Edited to add:
New smart switch on pg2. This will replace my dumb switch the new router is currently plugged into. My WAPs, NVR for the security cameras, NAS, and a couple dumb switches for the rest of my stuff. I think it will allow me to separate my devices onto different networks.

Edited to add:
New router is between the bridged Xfinity modem, the rest of my network, and everything seems to be working. Now I have to learn some firewall stuff.

OP:
In my ongoing battle with Comcast, we now have the fastest internet we’ve ever had. Speed was never the problem, rather the connection dropping multiple times a day still is.

The upside is I bought a new WAP, Netgear WAX625 on sale for $150, to replace our aging and increasingly unreliable Engenuis EWS377AP. I’m guessing heat was an issue as the cover turned brown in a 2”x2” area. The new Netgear unit is larger with visibly better ventilation and a 5 year next business day warranty.

We had 500mbps service, which Comcast over provisioned by about 10%, so we’d get around 550mbps in the same room as the EWS377AP. However, we’d get under 100mbps in the MBR on the other side of the house and under 200mbps in my oldest son’s room.

We now have 600mbps service also over provisioned about 10%. In the same room, the EWS377AP was doing the same 550mbps while the new Nethear WAX625 got us this:



Even better though is this in my son’s dead zone:



And this in the MBR:



To be clear, the two from the bedrooms were cherry picked from about five Speedtests in each room. The more usual numbers were between 400 and 550 in my son’s room and between 350 and 450 in the MBR. That’s with the doors closed. But, those are still good enough that for the first time since 802.11g and a 10mbps DSL, I’m using one WAP to cover the entire house.

At this point with Comcast’s service I am 100% sure my equipment is not the issue. I have two TVs directly connected (wired) to their XB7 gateway and both have the same problems along with our wireless connections when the connection drops. There are messages in the gateway’s logs when this happens, but the messages disappear for some reason. I’m getting screen shots from now on.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

I have Comcast service since it is the lesser of two evils in my neighborhood. I had the same experience with random, frequent failures and I knew it wasn't my equipment. I insisted that a tech visit my home and demonstrate that my equipment was bad.

The tech that showed up was very good. He traced the cabling from entry in my home to the drop at the router. Turns out that previous techs didn't have a clue on how to install the service. The good tech installed a MoCA adapter, de-kluged what the other techs did and fixed the service record. Because it was a Comcast debacle, there was no charge. The dropouts stopped after the good techs visit.

I'm going from Comcast cable [600d/20u] to ATT fiber tomorrow [1000d/1000u] at a $2/mo price increase.
Still running my Sonicwall Soho for a switch & Ubiquiti WAP.
Once of these days I'll get around to adding WAPs at the ends of the house. Have to use an extender to get decent signal in the garage & master br.
Good enough for TV streaming in the MBr & the Peloton in the garage, but that's about it.
Wife tried zoom in the MBr & it was too spotty without the extender.

quote:

aging and increasingly unreliable Engenuis EWS377AP

strange, I always thought those were deemed to be great WAPs, even now. And recommended by several experts on the forum.

quote:

New WAP day. wireless access point

Dangit!! Was hoping for the other WAP

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

aging and increasingly unreliable Engenuis EWS377AP

strange, I always thought those were deemed to be great WAPs, even now. And recommended by several experts on the forum.

Three points:

1. By increasingly unreliable, I mean I had to reboot it once every few weeks to get the 2.4GHz running full speed.

2. It has no venting. The back of it is aluminum with short fins and obviously a heatsink. I had it mounted to a tongue and groove pine ceiling in a location without much airflow.

3. We had 300mbps service when I bought it. At the time, I used two WAPs to get good coverage in our 2,500sqft one story ranch home. The WAP it replaced was 802.11ac and the speeds and latency in my oldest son's dead room were not good. The Engenius provided significant improvements in both.

Then we bumped up to 500mbps service. We were getting close to that in two kids bedrooms and above that in the family room (where it's installed), but the dead room remained the same.

Now we are at 600mbps (really around 690 though) and saw none of that wirelessly.

What I'm getting at is the recommendations from people three years ago were valid for their experiences and speed of internet service. If we still had 300mbps service, the EWS377AP would be fine. It would probably be fine with 500mbps service in most of our house if I moved it to a more central location, but that would kill the dead room. That room is only 20' from the WAP right now as it is.

I bought the Netgear WAX625 because it was significantly on sale, with finally getting real internet in Michigan we'll need a new WAP up there, and I could evaluate it here to see if it made a difference with my internet quality assurance team aka "Hey Dad/Honey, what's wrong with the internet!" in quadraphonic surround sound.

The Engenius is going up to Michigan where I'm sure it will fill all corners of our single story house there with WiFi in excess of our 100mbps fiber connection all from the cool confines of the basement.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
Dangit!! Was hoping for the other WAP

Wireless Application Protocol?

FedEx just dropped off two more WAPs and a pair of POE+ switches:

Your ping (echo packet round trip) times seem exceedingly high for the throughput the "speedtest" site claims. AS well as the discrepancy between IP vs ICMP throughput numbers (if the representation of the numbers correctly represents the test performed). Seems like there is some sort of traffic shaping happening on the Comcast side of things. Testing to some other endpoints might be enlightening, as well as real-life throughput measurements (e.g. the amount of time it takes to transfer a 10GB file).

Echo packet round trip, is that the green arrow? I have another WAP that’s fairly old which maxes out at about 250mbps on 5gHz, however; that green arrow number is around 50ms with that WAP.

I’m not sure what you are referring to IP vs ICMP, is that the download vs upload speeds? If so, that’s the way Comcast’s service works. According to the modem, there’s 31 bonded channels bringing data in and only 6 allowing data to leave. It’s not fiber nor is it Comcast’s newish OFDMA based service which allows for 100mbps up. We’re in the land that time forgot section of Florida. We just got an Applebees not too long ago.

The tests were run using the Ookla Speedtest app on my iPhone which is 2x2 802.11ax for both 2.4gHz and 5.0gHz.

I’d have no way to transfer a 10GB file across the internet. If I sent one from my Dad’s house, he’s limited to 20mbps upload.

WAP...ah...those were the days.
I got counseled by a client's HR leader for using that acronym...apparently it got co-opted by Cardi B and stands for something NSFW. So now it's "AP" any time I'm on a call or in a meeting.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Echo packet round trip, is that the green arrow? I have another WAP that’s fairly old which maxes out at about 250mbps on 5gHz, however; that green arrow number is around 50ms with that WAP.

I’m not sure what you are referring to IP vs ICMP, is that the download vs upload speeds? If so, that’s the way Comcast’s service works. According to the modem, there’s 31 bonded channels bringing data in and only 6 allowing data to leave. It’s not fiber nor is it Comcast’s newish OFDMA based service which allows for 100mbps up. We’re in the land that time forgot section of Florida. We just got an Applebees not too long ago.

The tests were run using the Ookla Speedtest app on my iPhone which is 2x2 802.11ax for both 2.4gHz and 5.0gHz.

I’d have no way to transfer a 10GB file across the internet. If I sent one from my Dad’s house, he’s limited to 20mbps upload.

IP (Internet Protocol), this is the data encoding that gets it from one place to another. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) run "on top" of IP to provide reliable circuit-like (ala a phone circuit) and datagram-like (ala a telegram) services. Each of these have further sub-protocols, like HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) used among other things to transfer web content and DNS (Domain Name Service) used among other things to translate human-understandable names to the IP addresses understood by packet routing software.

ICMP == Internet Control Message Protocol, this is an IP sub-protocol that is used for network management purposes. There are various flavors of ICMP including Echo and Echo Response (AKA ping) which measures the time it takes for a packet leaving station A to get to Station B and back. This number is known as "latency" and high latency can negatively affect the performance of TCP and others even when there is high bandwidth availability.

In the image shown in the OP, the text line that starts with "Ping" also has a number next to a "down" icon and a number next to an "up" icon. My assumption is that these refer respectively to download and upload numbers specific to the ICMP echo/response dialogue. Since they differ so greatly from the "speed test" numbers, my suspicions are raised that one or the other is a fictitious representation from your ISP which likely has software that recognizes a "speed test" and performs traffic shaping to show their customer numbers that they want to show them.

Note that it is not possible to derive meaningful throughput metrics from the small number of packet exchanges that occur during a typical "ping" session (typically ten or fewer), so why they even bother to show these numbers is questionable.

A "good" ping number is under 15 ms. or so unless the packets are routed through a geosynchronous satellite.

I downloaded a 5.8GB movie from Max in 75 seconds so, 619mbps?

Here’s what Ookla has to say about those latency numbers:

Idle Ping. This test at the beginning of your Speedtest measures the response of a request on your network as if it is not in use.

Download Ping. Latency is measured while the download test is in progress to see how it is affected by download activity on your network, like a household member downloading a large game while you’re trying to work.

Upload Ping. Latency is also measured while the upload test is in progress to see how it is affected by upload activity on your network, like someone on your home network uploading a year’s worth of photos.

For fun and comparison’s sake, I ran a Speedtest in my backyard using Verizon:



It’s too bad I can’t get that 5G-UW inside my house. It switched to 5G sometime during the upload test.

you gave the model of the WAP, and showed us some unmanaged switches, but what's your firewall & router brand/model?

It might be worthwhile to check the speedtest result on a wired (ethernet) connection to a real computer.

point is this can give you a better idea on a baseline for ping numbers etc.

It looks like you are paying for 600 Mbps and getting 600, so that doesn't seem to be an issue

Upload and download speeds are the same wired as wireless. The wired latency numbers are better: yellow=12, green=78, purple=8. Not sure that makes a real world difference.

The two extra WAPs are WAX615 @ $90 each and are going to be used at my Dad’s house. The switches were $65 each and are POE+ with an 83 watt budget which should be able to run 5 cameras.

Currently using the Xfinity XB7 for router and firewall duties. It eliminates them telling me my equipment is causing our internet connection drops. I haven’t decided on a router/firewall yet. I don’t think I’m savvy enough for pfsense.

quote:

Xfinity XB7

I went the PFsense (OPNsense branch) route. Wish I hadn't. It's really more than I need, and yes, the learning curve to get everything working will drive you crazy. Especially if you host a personal VPN like I do.

If I had it to do over again I'd just go with openwrt on an old fanless x86 with 2 NIC cards, and be done with it. I also wouldn't bother with any of the consumer grade so called "routers" out there. Eventually they lose firmware update support and become part of the landfill.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyMCO:
WAP...ah...those were the days.
I got counseled by a client's HR leader for using that acronym...apparently it got co-opted by Cardi B and stands for something NSFW. So now it's "AP" any time I'm on a call or in a meeting.

For an environment “woke” enough to actually bitch about your use of a common term in the technology field originating far before some ghetto gang-banger coined the abbreviation, I’d be sorely tempted to make a complaint that the term “H.R.” is non-inclusive language denigrating those that identify as trans-species or species fluid,

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
I went the PFsense (OPNsense branch) route. Wish I hadn't. It's really more than I need, and yes, the learning curve to get everything working will drive you crazy. Especially if you host a personal VPN like I do.

If I had it to do over again I'd just go with openwrt on an old fanless x86 with 2 NIC cards, and be done with it. I also wouldn't bother with any of the consumer grade so called "routers" out there. Eventually they lose firmware update support and become part of the landfill.

Well, I’m stuck in a case of analysis paralysis looking at fanless mini pcs on Amazon. I’ve never heard of any of them, have no idea how much memory, SSD space, or what cpu I should get. Looking at various models from about $150 to $350.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
I went the PFsense (OPNsense branch) route. Wish I hadn't. It's really more than I need, and yes, the learning curve to get everything working will drive you crazy. Especially if you host a personal VPN like I do.

If I had it to do over again I'd just go with openwrt on an old fanless x86 with 2 NIC cards, and be done with it. I also wouldn't bother with any of the consumer grade so called "routers" out there. Eventually they lose firmware update support and become part of the landfill.

Well, I’m stuck in a case of analysis paralysis looking at fanless mini pcs on Amazon. I’ve never heard of any of them, have no idea how much memory, SSD space, or what cpu I should get. Looking at various models from about $150 to $350.

IME almost anything is fast enough to do the packet forwarding and filtering, a 486 (remember those?) and 4MB of RAM is/was plenty, as is 4GB of mass storage. What really matters is the NIC hardware, many of the cheap chipsets (RALINK, etc.) start dropping packets at high loads no matter how well buffered. Intel NICs are the gold standard, but I doubt you'll find any in a fanless/appliance PC. Maybe check the pfsense forums/wiki for specific hardware recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyMCO:

WAP...ah...those were the days. I got counseled by a client's HR leader for using that acronym.

I taught a programming course at a client site. At the end of the course, the attendees each submitted an evaluation form, re the course content and material, and the instructor's presentation.

One person really slammed me for an "ethnic remark." I offended this snowflake by answering her question: "What does 'RPN' stand for?"

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
486 (remember those?)

My third PC had a 486SX-25. My uncle worked for IBM and had a spare 486DX2-50 he sent me along with a copy of OS/2. My video card was a Diamond Stealth Pro which could do a whopping 256 colors at 1280x1024 and my NEC MultiSync CRT could handle that resolution. My fax modem was an Intel SatisFaxtion with an 80186 CPU and 512KB of RAM. I’m fairly sure I used himem.sys in MS-DOS and hidos.sys in DR-DOS to install the drivers above 640KB. I used the modem to dial in to Exec-Pc. I ordered my 240MB Maxtor from a place in California that had it advertised for less than $1 per megabyte in a tiny ad way in the back of Computer Shopper. I also had a CH Products Flightstick Pro.

I guess I remember the 486. That was actually the last desktop I owned for the next 20 years. I had all laptops.

Thank you for the hardware advice.