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AP903 reduced throughput when using Ethernet port

  • diveǃdiveǃ
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19 Jan 2021 13:16 #1 by diveǃdiveǃ
Here's an odd one.
I have three AP903 meshed. My VDSL is synched at about 60Mbits. I can reliably get 55-60 over Wifi if I'm in a room where an AP903 is located.
I recently bought some Philips Hue lights (which are excellent but that's another topic) and plugged the Hue hub into one of the AP903s as the location was convenient. All works great and I though nothing of it until I ran a speed test in that room and couldn't get more than 20Mbits over Wifi. Rebooting the AP903 didn't do anything. I removed the Hue hub and plugged it into my router in a different room and then the AP903 was back to 55-60Mbits! I'm surprised that having something plugged into one of the ethernet ports would have compromised the Wifi in that way. I don't think its wifi interference as a)the Hue system is ZigBee and b) its now right next to another AP903 and that's fine.
Anyone else seen this behaviour or have an explanation ?
Steve

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  • hornbyp
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19 Jan 2021 15:23 #2 by hornbyp
Zigbee uses 2.4GHz and some of the channels overlap 2.4GHz Wi-fi.

What's the mesh topology of the AP903s? (Wired or Wireless). Are you confident you know which AP903 you are actually connected to at any particular time? (The "Enable Wi-Fi verbose logging" (Developer Option) on Android is useful in this respect.)

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  • diveǃdiveǃ
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19 Jan 2021 17:34 #3 by diveǃdiveǃ
Ah yes, thanks, I forgot Zigbee uses 2.4GHz! Its on Channel 25.
The AP903s are all wireless - I have one wired to my G1080 which is connected to my 2862ac (thats not part of the Mesh, I could never get it to work properly as Mesh Root - its on channels 6 and 36 and I tend to use that for things that don't roam). All the AP903s have common channels for 2.4GHz (2) and a separate common channel for 5GHz (48)
Yes, I'm confident which AP903 I'm connected to - I can see the MAC address of my iPhone I'm using for the test in the Vigor app client list and also if I log into the AP903 Mesh Root and check clients there.
I don't think its wireless interference - the Hue hub is currently sat within 1m of the AP903 root, I've just verified I'm connected to that AP903, and I've got a full rate speed test.
Its not a big deal as the Hue hub works just fine plugged into the router, and all the AP903s are behaving normally. I'm just curious why it happened. I might experiment by plugging it into another of the 903s and see if the problem is replicated. Sort of defeats the object of having ports on the 903s if it interferes with the WiFi, but I cant really see why that should be so.
As I said its an odd one!
Steve

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  • hornbyp
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20 Jan 2021 04:08 #4 by hornbyp

dive!dive! wrote:
I don't think its wireless interference



No I don't think so either - because it would presumably have an effect, wherever it was positioned - and whether or not it was plugged in.

Googling reveals random complaints about the Hue Hub affecting network performance, but there's no common thread to them.

Perhaps this is an "Airtime Fairness" type of problem, where it is the nature of the traffic that is having a disproportionate effect on the Mesh/WDS link between AP903's (lots of tiny packets, that sort of thing).

Unfortunately, the AP903 doesn't currently seem to have any bandwidth control functionality for wired clients :cry:
Maybe you can throttle it at the Vigor 2862?

Does it affect 2.4GHz and 5GHz connectivity equally?

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  • diveǃdiveǃ
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20 Jan 2021 08:21 #5 by diveǃdiveǃ
[/quote]
Maybe you can throttle it at the Vigor 2862?

Does it affect 2.4GHz and 5GHz connectivity equally?
[/quote]

Not sure on these questions. I can check the 2.4GHz at the weekend when I get a moment, I think the iPhone will use 5GHz if it can. I'll also try a wired connection to another AP903 and see what happens. Its a bit academic really as I can leave it where it is now without issues!
The vagaries of home networking :-)
Thanks
Steve

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