More questions about Slow Wifi

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

I have a Linksys WRT3200ACM freshly configured with OpenWrt 19.07.3, r11063-85e04e9f46 to replace my old WNR3500L running Advanced Tomato. On the Netgear I got ~ 20Mbps from my 40Mbps ADSL connection running through my VPN on wifi, and about 30Mbps on ethernet. The exact same configuration on the Linksys is getting me the same 30Mbps on ethernet but only 7Mbps on WiFi.

First, is there an easy answer, like "just run sudo makeitslow=0", and barring that, what logging can I do that might help diagnose?

EDIT - the helpful "looks like you're asking the same old question" sidebar on the right led me to a few similar issues, and it looks like it might be a version-dependent thing. I also saw a few helpful things I can post, which I will at the end.

In the interest of full disclosure: I had had this router configured with OpenMPTCP a while back and got good bonding results and fine WiFi performance. When I installed OpenWRT this time, I tried using a load balancer (TPlink) behind it, and had very odd results where directly connected to the load balancer I was getting 60-70Mbps but when I used the load balancer as the broadband source for the Linksys and plugged in to it, ethernet speeds dropped to 5-10Mbps, so maybe that's a clue?

Q1: is there an easy fix?
Q2: Can I try flashing older versions into the router safely?
Q3: Should I use another radio on the router for best performance on mostly older (2012) hardware?
Q4: What logging can I enable to diagnose the reason for the slow-down?

TIA

root@Krauter:~# cat /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option channel '36'
	option hwmode '11a'
	option path 'soc/soc:pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0'
	option htmode 'VHT80'
	option disabled '1'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
	option device 'radio0'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'OpenWrt'
	option encryption 'none'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option hwmode '11g'
	option path 'soc/soc:pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:02:00.0'
	option distance '12'
	option channel '9'
	option txpower '20'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
	option device 'radio1'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'Guantanamo AirBnB'
	option key 'trump tweets for god'
	option encryption 'psk2'

config wifi-device 'radio2'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option channel '36'
	option hwmode '11a'
	option path 'platform/soc/soc:internal-regs/f10d8000.sdhci/mmc_host/mmc0/mmc0:0001/mmc0:0001:1'
	option htmode 'VHT80'
	option disabled '1'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio2'
	option device 'radio2'
	option network 'lan'
	option mode 'ap'
	option ssid 'OpenWrt'
	option encryption 'none'

root@Krauter:~# opkg list-installed
base-files - 204.2-r11063-85e04e9f46
busybox - 1.30.1-5
cgi-io - 19
dnsmasq - 2.80-16.1
dropbear - 2019.78-2
firewall - 2019-11-22-8174814a-1
fstools - 2020-05-12-84269037-1
fwtool - 2
getrandom - 2019-06-16-4df34a4d-3
hostapd-common - 2019-08-08-ca8c2bd2-3
ip6tables - 1.8.3-1
iptables - 1.8.3-1
iw - 5.0.1-1
iwinfo - 2019-10-16-07315b6f-1
jshn - 2020-02-27-7da66430-1
jsonfilter - 2018-02-04-c7e938d6-1
kernel - 4.14.180-1-a92a3f5c5bed2671533484c7ace9d5b5
kmod-bluetooth - 4.14.180-1
kmod-btmrvl - 4.14.180-1
kmod-cfg80211 - 4.14.180+4.19.120-1-1
kmod-crypto-aead - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-cmac - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-ecb - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-ecdh - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-hash - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-kpp - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-manager - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-null - 4.14.180-1
kmod-crypto-pcompress - 4.14.180-1
kmod-gpio-button-hotplug - 4.14.180-3
kmod-hid - 4.14.180-1
kmod-input-core - 4.14.180-1
kmod-input-evdev - 4.14.180-1
kmod-ip6tables - 4.14.180-1
kmod-ipt-conntrack - 4.14.180-1
kmod-ipt-core - 4.14.180-1
kmod-ipt-nat - 4.14.180-1
kmod-ipt-offload - 4.14.180-1
kmod-lib-crc-ccitt - 4.14.180-1
kmod-lib-crc16 - 4.14.180-1
kmod-mac80211 - 4.14.180+4.19.120-1-1
kmod-mmc - 4.14.180-1
kmod-mwifiex-sdio - 4.14.180+4.19.120-1-1
kmod-mwlwifi - 4.14.180+2019-03-02-31d93860-1
kmod-nf-conntrack - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-conntrack6 - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-flow - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-ipt - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-ipt6 - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-nat - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-reject - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nf-reject6 - 4.14.180-1
kmod-nls-base - 4.14.180-1
kmod-ppp - 4.14.180-1
kmod-pppoe - 4.14.180-1
kmod-pppox - 4.14.180-1
kmod-regmap-core - 4.14.180-1
kmod-slhc - 4.14.180-1
kmod-usb-core - 4.14.180-1
libblobmsg-json - 2020-02-27-7da66430-1
libc - 1.1.24-2
libgcc1 - 7.5.0-2
libip4tc2 - 1.8.3-1
libip6tc2 - 1.8.3-1
libiwinfo-lua - 2019-10-16-07315b6f-1
libiwinfo20181126 - 2019-10-16-07315b6f-1
libjson-c2 - 0.12.1-3.1
libjson-script - 2020-02-27-7da66430-1
liblua5.1.5 - 5.1.5-3
liblucihttp-lua - 2019-07-05-a34a17d5-1
liblucihttp0 - 2019-07-05-a34a17d5-1
libnl-tiny - 0.1-5
libpthread - 1.1.24-2
libubox20191228 - 2020-02-27-7da66430-1
libubus-lua - 2019-12-27-041c9d1c-1
libubus20191227 - 2019-12-27-041c9d1c-1
libuci20130104 - 2019-09-01-415f9e48-3
libuclient20160123 - 2019-05-30-3b3e368d-1
libxtables12 - 1.8.3-1
logd - 2019-06-16-4df34a4d-3
lua - 5.1.5-3
luci - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-app-firewall - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-app-opkg - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-base - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-lib-ip - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-lib-jsonc - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-lib-nixio - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-mod-admin-full - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-mod-network - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-mod-status - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-mod-system - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-proto-ipv6 - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-proto-ppp - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
luci-theme-bootstrap - git-20.136.49537-fb2f363-1
mtd - 24
mwifiex-sdio-firmware - 20190416-1
mwlwifi-firmware-88w8964 - 2019-03-02-31d93860-1
netifd - 2019-08-05-5e02f944-1
odhcp6c - 2019-01-11-e199804b-16
odhcpd-ipv6only - 2020-05-03-49e4949c-3
openwrt-keyring - 2019-07-25-8080ef34-1
opkg - 2020-05-07-f2166a89-1
ppp - 2.4.7.git-2019-05-25-3
ppp-mod-pppoe - 2.4.7.git-2019-05-25-3
procd - 2020-03-07-09b9bd82-1
rpcd - 2019-12-10-aaa08366-2
rpcd-mod-file - 2019-12-10-aaa08366-2
rpcd-mod-iwinfo - 2019-12-10-aaa08366-2
rpcd-mod-luci - 20191114
rpcd-mod-rrdns - 20170710
swconfig - 12
ubi-utils - 2.1.1-1
uboot-envtools - 2018.03-3
ubox - 2019-06-16-4df34a4d-3
ubus - 2019-12-27-041c9d1c-1
ubusd - 2019-12-27-041c9d1c-1
uci - 2019-09-01-415f9e48-3
uclient-fetch - 2019-05-30-3b3e368d-1
uhttpd - 2020-03-13-975dce23-1
urandom-seed - 1.0-1
urngd - 2020-01-21-c7f7b6b6-1
usign - 2019-08-06-5a52b379-1
wireless-regdb - 2019.06.03-1
wpad-basic - 2019-08-08-ca8c2bd2-3
2

Radio 1 is the 2.4 GHz radio. Leave radio 2 disabled it isn't suitable for end use. Don't set option distance in indoor situations. It's only applicable to long-range links with big antennas. Do set option country to your country code (two capital letters e.g. 'US'). Do set an option htmode 'HT20' is used on 2.4 GHz unless you have absolutely no neighbors running wifi then you could try HT40.

If you do have neighbors scan the band and try to avoid them by choosing your channel to be 5 channels away from any strong signals. It works best if everyone chooses a channel from the group 1, 6, and 11.

1 Like
3

Like magic. Thank you. Right up to 18Mbps through the VPN.

I live in an apartment building, so the spectrum is pretty polluted, with 6 signals within -85dBm, but everybody's bunched up on default channels - mostly 1 & 6 with a few 11s thrown in for good measure but a bit father away, so 9 seems cleanest.

4

WIFI is a slow technology because all APs and clients running on a channel are sharing the same bandwith and listening to each other.

The 2.4 Ghz is over polluted, avoid it if you can.
The 5Ghz spectrum offers a lot more channels and is less polluted.

But it remains slow, especially in large cities and appartment lots.

5

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