Slow WiFi speeds - only for LAN to WAN

I thought I'd create a new post to avoid hijacking the one about WiFI 6

Yesterday I had my FTTP connection installed (Speeds of 500/75).
Using a wired connection I do indeed reach the headline speeds.
This is when wired either directly to the router or via one of the unmanaged gigabit switches.

However, when testing WiFi speeds I can only achieve 200 to 240Mbps down.
At this point you'd suggest it's just how it is, need better kit etc. etc.

But...I have 3 x TPLink EAP245v3's with a wired back haul.
The router is a LinkSys WRT1900ACS with OpenWRT (wireless radios are obviously off).

If I test LAN<>LAN speeds (WiFi to QNAP NAS using a Speedtest package), then I can reach over 800Mbps using my MacBook.

The key bit of info here is the traffic routing
WAP -> Gigabit switch -> Gigabit switch -> router -> Gigabit switch -> QNAP

When the traffic for my internal tests go via the router, I do not see the traffic in the real-time graphs...which is confusing the hell out of me. Surely the switched traffic would appear there?!

When I test LAN->WAN I definitely see the traffic (on both the lan port, br-lan and wan). Route:
WAP -> Gigabit switch -> Gigabit switch -> router -> ONT

I've swapped out the router for the TalkTalk one they provided, leaving my WAP's in play, same results (perfect on wired, slower on WiFi, fast to QNAP).

I'm at a loss as to how to proceed, so am open to suggestions / explanations.

Thanks

I’m going to cross-post and repeat myself here. Just to keep all my drivel in the one place! 🤣…

Throughput vs distance between device and AP can massively vary. That’s just the nature of the beast. An AP will have a distinct radiation pattern too, it will certainly not be the same in all directions. Generally speaking the closer you are the better the throughput, but not too close, and there will be more ideal ‘sweet spots’ too. Walls and other obstacles simply kill WiFi performance.

For example here are the patterns from the Ubiquiti access points. They are all remarkably different. Mounting orientation and indeed the material all have massive effects.

How much latency is wireless adding to the speedtests when testing to the NAS and testing to external servers, compared to a wired connection? How do the jitter figures compare?

In reply to a post by MilesR:

If I test LAN<>LAN speeds (WiFi to QNAP NAS using a Speedtest package), then I can reach over 800Mbps using my MacBook.
….

The key bit of info here is the traffic routing
WAP -> Gigabit switch -> Gigabit switch -> router -> Gigabit switch -> QNAP

I'm at a loss as to how to proceed, so am open to suggestions / explanations.

Thanks

Can you please test with a temporary setup as follows:

WAP -> router -> NAS

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Can you please test with a temporary setup as follows:

WAP -> router -> NAS

Yes, I believe I can. I'll need to try that tomorrow...(pesky work getting in the way!)

By the way, the input is much appreciated.

The traffic graphs on the router only show LAN to WAN and WAN to LAN traffic not LAN to LAN

Thanks
Dan

In reply to a post by danielhyde:

The traffic graphs on the router only show LAN to WAN and WAN to LAN traffic not LAN to LAN

Thanks
Dan

Yeah, so it seems. (I will Google this, but)...Do you know if there is a way to enable that so that I can "prove" my internal speeds are "legit"?

Hi,
Just a thought do you have access to your AP via omada or directly in browser as i thought those TP link ones had a throughput monitor that monitors any traffic, I know my TP link gear mesures any traffic goring through the device you could potentially disable any other wifi devices to make the tests more accurate then you don't have random spikes.

Here is my TP-Link throughput monitor

Just a thought

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

Hi,
Just a thought do you have access to your AP via omada or directly in browser as i thought those TP link ones had a throughput monitor that monitors any traffic, I know my TP link gear mesures any traffic goring through the device you could potentially disable any other wifi devices to make the tests more accurate then you don't have random spikes.

Here is my TP-Link throughput monitor

Just a thought

Thanks, it's a good shout, but the Omada interface doesn't have bandwidth monitoring for the APs.
Only total traffic per AP.
https://ibb.co/RchJ9sV

Thanks, it's a good shout, but the Omada interface doesn't have bandwidth monitoring for the APs.
Only total traffic per AP.
https://ibb.co/RchJ9sV

Ah i understand, another thought, you said your nas is a QNAP do you know if there is any way you can monitor network traffic if you were to download a file off of it .
I know with synology I can go in my resource monitor and see the total live bandwidth usage on the nas itself then it gives more accurate results that way.

The only other option i can think of is two pc's with Continuous internet speed test tool which allows local server and speed test between two devices however it does require two devices, I have only used the windows version myself but there is a version for mac apparently .

Actually, the "Activity Monitor" on OSX does show Data received/sent per second.
Whilst running my internal speed test (using my NAS), I can see it's matching the Mb/s speeds I see.
So that re-enforces the view that my internal LAN<>LAN WiFi speeds are accurate.
i.e. speedtest page shows 730Mb/s download, activity monitor shows 92MB/s

More interesting though...I realised I hadn't as yet tried the SpeedTest.net app on my iPad Air (4th gen).
So far I've only tried it on my MBP (2015), iPhone 12Pro & a 2018 HP Windows laptop.

The iPad Air gets full LAN<>WAN headline speeds using the SpeedTest.net app!
This means it's something about my other devices with the WAPs and WAN access.

I will be trying what Pheasant suggested (linking one of the WAP's directly to the router to bypass the switches)...but with the iPad Air tests I suspect this won't yield much. We'll see.