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Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

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Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#81

Post by drob518 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I did some experimentation with UniFi hubs and came to the conclusion that if you can give each device its own WiFi channel that would be ideal -- contention is that bad and often an uncontended channel with otherwise poor characteristics will beat a contended channel that otherwise looks good. The other bit of advice that is buried in there that no-one wants to hear for residences is the best way to speed up your Wi…

That tip about not using it also works with Ethernet and other technologies, BTW.

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#82

Post by vel0city »

lxgr wrote: post #68
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I did some experimentation with UniFi hubs and came to the conclusion that if you can give each device its own WiFi channel that would be ideal -- contention is that bad and often an uncontended channel with otherwise poor characteristics will beat a contended channel that otherwise looks good. The other bit of advice that is buried in there that no-one wants to hear for residences is the best way to speed up your Wi…

> You might think it's convenient to have your TV connect to Netflix via WiFi and it is, but it is going to make everything else that really needs the Wi-Fi slower. TV streaming seems like a bad example, since it's usually much lower average bandwidth than e.g. a burst of mobile app updates installing with equal priority on the network as as soon as a phone is plugged in for charging, or starting a cloud photo backup…

Kind of true, but potentially also untrue. If that TV is running a crappy WiFi chip running an older WiFi standard on the same channel, it'll end up performing worse or not playing as nice with other clients during those bursts of buffering. That'll potentially be seen by other clients as little bursts of jitter.

That's true of any client with older and crappier WiFi chips though, but TVs are such a race to the bottom when it comes to performance in so many other things.

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#83

Post by kstrauser »

jeffbee wrote: post #57
kstrauser wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so insanely wrong that I almost feel like we're being trolled. Yes, a direct Thunderbolt connection would be best. Failing that, a guaranteed 1Gb Ethernet connection, which is ubiquitous and dirt cheap, and has latency measured in microseconds, is going to wipe the floor with real-world Wi-Fi 7 speeds. And for what you'd pay for end-to-end Wi-Fi 7 compatible gear, you could be using 10Gb Ethernet, which is in…

> wipe the floor with real-world Wi-Fi 7 speeds. I see that you have never tried this. By the way, Mac Migration Assistant doesn't need Wi-Fi infrastructure at all.

Sure have, within the last 2 weeks when I helped a coworker migrate to a new machine! Both were November 2024 MacBook Pros, so Apple's current top-of-the-line laptops.

Running over Wi-Fi dragged on interminably and we gave up several hours in. When we scrounged up a could of USB Ethernet dongles and started over, it took about an hour.

So yeah, my own personal experience confirms exactly what I'd expect: Wi-Fi is slow and high-latency compared to Ethernet, and you should always use hardwired connections when you care about stability and performance more than portability. By all means, use Wi-Fi for routine laptop mobility. If you have the option, definitely run a cable to your stationary desktop computers, game consoles, set-top boxes, NASes, and everything else within reach of a switch.

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#85

Post by operator-name »

ttshaw1 wrote: post #25

I don't get what the point of the article is. Is the takeaway that I should lower the channel width in my home? How many WAPs would I need to be running for that to matter? I'd argue it's more important to get everyone to turn down TX power in cases where your neighbors in an apartment building are conflicting. And that's never going to happen, so just conform to the legal limit and your SNR should be fine. Anything…

Wow, that is an awesome resource and something I wish I knew about earlier!

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#86

Post by rdschouw »

725686 wrote: post #36

"The average US household has 21 Wi-Fi devices"... wtf?

I got 28 online right now according to my Eero. 3 people, with smartphones and laptops. Several game consoles, a few Apple TVs and music streaming devices, Ring camera, Zwave Hub, printer, washing machine, garage opener, Ring doorbell and an assortment of Echo dots.

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#87

Post by drob518 »

MrZander wrote: post #40
725686 wrote: post #36

"The average US household has 21 Wi-Fi devices"... wtf?

That seems very high to me. A family of four each has 5 devices connected at the same time?

Most of your mobile devices are doing background tasks. It’s not typically high bandwidth stuff, but they are connected even when you aren’t using them.

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#89

Post by BadBadJellyBean »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I did some experimentation with UniFi hubs and came to the conclusion that if you can give each device its own WiFi channel that would be ideal -- contention is that bad and often an uncontended channel with otherwise poor characteristics will beat a contended channel that otherwise looks good. The other bit of advice that is buried in there that no-one wants to hear for residences is the best way to speed up your Wi…

I wish I could put Ethernet everywhere but I live in a German apartment in a German house and here walls are massive and made out of brick and concrete. Routing cables through this without it being a massive eyesore is pretty hard.

Re: Does our “need for speed” make our wi-fi suck?

#90

Post by esseph »

avree wrote: post #21
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I did some experimentation with UniFi hubs and came to the conclusion that if you can give each device its own WiFi channel that would be ideal -- contention is that bad and often an uncontended channel with otherwise poor characteristics will beat a contended channel that otherwise looks good. The other bit of advice that is buried in there that no-one wants to hear for residences is the best way to speed up your Wi…

Unfortunately, Unifi only supports DFS channels (which is the only real way for 'each device to have its own wifi channel in a crowded area) on some of their models.

What unifi AP doesn't support DFS?

Sometimes DFS certification comes after general device approval, but I'm not aware of any that just flat out doesn't support it. It supported it 10+ years ago.

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