New Aruba Instant ON AP15 5ghz Wifi worse performance than 7 year old Xclaim Xi-3

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › New Aruba Instant ON AP15 5ghz Wifi worse performance than 7 year old Xclaim Xi-3

Asteros

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#288197 13-Jun-2021 11:36

Hi team,

Last week I bought a new Aruba Instant On Access Point AP15, i.e. 4x4 wave 2 ac, to replace an Xclaim Xi-3, 2x2 ac which it's reaches end of life in July 2021. After adjusting every setting available, including reducing transmission strength, channel width, channel number etc, the new Aruba AP15 has 10-30% slower speeds on 5ghz than the 7 year old Xclaim. I am testing the AP in the same location, using the same devices - 2021 Dell Vostro 14 5410 w/ Intel AX201 wifi 6, 2021 M1 MacBook Air, iPad Air 4th Gen, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s. Also 1 Xclaim AP provides excellent 5ghz coverage and speeds in my small house but I think I might need 2-3 Instant On APs to match it.

What is the best way to test Wifi speeds before I purchase a different AP?

Regards.

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#2727840 13-Jun-2021 11:39

What switch are you using?

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sbiddle

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#2727843 13-Jun-2021 11:58

What is your signal level where you're testing?

BlinkyBill

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#2727846 13-Jun-2021 12:31

The xclaim isn’t going to stop working in July; why not just keep it in situ?

Asteros

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#2727851 13-Jun-2021 13:05

nztim: What switch are you using?

Hi I am using a Ubiquiti Edgerouter POE with a 48V adapter. I believe this setup makes it compliant 802.3af (POE). The Xclaim has been running for years on this setup with no issues power wise. I checked the Aruba specs and this Instant on AP-15 needs 802.3af, not 802.3at (POE+) so should be OK.

Asteros

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#2727862 13-Jun-2021 13:59

sbiddle:

What is your signal level where you're testing?

Hi close in line of sight, -39 dBm (Xclaim) . Further away it can vary from -48dBm to -68dBm (Xclaim). In general, the Aruba shows slower performance at the same locations and also worse RSSI, especially further out. This might not be relevant but at the furthest location, with both APs broadcasting at equal power the Aruba shows -78 dBm vs Xclaim -67dBm.

What is the best method to test my wifi link speeds? I am on 100 Mb fibre and have used speedtest, chorus, dslreports, cloudflare and fast. There are factors such as overhead that could prevent expected results, but I can't seem to get 100 Mb/s on the Aruba even close to the AP, but I can achieve 100 Mb/s from even sub-optimal locations fairly easily on the Xclaim. Wired Ethernet always shows 100 Mb/s or slightly more, so I'm getting line speed regularly on the Xclaim.

I'm leaning towards going back to Ruckus, perhaps a R320 or R510 on unleashed.

Asteros

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#2727863 13-Jun-2021 14:01

BlinkyBill:

The xclaim isn’t going to stop working in July; why not just keep it in situ?

Hi, yes the Xclaim cloud manager will stop working in July. I'm not sure how to access and run the Xi-3 AP in standalone mode. I was under the impression they would effectively brick it.

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#2727916 13-Jun-2021 14:30

Asteros:

BlinkyBill:

The xclaim isn’t going to stop working in July; why not just keep it in situ?

Hi, yes the Xclaim cloud manager will stop working in July. I'm not sure how to access and run the Xi-3 AP in standalone mode. I was under the impression they would effectively brick it.

I have one xclaim x3 in my garage/shed and it works stand alone on a Ubiquiti Dream Machine network. There is an iOS app called Harmony that I used to set it up - this app doesn’t work on latest iOS but the AP itself still works.

Eventually I think I’ll need to replace the AP if I ever need to re-configure it, but I expect it to continue working until that need arises.

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#2727978 13-Jun-2021 15:32

Asteros:

sbiddle:

What is your signal level where you're testing?

Hi close in line of sight, -39 dBm (Xclaim) . Further away it can vary from -48dBm to -68dBm (Xclaim). In general, the Aruba shows slower performance at the same locations and also worse RSSI, especially further out. This might not be relevant but at the furthest location, with both APs broadcasting at equal power the Aruba shows -78 dBm vs Xclaim -67dBm.

What is the best method to test my wifi link speeds? I am on 100 Mb fibre and have used speedtest, chorus, dslreports, cloudflare and fast. There are factors such as overhead that could prevent expected results, but I can't seem to get 100 Mb/s on the Aruba even close to the AP, but I can achieve 100 Mb/s from even sub-optimal locations fairly easily on the Xclaim. Wired Ethernet always shows 100 Mb/s or slightly more, so I'm getting line speed regularly on the Xclaim.

I'm leaning towards going back to Ruckus, perhaps a R320 or R510 on unleashed.

I would hazard a guess that your PoE setup is limiting it to 100Mb/s ethernet - cheap PoE injectors do this.

That means you'll only get about 92Mb/s actual traffic.

100Mb/s fibre is actually limited to around 115Mb/s to stop people complaining that they don't get exactly 100.

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#2727984 13-Jun-2021 16:02

Asteros:

BlinkyBill:

The xclaim isn’t going to stop working in July; why not just keep it in situ?

Hi, yes the Xclaim cloud manager will stop working in July. I'm not sure how to access and run the Xi-3 AP in standalone mode. I was under the impression they would effectively brick it.

At the moment i think you can still access the AP directly via its IP, and try the default user name password - xclaim-mfg/mfg-admin12

You should be able to change default password for the AP

No word if they are going to brick them when the cloud manager shuts down - but would think they could just operate in standalone mode

I've noticed the signal strength of the Aruba isn't as good as my old x-claim, but Ruckus did produce some really good radio tech

Clint

Asteros

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#2727995 13-Jun-2021 16:27

Hi thanks, I'm not using any POE injectors. It's a straight POE setup - this Edgerouter model is supposed to provide full Gigabit Ethernet through POE. It's 48V passive POE so you could could be correct that somehow this is limiting the speeds.

Close in and line of sight, I can get actually get 106-108 Mb/s via Xclaim wifi which supports that this setup could give >100Mb/s speeds. I'm getting the line speed as tested through wired Ethernet (106-108 Mb/s).

The Aruba never goes faster than about 97Mb/s when close and in line of sight and rapidly drops off to 60-80Mb/s at locations further away from the router. The Xclaim would be transmitting at 100Mb/s no matter where I am in the house, even at these distant locations. It seems as if something inside the Aruba is stopping me from getting faster than 97Mb/s.

I also agree that Ruckus made some amazing radios in the older models (Xclaim). I wonder if the current models are just as good?

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#2727999 13-Jun-2021 16:43

Simple reality is there is a problem with your setup if you can only get 96Mbps with those Aruba AP's. You will do ~700Mbps using a 4x4:4 client.

Your AX201 is only a 2x2 client radio though, so you won't get anywhere near that sort of performance but should easily be getting a lot more than 97 depending on your channel width and with a 40Mhz channel should be setting around 150Mbps based on MCS15 @ 40Mhz which will give a 300Mbps connect rate.

Obviously a 100Mbps internet connection is going to limit to below that, and demanding on the exact shaping by your RSP you can potentially see slightly differing rates over WiFi due to the way TCP works.

Asteros

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#2728002 13-Jun-2021 17:00

Thanks, what would be the best way to try and solve my problems with the setup before I go and buy a Ruckus? Should I get an AF compliant switch first? New Cat-5 cables? Get 1000Mb/s fibre?

It seems strange that the Xclaim can deliver the Ethernet tested speeds (ie 100Mb/s to 106Mb/s) at my house, over 5Ghz close in and line of sight to all these different test sites when the Aruba can't at the moment.

How could I check whether there is a fault with the Aruba? What are reasonable expectations I should have regarding it's speed and range as well?

michaelmurfy

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#2728013 13-Jun-2021 17:28

Have a look at the Cisco Small Business range - you can purchase this from Go Wireless: https://www.gowifi.co.nz/cisco/cbw240ac-z.html

They're not Wireless AX but to be perfectly honest from my testing of some AX access points you don't really need them. I am still personally using 4x4 Aruba AC access points.

IIRC those Aruba AP15's need POE+ which your Edgerouter won't provide so they go into a "low power" mode.

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sbiddle

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#2728097 13-Jun-2021 18:01

The more you're describing the more I'm failing to see an issue. Coverage may be different to the Xclaim but there are certainly no performance issues comparing the two speedtests.

That AP only uses class 3 af Michael, the Aruba model (not instant on) needs class 4 at

Asteros

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#2728100 13-Jun-2021 18:32

Thanks Steve, I hear what you're saying and I understand from reading previous GZ posts that speed tests are tricky to draw conclusions from about wifi speeds.

I'm on Spark. Out of curiosity, I have ordered Fibre Max (up to 900 Mbps) to remove that bottle neck and will continue testing once it's been installed. I look forward to reporting back.

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