Connection speed well below contracted performance

[IainM54]

Wired and wireless connection speeds max out at 350Mbps with 260 Mbps generally what is achieved - all way below the contracted 1G.   Checks reveal no issues.

Most connections are via BT Whole Home and wonder if this impacts the wireless speed.  I understand that the GEN 1 Whole Home discs support max transmission speeds of 800 Mbps on 2.4GHz and 1733Mbps on 5GH.

Any assistance appreciated

[Andrew-G]

If you're measuring by third party hardware (in your case the BT disks) then VM will say "not our problem.  VM's speed guarantee is for speeds into the hub, and (potentially) to a compatible device connected by ethernet.  In the hub's settings there's a SamKnows speed test - run that, see what happens.

Regarding the speeds you're seeing possibly they're device limited, added to which the theoretical maximum speeds are unlikely to be met in the real world.  That's not to diminish the BT disks, they're a decent piece of kit, but the highest speed you'd ever see would be about 600 Mbps due to the limits of 802.11ac wifi, and then anything like walls, interfering signals, devices with fewer aerials would see reduced speeds.

If you can provide more detail we'll try and help, it's unlikely the minimum guaranteed speed will assist you here.

[IainM54]

Hi and thank you for the response - it's much appreciated.

The speed I'm obtaining is similar through both the Whole Home and a wired (directly to the hub) ethernet connection.  Can you point me to where I find the speed test within the hub 4 menu please?  I have worked through the menus and can't find it.

Are there specific details that I could provide that might help you advise further?

[IainM54]

I found a solution and have run the test using SamKnows.  The results are 1145Mbps speed to the router and speed to computer (directly linked using Cat5 E cable to the router).

The problem therefore seems to lie with wifi performance - though both Whole Home and a direct connection to the VM network return similar performance in the 200-350 range.

Any ideas on how I might improve on that?

Thanks

[Andrew-G · Accepted solution]

I'd try turning off the Hub 4's wifi signal (to avoid the BT disks and hub signals interfering) and then test a device connected to first BT disk - the one that's wired to the hub.  See what speed comes back.  If that's good, but elsewhere the signal drops off, you might need to either, live with that or connect the other disks to the primary disk by ethernet cable (easier said than done).

You could consider buying a tri-band Wifi 6 mesh system (but that's expensive, circa £300-400), and you'd only get the best from that with Wifi 6 devices.  Tri-band systems help reduce fall off in wifi performance across mesh nodes, and are an alternative to wiring up the different mesh nodes.

[IainM54]

Thanks for that tip and advice.  The effect of switching off the Hub 4 wi-fi was it improved the speed of the disc connected to the Hub (raised it to 560Mbps) but it appears to have reduced speed elsewhere in the house (where devices are connected on Whole Home).

Is that the expected result in terms of the impact in other rooms?

[Andrew-G]

Fall off in speed via secondary mesh units on dual band systems is normal.  This is because the primary and secondary units communicate (the term is backhaul) using the 5 GHz band that's also in use by devices, and that's why a tri-band system has less fall off via secondary units.  At lower speed tiers this isn't enough to notice (so my 200 Mbps mesh is unaffected primary versus secondary).  Quite why turning the hub's wifi off would cause slow down on the secondaries I don't know.

As I say, connecting all the mesh units via ethernet avoids the use of wireless for backhaul, and should give the same speed via primary or secondary without needing expensive tri-band capability but it can be tricky to run the various long cables required.

[Adduxi]

@Andrew-G  I think you answered your own question re the secondary nodes.  I also think, as you pointed out, any hops from the primary disk to another, will always incur a drop in speed, unless the backhaul is separate.  Either by cables or a dedicated 5Ghz tri-band.