@PBGBBB2020 

Hey

Can you give us some more details on the setup?  Ideally some of the below

What client device are you connecting and what band (2.4 / 5)

What is the firmware version of the EAP225

Are you getting a full 1GBPS via the LAN cable to the EAP225

If you had some screenshots or iperf tests you can post I will attempt to help you where possible..   Just need as much info as you can give :)

@Philbert 

Thanks, Philbert. Just tell me what you need and I will do the best to provide.

Clients include my Surface Pro 7 and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The slow speeds occur on the EAP225 when connecting to either bands (I broadcast separate SSID for each band)

Slow speeds occur with no other clients connected to the AP (ie my phone or pc is the only client)

I had slow speeds on the firmware that was loaded out of the box, I believe it was 2 versions back (maybe a june 2020 release?). I then upgraded the EAP225 to the newest firmware, 5.0.0 build 20200918 rel. 58628. Speeds were still slow.

The router and the AP both register the connection between each as being Gigabit.

Wired speeds are 350/12 (my service is 300/10) using speedtest.net. Wireless speeds when standing near my netgear AP and netgear router are 300+/10+ on the 5Ghz. EAP225 at its best squeaks out 25/5 but generally is <10/<5.

Ive tested the EAP225 wired up near the router using purchased cat 5e patch cables and also at its normal spot about 30ft away using a cat5e cable I ran. Speeds are same terrible in both spots. My netgear AP, however, its fast as expected on 5Ghz in both spots.

Ive never done an iperf test (ive been just using speedtest.net) Ill look into doing that in a bit.

Thanks for the help!

@PBGBBB2020 

Hey

Think the first place you should start is to run an IPERF test from a client wired device (1GB to the switch)  to a wireless device and back again, this will give you the throughput on the wireless as the slowest bit which is likely the wireless, this shows the internal speed on the network and take it from there,

Send me a screenshot of what the Surface signal strength in windows and speed looks like along with the Iperf results.  

Hi @PBGBBB2020,

I easily get over 350 Mbit/s DL & UL from my EAP225V3 & EAP245V3 on the 5.8GHz band (I have gigabit FIOS).

Some things to check:

1) Make sure band steering is OFF.  Use separate SSID's for 2.4 & 5.8GHz.  Join your client devices (STA's) to the 5.8GHz only.

2) Use 20MHz BW for 2.4GHz, and 80MHz (not 20/40/80) for 5.8GHz.

3) Start out by setting all of the AP radio transmit powers to "Custom" and 16 dBm and then adjust from there.  You'll probably need to increase the 5.8GHz transmit power some.

4) Leave all of the 802.11 protocols turned on (e.g. a,b,g,b,ac, etc.)

5) Leave the WMM/QoS settings on their default values

6) Do not hide the SSID's of the TP-Link or Netgear AP's.  Ideally, turn off all of the Wifi radios on the Netgear router and unplug the extender.

Check speeds using a variety of Internet speed test products (Ookla Speed Test, SpeedSmart, Fast.)

You're TP-Links should easily support full 300Mbit DL over 5.8GHz (assuming 2x2 80MHz) when clients are close to the AP.

I see peaks up to 450-500 Mbit/sec with mine.

-Jonathan

@JSchnee21 

Before figuring out how to run an iperf test ( will probably give it a try tomorrow or next weekend; this weeks going to be a bit crazy for me), I started working through  Jonathan's suggestions. 

• Band steering was off and SSID were different for each band.
• transmit powers were full and I havent changed them yet
• I returned the protocols to all instead of ac and n only
• SSID was and still is visible and all other aps remain off (EAP225 is only device transmitting)
• WWM./QOS were on default already and unchanged
• I changed the 2.4 BW to 20 Mhz and 5.8ghz BW to 80Mhz. -->
  • from about 5 ft:   16ping / 305 mbps down / 12 mbps up on speedtest.net. 
  • from 30 ft away through several wifi killing walls: 14 ping / 212 mbps down / 11 mbps up on speed test.net

So it looks like it was the BW causing the problem. My technical knowledge has fall behind quite a bit in the past 10 years; so I am not sure but does this make sense? Ill keep an eye on things and report back. I will also still try to run the iperf test in the next week or so.

Thanks for all the help!

edit:

-How does this AP handle auto channel picking? Should i trust it or just force it to the least crowded?

-for now, I am only doing one AP; should I use the controller software on my pc or just manage the AP on its own through the web browser?

Hi @PBGBBB2020,

Glad to hear things are looking up!

"So it looks like it was the BW causing the problem."

Generally speaking, you should always use 20MHz only for 2.4GHz because the spectrum is so crowded -- unless you live way out in the boonies.  In theory, the 20/40/80 setting should automatically give clients as much BW as they can handle.  But, like band steering, I've found it doesn't usually work quite right.  It's rare to find a STA that supports 5.8GHz but doesn't support 80MHz.  I've experimented with both settings over the past couple years (20/40/80 vs. 80). 

On some firmware versions, one BW setting often works better than the other.  I had been using 20/40/80, myself, until firmware version 5.0.  Then I started having slow downs as you described on my iPhone XSM.  I switched to 80 MHz and it's been fine since.

-How does this AP handle auto channel picking? Should i trust it or just force it to the least crowded?

The auto channel selection seems pretty good.  I bounce back and forth myself every few months between setting the channels manually versus using "Auto". Neither approach seems particularly better than the other.

-Jonathan

@PBGBBB2020 

Yeah JSchnee21    seems to have hit the nail in the head by forcing it to full 80mhz.   Ive maybe been lucky and never needed to actually force that setting :)

IPERF3 tests will saturate the link and show you speed on the WiFi saturated, usually good for detection finding and tends to be more reliable than using internet based tests.   Generally IPERF will give you an honest answer on how the speed is looking for data transfer, WAN speed excluded.

Download it here...

On a LAN connected device (1GB LAN recommended)  run iperf via command prompt in server mode      iperf3.exe –s

On the Wireless client run it in client mode using this command    iperf3.exe –c 192.168.x.x –w 2m –t 30s –i 1s    where the 192.168.x.x is the server IP

That will throw a few GBs of data over the air in 30 secs and give you an average rate for the WiFi throughput.   I would expect on a 2x2 laptop connected at "windows" speed of 866mbps your real speed is around 300 / 350 area under average use.

I still didnt get a chance to run the speed tests but I have noticed that the signal is intermittently weak. The 2.4Ghz radio is pretty steady around 70mbps or so (again, using speedtest.net).

The 5Ghz sometimes runs around 250mbps, but often times it will start around 150mbs and then slowly drop down to about 50-70mbps by the end of the test. Any idea why that could be the case? My guess would be interference on the current channel that comes and goes throughout the day? Maybe a little more time testing different channels will help?

Its a bit dissapointing that the auto channel and bw settings on the EAP225 can't seem to give me a good signal, but the auto on my ex6100 extender can. 

@Philbert 

I completed the iperf tests running the commands you suggested.

I ran tests from several locations on both 2.4 and 5 ghz.

The EAP225 is located upstairs

Wired to Wired:

• 904 mb/s 

2.4 Ghz:

• 1ft away (upstairs): 83.6 mbits/sec
• 25ft away (upstairs): 44.7 mbits/sec*****
• 25ft away (downstairs): 80.2 mbits/sec
• 25ft away (downstairs): 69.2 mbits/sec
• 50ft away (downstairs): 30.5 mbits/sec*****

5ghz:

• 1ft away (upstairs): 533 mbits/sec
• 25ft away (upstairs): 95.5 mbits/sec*****
• 25ft away (downstairs): 395 mbits/sec
• 25ft away (downstairs): 305 mbits/sec
• 50ft away (downstairs): 94.4 mbits/sec****

The test sites labeled with "*****" have a large stone chimney in the d irect path back to the AP. Not suprising this results in decreased signal

Any other feed back or suggestions? Or should I be happy with these? 

Thanks for the help.

@PBGBBB2020 

Morning

Yes your results look to be exactly as I would expect.. Cable over 900  WiFi around 350+ actually sounds spot on. Looks like the WiFi links are performing as expected mate, no hassles here.

As a general rule of thumb you expect to get ~30/40% of what the 'Windows' connection speed indicates.   In your case im guessing windows says you are connected at 866mbps, this indicates a 2x2 connection (two 5Ghz streams @ 40mhz wide each) so you are getting the full 80mhz width.   Therefore one would expect ~300/350mbps speeds with clear line of sight which you are comfortably getting.  

Obviously the same for 2.4Ghz just at slower speeds, this tends to be a more congested frequency also which will drop the rate futher.  80/100mbps is fairly common speeds here, which again you are getting

From your results there is no issue with the throughout on the WiFi.    You might be interested in this post below however, the other poster had similar queries to you about general performance and I had time to give him a lot longer a response under post #4    

https://community.tp-link.com/en/business/forum/topic/245868?replyId=546634

Phil