Hi all,

I've installed a new hotspot using RB433 + R52Hn + MiMo Sector antenna in a wide square.
To gain full compatibility with all laptops and mobile devices mode 2.4GHz-only-g selected.
All rest settings are typical for 2.4 band according to default values loaded and mikrotik wiki.

The fact is that when concurrent attached users are less than 8 or 9, hotspot performance is just fine.

When attached users are close to 16-17 there is no data throughput at all and performance is decreased dramatically.
At that time cpu utilization not showing any peaks and it is usually under 15%.

What I'm doing wrong?

No radio can support to many radio connections without a pooling method and the limit is at ~ 30 radios with a very good signal and I doubt that mobile phones have a very good signal. And pooling method is proprietary, not working with laptops or phones.

Thanks for your reply. I also suspected that 802.11 has limited capabilities for such a case.

However, for Mikrotik Hotspot implementations, which are the best practices to support as many connected users as possible with even small data rate? (500kbps - 1Mbps are pretty enough in an open square for a hs)

Always focusing on Mikrotik products, are there any recommended settings would improve radio performance?

In alternative way how multiple AP instances could be used in the same area to divide attached users equally in order to improve performance?

It's disappointing to have a powerful R52Hn with a sector antenna covering a wide area with a hotspot and by the same time when attached users increasing not to be able to work at ALL.....

Come on guys... How can we cover a wide crowded area with a smart way allowing users to have a good internet browsing experience? Area meaning a square or a beach.

Since a single AP cannot manage more than ~20 clients we cannot put a sign saying "Count yourself!!! No more than 20 concurrent connections allowed!"

Any recommendations?

Come on guys... How can we cover a wide crowded area with a smart way allowing users to have a good internet browsing experience? Area meaning a square or a beach.
Since a single AP cannot manage more than ~20 clients we cannot put a sign saying "Count yourself!!! No more than 20 concurrent connections allowed!"
Any recommendations?

Install more APs.

Install more APs.

In which mode?
WDS?
Distinct ssids in separate channels?
Same ssid in separate channels?

What about performance in each case?

Same SSID in separate channels. Connect them (using ethernet if possible) to one DHCP server (running on one of MikroTiks). Clients will connect to the AP that has the highest signal level in the point where they are. Also when they move the client's wireless network card will switch automatically to another AP.

Are you using hotspot feature of MikroTik or you just name this AP as "hotspot"?

Yes the hotspot feature is activated, but as mentioned when more than 20 users login, network latency in very huge.

Actually users can occasionally (I say occasionally because network speed goes rapidly up & down) browse internet pages but youtube for example has very bad experience.

If I use same ssid, do you think that people close to coverage borders will often jump from one AP to the other?
OK with single dhcp/subnet/gateway in bridge mode, problem would be possibly eliminated. But have you tested that?

If I use same ssid, do you think that people close to coverage borders will often jump from one AP to the other?

When signal goes below (about) -80 dBm then client starts to search another AP with the same SSID on different channels. When it finds it then jumps to new AP. This is standard behavior of wireless interfaces working according to specification.

OK with single dhcp/subnet/gateway in bridge mode, problem would be possibly eliminated. But have you tested that?

This is the essential functionallity of every more-then-one-AP wireless network. One thing that I am not shure is: how will it work with hotspot? I guess there should be no problem at all. Please test and write results in this thread.

You can do more with queues and PCQ. also I would drop HW retries to 4

You can do more with queues and PCQ. also I would drop HW retries to 4

This sounds reasonable. Also found here:

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Wi ... retries.3F

I'll test it and let you know. Thanks.

HW-retries value set to 4 and after extensive testing results are rather encouraging.
AP performance improved.

@spire2z: You just got your karma

@payday: When hotspot assigned to a bridge interface of multiple wlan, dhcp/subnet & gateway works just fine.