit-key=key-0 supplicant-identity=MikroTik tls-certificate=\
    none tls-mode=no-certificates unicast-ciphers=aes-ccm wpa-pre-shared-key=\
    myPreSharedKey wpa2-pre-shared-key=myPreSharedKey
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk eap-methods="" group-ciphers=aes-ccm \
    group-key-update=5m interim-update=0s management-protection=disabled \
    management-protection-key="" mode=dynamic-keys name=GuestSecProfile \
    radius-eap-accounting=no radius-mac-accounting=no \
    radius-mac-authentication=no radius-mac-caching=disabled \
    radius-mac-format=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX radius-mac-mode=as-username \
    static-algo-0=none static-algo-1=none static-algo-2=none static-algo-3=\
    none static-key-0="" static-key-1="" static-key-2="" static-key-3="" \
    static-sta-private-algo=none static-sta-private-key="" \
    static-transmit-key=key-0 supplicant-identity=MikroTik tls-certificate=\
    none tls-mode=no-certificates unicast-ciphers=aes-ccm wpa-pre-shared-key=\
    "" wpa2-pre-shared-key=2354guest
/interface wireless
set 0 adaptive-noise-immunity=none allow-sharedkey=no antenna-gain=0 \
    antenna-mode=txa-rxb area="" arp=enabled band=2ghz-onlyn basic-rates-a/g=\
    48Mbps,54Mbps basic-rates-b="" bridge-mode=enabled channel-width=\
    20/40mhz-ht-above compression=no country="united states" \
    default-ap-tx-limit=0 default-authentication=yes default-client-tx-limit=\
    0 default-forwarding=yes dfs-mode=none disable-running-check=no disabled=\
    no disconnect-timeout=3s distance=dynamic frame-lifetime=0 frequency=2412 \
    frequency-mode=manual-txpower frequency-offset=0 hide-ssid=no \
    ht-ampdu-priorities=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 ht-amsdu-limit=8192 \
    ht-amsdu-threshold=8192 ht-basic-mcs=\
    mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7 ht-guard-interval=any \
    ht-rxchains=0,1 ht-supported-mcs="mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-\
    6,mcs-7,mcs-8,mcs-9,mcs-10,mcs-11,mcs-12,mcs-13,mcs-14,mcs-15,mcs-16,mcs-1\
    7,mcs-18,mcs-19,mcs-20,mcs-21,mcs-22,mcs-23" ht-txchains=0,1 \
    hw-fragmentation-threshold=disabled hw-protection-mode=none \
    hw-protection-threshold=0 hw-retries=7 l2mtu=2290 mac-address=\
    00:0C:42:FB:B7:2B max-station-count=2007 mode=ap-bridge mtu=1500 \
    multicast-helper=default name=myWiFiNet noise-floor-threshold=default \
    nv2-cell-radius=30 nv2-noise-floor-offset=default nv2-preshared-key="" \
    nv2-qos=default nv2-queue-count=2 nv2-security=disabled \
    on-fail-retry-time=100ms periodic-calibration=default \
    periodic-calibration-interval=60 preamble-mode=both \
    proprietary-extensions=post-2.9.25 radio-name=000C42FBB72B \
    rate-selection=advanced rate-set=configured scan-list=default \
    security-profile=myWiFiNetSecurityProfile ssid=myWiFiNet \
    station-bridge-clone-mac=00:00:00:00:00:00 supported-rates-a/g=\
    48Mbps,54Mbps supported-rates-b="" tdma-period-size=2 tx-power=13 \
    tx-power-mode=card-rates update-stats-interval=disabled wds-cost-range=\
    50-150 wds-default-bridge=none wds-default-cost=100 wds-ignore-ssid=no \
    wds-mode=disabled wireless-protocol=802.11 wmm-support=disabled
/interface wireless manual-tx-power-table
set myWiFiNet manual-tx-powers="1Mbps:17,2Mbps:17,5.5Mbps:17,11Mbps:17,6Mbps:17,\
    9Mbps:17,12Mbps:17,18Mbps:17,24Mbps:17,36Mbps:17,48Mbps:17,54Mbps:17,HT20-\
    0:17,HT20-1:17,HT20-2:17,HT20-3:17,HT20-4:17,HT20-5:17,HT20-6:17,HT20-7:17\
    ,HT40-0:17,HT40-1:17,HT40-2:17,HT40-3:17,HT40-4:17,HT40-5:17,HT40-6:17,HT4\
    0-7:17"
/interface wireless nstreme
set myWiFiNet disable-csma=no enable-nstreme=no enable-polling=yes \
    framer-limit=3200 framer-policy=none
/interface wireless align
set active-mode=yes audio-max=-20 audio-min=-100 audio-monitor=\
    00:00:00:00:00:00 filter-mac=00:00:00:00:00:00 frame-size=300 \
    frames-per-second=25 receive-all=no ssid-all=no
/interface wireless sniffer
set channel-time=200ms file-limit=10 file-name="" memory-limit=10 \
    multiple-channels=no only-headers=no receive-errors=no streaming-enabled=\
    no streaming-max-rate=0 streaming-server=0.0.0.0
/interface wireless snooper
set channel-time=200ms multiple-channels=yes receive-errors=no

btest is showing about 35Mbps (megabits per second) but real-world transfers are showing the higher rate. I’m not sure what that means, if anything. I’m able to transfer large files quickly though, so that was all I was hoping to accomplish.

btest results:

Windows Samba copy results (transfer 1):

Windows Samba copy results (transfer 2):

Not quite what I was getting earlier today, but currently I’m listed as being connected at 243Mbps instead of the full 300Mbps so I guess that could account for the slowdown.

I might try to set it to Only-N and try again, see if it gets more stable. It turns out I only have one .11g client machine left, so I guess it might be time to upgrade it.

4

Windows Samba copy

SMB is known to be very slow, you should try something else for comparison.

Btest overloads the router CPU if you run it from the router, so you need to test PC to PC, or use some other heavy downloading mechanism for the test (apart from the slow samba).

Nevertheless, your result is already impressive!

5

SFTP, FTP and NFS all went at lower speeds than SMB (~4-5MBps). Since the majority of what I’ll be doing with it is transferring media via SMB anyway, the test and the results are acceptable to me.