WDS speed question

[Jack007]

Most posts on this forum relating to WDS and speed state that the speed of the WDS-link is half the speed of the slowest (Wifi) client.
I'm trying to understand why that is, specific to my setup.

My setup has a WDS-AP (https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap) and a WDS-client (https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/atheroswds) connected over 2.4 GHz. The WDS-client only "talks" to the AP and doesn't accept other Wifi clients. Potential Wifi-clients dont "see" the WDS-client, only the AP.

Both the AP and WDS-client dont do NAT, DHCP or firewall. So why would this link slow down the speed of all 2.4 GHz traffic?

Both the AP (Netgear R7800) and WDS-client (TP-Link Archer C7 v5) are on 18.06.4. The AP is wired to my router (which does the DHCP, NAT and Firewall).

[Hegabo]

Halving the speed happens if you are using the same radio for both the link and the clients.

If you have dual band routers then dedicate one band for the link.

[jeff]

If you’re not “sharing” your backhaul with clients, then the typical halving doesn’t apply, it's just a link. However, many people are not satisfied with real-world performance of 2.4 GHz links and don’t have dual, 5 GHz radios (such as on the Linksys EA8300).