Wireless is ridiculously slow (40 KB/s!!!! :( )

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Hi.

I have finally managed to get the MikroTik wireless device I mentioned here, with a RouterBOARD 411:

http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/got-ahold-of-used-routerboard-411u-device-is-it-bad/71059/1

to work. I followed something like what was given here:

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Making_a_simple_wireless_AP

(though did some of the configuration in the web browser interface instead of Winbox) to set it up as a simple access point for home use. For reference, there are 3 devices in the home that have wireless capability: the MikroTik RouterBOARD unit, which is ethernetted to a server computer (and nothing else), a PC which I call the “Karyo”, and an Android tablet. But I’m noticing that I’m getting abysmal transfer speeds – copying a test file from the server computer to the Karyo over the wireless got an abysmal speed of 40 kB/s (that’s kBytes, not kbits). It also seems fairly laggy, e.g. a PING executed on the Karyo (which runs Linux), pinging across the wifi link to the server computer gives:

PING 192.168.88.2 (192.168.88.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=1 ttl=63 time=413 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=2 ttl=63 time=47.1 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=3 ttl=63 time=130 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=4 ttl=63 time=71.4 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=5 ttl=63 time=78.8 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=6 ttl=63 time=14.9 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=7 ttl=63 time=201 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=8 ttl=63 time=10.5 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=9 ttl=63 time=3.37 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=10 ttl=63 time=165 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=11 ttl=63 time=94.0 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=12 ttl=63 time=6.53 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=13 ttl=63 time=151 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.88.2: icmp_req=14 ttl=63 time=54.8 ms
^C
--- 192.168.88.2 ping statistics ---
14 packets transmitted, 14 received, 0% packet loss, time 13016ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 3.378/103.175/413.724/105.525 ms

Notice the very erratic ping times, from as small as 6.5 ms all the way up to 413 ms. It seemed (though I didn’t measure it) faster before I enabled the WPA security (at least from testing web browsing via the Android tablet – I didn’t do a file transfer test). Is this normal? It doesn’t seem like it should be so. I don’t want to run it unsecured.

The distance between the Karyo and the MikroTik is not too great, I believe (10-12 feet or so). However, there is a wood floor between the two, which might reduce the signal. The signal level reported by iwconfig ran on the Karyo (on the other side of the floor from the MikroTik and server computer) is around -40 dBm. Moving and reorienting the device seemed to improve the signal strength somewhat (from avg of -50 dBm at the Karyo to -40 or maybe a little higher, which is the figure I reported here), but didn’t really seem to affect the data rate (though at one point – putting the MikroTik router down lower, I might have gotten a slight file transfer rate boost – to 50-60 kB/s instead of 40, but that’s still atrocious). “Link quality” per the Karyo’s iwconfig is 67/70 - 70/70.

What is going on with this? I’d like to be able to get up to 1 MB/s or more file transfer speeds. Is that possible?

Thanks for any answers.

2

Upgrade the RouterOS to v6.6 and then reset the wireless interface configuration and then configure only the settings you need, like ssid,frequency,mode,country,antenna-gain,ht-chains

3

So does this mean it cannot work with the older RouterOS?

4

We always suggest to use the newest RouterOS version.
What version are you using now?
Also I would suggest to configure the board using Quickset:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Quickset

5

Unfortunately, it looks like the license key on this router only allows upgrade to RouterOS 5.x, not 6.6. It looks like I’d have to pay $45 to upgrade to 6.6, which seems kind of much for me to spend on “rehabbing” an old piece of used hardware for home use.

BTW, you asked about what version I was using now. It’s 4.5.

6

Interesting… I just started the system up again now and I was able to transfer at 113-130 kB/s. Still a lot less than what I want (1 MB/s or more), but faster. Odd.

7

then first upgrade the RouterOS to v5.25 and then you will be able to upgrade to v6.6

8

Are you sure that’s right? According to:

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:License

There are two types of keys, Level3/L4 and Level5/L6
The difference between these is that > L3 and L4 only allow RouterOS upgrades until the last update of the next version> . L5 and L6 however, give you the ability to use one more major version
There are also differences between all License levels (L3-L6) that are unrelated to RouterOS upgrades, see License levels

(emphasis mine)

Mine is “nlevel: 4”, according to the RouterOS on the device. So according to that, I shouldn’t be able to go up to RouterOS 6. Yet you suggest I can. Which one is right?

Also, I managed to upgrade to RouterOS 5, and interestingly, the OS reports upgradeable to 6, but the above seems to suggest you shouldn’t be able to. Is it not “legit” to upgrade to 6, or what? Which is right?

9

Hmm… that’s interesting. I did some more testing now and it seems that I can wirelessly transfer at much higher speed (600 kB/s - 1 MB/s) from the server machine to the Android tablet, but not to the Karyo. Also, transfers from the Karyo seem to be as slow as ever (20 kB/s). So I’m not sure as to whether the problem is with the MikroTik router or the Karyo.

10

Well, I tried different wireless cards in the Karyo and different operating systems (Windows instead of Linux – it has both on it), and it was still slow, so my attention is back on the MikroTik device again.

Why would the router be slow connecting to the Karyo but not to the Android tablet?

Also, what about the question about upgrading to RouterOS 6?

11

Good News!

I finally managed to solve the problem! It turns out the problem was that the clock on the router was wrong, being set to 1970 and the wrong time of day. Setting the clock to the right settings got the wireless transfer rate up to 1.5-1.6 MB/s. I also had to set up NTP on the network so the router would keep the correct time.

Thanks for the input, though.