Tenda MW6 - Mesh WiFi speeds

[DiscoKandy]

Hi,

Our house was suffering from dead spots in certain rooms so I purchased a budget Tenda mw6 mesh system to try and improve the situation.

Sure enough, there are now no deadspots, but the speeds I'm getting across the various nodes seems poor.

For instance 5m from the primary node, which is plugged straight in to the router and I get 55mbps, whereas I get 70mbps when connected to the issued Vodafone WiFi router. Connect to a satellite node in the bedroom, which has "excellent" connection with the primary node and the speed drops to 35mbps.

Are these the sorts of speeds I should be expecting with such kit, I was led to believe from reviews, this system was good for 200-400mbps, which I figured was loads of headroom on my 70mbps fibre connection.

Many thanks!

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Mesh WiFi is generally slower if you are connected to a node rather than the main AP. I just checked the specs of the Tenda and it's a dual band system which means it has a 2x2 set up. Which is two antenna for 5ghz and two for 2.4ghz. More expensive systems tend to have a 3x3 set up, or a 4x4 set up and as a general rule more = better. Your Vodaphone router might be a 3x3 and naturally have more speed.

Lets assume your client device also has two antenna, when you are connected to the main AP your device and the AP can both use two antenna to communicate. But then you are connected to a node AP using WiFi to connect back to the main AP the node needs one to connect to the main AP and one to connect to the client.

This is a very gross simplification:
Main AP =======Client
Main AP ------- Node AP ------ Client

In the second scenario you would expect the speed to be lower but its way more complicated than that. A huge element in overall performance is the link speed between the Main AP and the node. The closer they are together, the better the speed when on the node AP, line of sight would be a bonus. Mesh works far better when the link back to the main AP uses a cable where possible.

That said the speeds you are reporting are pretty low, there are a few things to check:
Are you using 5Ghz frequency? The speeds reported sound like 2.4Ghz speeds.
Can you bring the node closer to the main AP? Closer = better link speed.

You will also want to disable the WiFi on the Vodafone box as you currently have two WiFi networks in the same proximity to each other on top of your neighbours etc. This can effect your speed if the Tenda is not able to get on the optimal channel for your location (especially if the Vodafone router is using it!).

There are so many other factors though, such as proximity to the AP, other AP's on the same frequency, other clients on the network etc. Then there are the specs of the actual AP's themselves and their processing power, antenna characteristics etc.

 

[DiscoKandy]

Thanks for your reply.

I completely follow the logic on the secondary nodes being slower the more 'hops' from the main AP.

I suppose it's the main AP/Node performance I'm most disappointed by when I'm sat so near to it, I can't see why its performance should be materially different from the cheapo vodafone router, which i'm pretty sure is 2x2 antenna.

Definitely operating on 5Ghz, have also turned off the wifi on the vodafone router to try and avoid any interference.

Its not the cause of the slow speeds, because I've tested the vodafone router on the same channel/bandwidth and achieved 70mbps, but the MW6 mesh is fixed to channel 40 @ 80mhz, whereas there are empty channels in my area I could be on, which is another frustrating feature.

Should have probably spent a few extra quid on Orbi kit.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

There is no option to rescan for channels or ‘optimise WiFi’ or something like that? You’ll want to do that after turning off the Voda box again.

I would just Return it as not as described (imo) and spend a bit more on better kit.

An even better option is if you can get a cable to a central point in the house, one good AP can cover a large home with no issues. I have just run a cable up the outside of the house to the attic, i then mounted a Ubiquiti Nanohd on the landing ceiling. I now have good WiFi everywhere and it was cheaper than one of the more expensive mesh set ups.

 

[DiscoKandy]

For anyone that was interested, I turned off a setting called "Capicity Oriented Mode" and the speed has jumped to 70mbps, which is now maxing out my fibre. Very happy with it now.

Thanks for your input b0rn2sk8, much appreciated

 

[Bradmax57]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I googled MW6 slow speeds and it brought me here, ive got a 3 node setup and get 78mb/19mb on router, on the nodes I was getting 10mb/12mb despite the full signal, did the same as above and disabled the capacity-oriented mode and voila 65mb/15mb at the furthest node from router

 

[Firegod]

Its a shame that these things have to be discovered and are not set out of the box, as it leads to a negative perception of a product. A lot of people aren't tech savy to just go diving into settings. I see @DiscoKandy mentioned getting the Orbi kit. As a previous Orbi owner just wanted to mention that it too needed a lot of love and fettling to get it operating well. Not that you went with that in the end but just thought I'd mention it. And some of the mesh kits now from various providers don't even have an Admin page - it's all App driven which leaves a lot of features locked out for those that do like to have a plethora of options. So you have to be careful when choosing. I'm happy in the end that I went with the XT12 kit. Enough options there to keep anyone busy.

 

[Bradmax57]

Main reason for me getting a mesh was for my ring doorbell it was so far away from the router it barely worked most of the time, never had any other issues really with other wifi devices so didnt want to spend a fortune just for that