Unifi home network WiFi slow

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sloburn

70 posts

Master Geek

#250809 26-May-2019 16:34

Hi folks,

So we've got a home network setup as follows:

ONT cat 6 cabled to Netcomm NF18ACV router

Router cat 6 cabled to UnifiUS-8-60W PoE Gigabit managed switch

Star configuration Cat 6 network cables. 3 are wall sockets, 2 are Unifi Inwall APs powered by the switch.

SSID for the Netcomm router and the 2 APs are the same with same password so devices can easily switch over when you're moving around.

Everything is working as expected, solid WiFi signals everywhere. We have a gigabit fibre connection and all wired PCs plugged into the wall sockets are speed testing at 900-1100 Mbps.

This is where the problems kick in. My wife and I have huawei P8 phones which are getting awful connection speeds even with solid signal. I can stand right next to the router and still get bad speeds. To clarify this, web pages take an age to load, if I run a speedtest (usually through fast.com) it sits on 0 for a long time then randomly jumps up to 20 or 30 then back to 0.

Apple devices don't seem to have as much trouble, ipads streaming TV seem to be fine. We also have a couple of SmartVUs which we use to stream live TV and they stream at high res with no problems. We had a visitor with a laptop that was speedtesting at 125Mbps.

So possibly just the phones? But other weird things:

Samsung smart TV which is cat 6 cabled to one of the inwall APs, streams 1080p content without issue. But whenever you open Plex initially it can't find the server and you have to try a couple of times to do it. This also happens on one of the PCs. The TV also seems to have trouble browsing the internet and if you run a speedtest with it it does the same thing that the phones do. Sometimes it has issues reloading or downloading apps.

Pretty unsure where to even start to diagnose this, any help would be much appreciated :)

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1514 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2245974 26-May-2019 16:39

I'd start with disabling the wireless on the netcomm, if you need it for wireless coverage then just get another unifi AP in its place.

Run an RF scan using the unifi controller to determine which channels are most heavily used, then pick between 1, 6 and 11 for 2.4ghz

sloburn

70 posts

Master Geek

#2245979 26-May-2019 16:50

Ok, have disabled the netcomm and setting the APs to channel 11

sloburn

70 posts

Master Geek

#2245980 26-May-2019 16:54

Same deal, still slow and intermittent speeds

jay63

65 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2245983 26-May-2019 17:01

I have issues with Unifi APs overpowering each other at my house even if on very different (non-overlapping) channels but first need to get the APs on different channels (see below) to see if that is the issue.

I would suggest putting the two APs on different non-overlapping channels so home devices can switch between them and not get confused - I think you said you had both of them set to channel 11 and this very well could be the issue. I would set one AP to 1 and the other one to 11 and see how you go - I think Unifi AP can also automatically select the best open channel for each AP which will be different channels for each. If walking around the house with phones they may get confused and can't switch.

If that doesn't work try setting the radio power on one of the APs to low or medium and see if it helps.

sloburn

70 posts

Master Geek

#2245986 26-May-2019 17:07

Just to try a few things I changed the SSID on the router and connected to that and still get the same speed issues. Also sometimes on fast.com I even get "could not reach our servers to perform the test"

jonherries

1396 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#2245988 26-May-2019 17:13

“A common issue with this phone was also the loss of wifi, which along with the poor battery, brought it a lot of mixed reviews.”

On the wikipedia page.

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_p8-review-1263.php

richms

28199 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2245989 26-May-2019 17:14

Make sure you are on the 5GHz SSID from the unifi AP. Rename the 2.4GHz one to something else so that old/cheap stuff can still have internet but any device you care about should be on the 5GHz.

Another thing I have had issues with is wireless uplink enabling itself when not welcome and making a loop saturating the wifi. In the controller turn off the wireless uplink support and see if that helps.

Richard rich.ms

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jay63

65 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2245990 26-May-2019 17:15

I posted a bit of an update on my first reply - so please see above. I would first try to let each Unifi AP select WiFi channel automatically and see if this resolves most issues first. Then per prior recommendation would turn off Router wifi if not needed and then lastly try reducing power on one Unifi AP. I have had strange issues with the too strong Wifi from multiple APs at home - even when on different channels so worth a try.

jay63

65 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2245991 26-May-2019 17:18

Totally agree about using different wifi names for 2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz. Devices seem to have problems switching otherwise and thus weird behaviors particularly when on 2.4 radio.

sloburn

70 posts

Master Geek

#2246029 26-May-2019 17:22

The huaweis are P8s and don't have 5ghz support. They're also the devices with the biggest issue so i'm wondering if i'm just going to have to suck it up and deal with it ;(

jay63

65 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2246042 26-May-2019 17:35

One other solution I just remembered from a while back was to make sure the Unifi APs were both connected back to the same Ethernet port on the router through a switch or whatever. It reads like you have set-up this way but worth a mention Somehow when Unifi APs on separate ports the my Router got confused when trying to re-assign DHCP or re-use the same IP address between different Ethernet ports and caused random wifi connection issues.

nitro

658 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2246045 26-May-2019 17:51

jay63:

One other solution I just remembered from a while back was to make sure the Unifi APs were both connected back to the same Ethernet port on the router through a switch or whatever. It reads like you have set-up this way but worth a mention Somehow when Unifi APs on separate ports the my Router got confused when trying to re-assign DHCP or re-use the same IP address between different Ethernet ports and caused random wifi connection issues.

you seem to be expecting your router to use the same IP address for both/all of your access points. this makes no sense. no 2 devices (UAPs in this case) will/should get assigned the same IP address by DHCP.

jay63

65 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#2246046 26-May-2019 18:00

I must have been unclear on my reply. No, not all devices using same IP address but an individual device moving between two APs on the same network should retain the same IP address and my router had a hard time reconnecting switching devices when APs connected to separate physical Ethernet ports on the router. May just be an issue with my router but trying to help others so best to offer solutions or politely ask for clarification.

dfnt

1514 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2246047 26-May-2019 18:02

Given OP has tried the wifi on the netcomm and the issue still persists, I'd say the phones are the issue not the wifi

sloburn

70 posts

Master Geek

#2246064 26-May-2019 19:20

The switch is connected to one port on the router, the only other port in use on the router is the wan port to the ont.

While I feel the phones are probably part of the issue there's definitely something amiss somewhere, I feel it's DNS or DHCP based but my knowledge doesn't get me to the solution.

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