Internet issue in a mesh network

and the same happens if device 2 moves to the 3rd node ?

On the basis I have seen what looks very much like this problem on numerous occasions, I'll give my input...

Probable Scenario:
Device 1 is connected directly by ethernet to the router. It is playing a 4K "on demand" video stream. It will use the maximum bandwidth available to it to fill its media player buffers, optimally enough for 1 or 2 minutes of viewing. This will fully saturate the 72 Mb/s Internet feed in bursts every few seconds.

Device 2 is running a video call using webRTC or similar real time streaming with effectively no buffering. When Device 1 is streaming, Device 2 cannot maintain a continuous real time stream so stutters at best or disconnects at worst.

Solution (the one I use so know it works - but there are probably other ways):
Install SQM on the Internet router (gateway) with SQM bound to the ethernet interface Device 1 is using (eth0.1?).

Set upload and download rates for Device 1 to say 10Mb/s (More than enough for 4K video).
Device 2 will then have enough bandwidth for real time video.

You might have a problem with the C20 v5's though, if they only have 8/64 MB - hardly enough to run just openWrt these days.

Batman is completely unnecessary here as it is designed to provide layer 3 routing for large mesh networks, whereas you just have 3 nodes on a bridged mesh. So you could save quite a bit of space by just using simple 802.11s.

Yes the same issue happens there.

I tried removing all the device and just kept device 2 on the network connected to node2 and still I am experiencing the same issue.. video calls being frozen, high ping while playing multiplayer games like csgo,etc

You mean you removed Device 1 and Device 3?
You are playing multiplayer games AND video calling simultaneously on Device 2?

Yes I removed device 1 and 2.
And no am not doing that simultaneously.

But now you are saying the video call has problems even without the 4K streaming.

First I thought it's because of 4k video, so I tested it without it turns it has issues with or without 4k video.

Does Device 2 still have video call problems when connected to the gateway wifi?

In that case it works just fine.

You were implying that it used to work on the mesh and something changed (ie 4K streaming - but that was a red herring).

So was it working at some stage, or has it never worked?

There could be many reasons if it has stopped working, for example a degraded signal between the mesh nodes.

Everything else works just fine from all the node ..it's just that I can't get video calls and online multiplayer works properly.

An answer would help.

5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Openwrt mesh network - crowd funded project

Well video calls and games never worked.

Having those few nodes, I think 802.11s routing is sufficient if you don't have to use VLAN either.

Video calls and games over a mesh are always going to be problematic, since it means retransmitting packets multiple times over the air it compounds packet loss and latency jitter issues.

Is there anyway I can improve the quality?

The best way to get high quality interactive communications is to use wired devices.
@bluewavenet already mentioned to make sure you have SQM installed on the router and configured.

But you say:

So that means SQM by itself won't solve your problems, because the issue isn't just from high traffic it's from radio environment. At this point in time your best bet is:

  1. wire the access points to the gateway node
  2. If you can't wire it in, change channels. I like Wifi Analyzer to explore the wifi environment and choose channels

It would be useful to see a dslreports speed test result link for a speed test run on "device 1" and a speed test run on "device 2"

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Hey, really great to have experience from people having a mesh network with OpenWRT.

I don't agree with people saying that video calls or games over a mesh will always be problematic!

Because I'm trying to replace my previous mesh set-up Orbi rbk23 (1 * RBR20 + 2 * RBS20)where the end computers are currently used for game and video calls, and I never had any problem ! In fact it was really great and with some test (proof.ovh.net) I easily go to the 400mbp/s (computer connected on the mesh node RBS20 with RJ 45, estimated distance between the RBR20 and RBS20 20 meters separate by a floor and at the extremity from each other in the house). Never had any issues with the call, neither with game (e.g., csgo).

But with my new setup (see related post : Home set-up with OpenWrt and Ubiquiti), which is similar to the previous one in terms of distance and use case, I tend to freeze if i'm having huge bandwith.

From a first test with the new set-up, I was able to play csgo, but If I'm doing a speed up test, it crash the mesh network after few seconds. Still, I've approx 200mbps in average during the first seconds.