AC-LITE to nanoHD access point - worth it?

[mds1256]

Hi

i currently have 2x AC-LITE access points and have been considering upgrading them to 2x nanoHD access points.

I have mostly newish Apple devices and a MacBook Pro 13” 2018 which I am led to believe has the 3x3 MIMO.

my typical use case is coping large files to and from a NAS that is connected wired over 1gb Ethernet.

i can see when connected to my AC-LITE from my MacBook i connect at around 650mbps. 

Would having the nanoHD be noticeable improvement in my scenario?

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @mds1256,

It is an upgrade from 2x2 to 4x4 tho there aren't that many 4x4 clients out there yet.

Regards,

Glenn R.

[mds1256]

Hi @AmazedMender16 @but I am guessing that my 3x3 laptop will perform better even though the nanoHD supports 4x4?

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @mds1256,

It will be connecting with a higher negotiated air time speed, but be aware that those numbers don't reflect realtime wireless speeds.

Regards,

Glenn R.

[ub40]

You could gain up to 50% more speed (factor 1.5) if the notebook indeed has 3x3 MIMO hardware.

[Connorg]

I've been looking at the same upgrade.  I'll probably upgrade the network card in my laptop to the intel 9260...

Do the Lite and NanoHD share the same mounts?

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @Connorg,

The UAP AC LITE and UAP NanoHD do have the same  mounting bracket.

Regards,

Glenn R.

[its3am]

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@AmazedMender16 wrote:

It will be connecting with a higher negotiated air time speed, but be aware that those numbers don't reflect realtime wireless speeds.

---

I was curious and did some iPerf half-duplex TCP tests on my nanoHD. It connects at 1.3Gbps at VHT80 or 600Mbps at VHT40 to the tested station. The other iPerf end is connected via an Ethernet cable.

station at 2.4GHz HT20 → Ethernet: 70 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 2.4GHz HT20: 40 Mbps

station at 5GHz VHT80 → Ethernet: 620 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 5GHz VHT80: 590 Mbps

station at 5GHz VHT40 → Ethernet: 460 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 5GHz VHT40: 420 Mbps

Although no other stations were very busy during these test runs, obviously it wasn't a controlled scientific test, but hopefully it can give you a small insight.

[mds1256]

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@its3am wrote:

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@AmazedMender16 wrote:

It will be connecting with a higher negotiated air time speed, but be aware that those numbers don't reflect realtime wireless speeds.

---

I was curious and did some iPerf half-duplex TCP tests on my nanoHD. It connects at 1.3Gbps at VHT80 or 600Mbps at VHT40 to the tested station. The other iPerf end is connected via an Ethernet cable.

station at 2.4GHz HT20 → Ethernet: 70 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 2.4GHz HT20: 40 Mbps

station at 5GHz VHT80 → Ethernet: 620 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 5GHz VHT80: 590 Mbps

station at 5GHz VHT40 → Ethernet: 460 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 5GHz VHT40: 420 Mbps

Although no other stations were very busy during these test runs, obviously it wasn't a controlled scientific test, but hopefully it can give you a small insight.

---

Thanks for this, i will run an iPerf test this evening from my AC lite connected at VHT80 to a wired server and post the results, this is the info i was after so thank you for that.

[mds1256]

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@its3am wrote:

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@AmazedMender16 wrote:

It will be connecting with a higher negotiated air time speed, but be aware that those numbers don't reflect realtime wireless speeds.

---

I was curious and did some iPerf half-duplex TCP tests on my nanoHD. It connects at 1.3Gbps at VHT80 or 600Mbps at VHT40 to the tested station. The other iPerf end is connected via an Ethernet cable.

station at 2.4GHz HT20 → Ethernet: 70 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 2.4GHz HT20: 40 Mbps

station at 5GHz VHT80 → Ethernet: 620 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 5GHz VHT80: 590 Mbps

station at 5GHz VHT40 → Ethernet: 460 Mbps

Ethernet → station at 5GHz VHT40: 420 Mbps

Although no other stations were very busy during these test runs, obviously it wasn't a controlled scientific test, but hopefully it can give you a small insight.

---

So ran a iperf test on mine and these are my results ar 5ghz VHT80

So it looks to be around 3x faster with a nanoHD?

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @mds1256,

You can't say that, what is the signal strength and Rx/Tx rate of your client?

Regards,
Glenn R.

[mds1256]

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@AmazedMender16 wrote:

Hello @mds1256,

You can't say that, what is the signal strength and Rx/Tx rate of your client?

Regards,
Glenn R.

---

Signal strength was full, i was around 2 meters away from the access point nothing in the way of it using my MacBook Pro. 

So i would say it was a fairly solid test - around 3% interference and around 6% utilisation on that access point.

I plugged my laptop in wired and these where the results (which is no surprise due to a gigbit network).

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @mds1256,

Rx/Tx rate of the client?

Regards,

Glenn R.

[mds1256]

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@AmazedMender16 wrote:

Hello @mds1256,

Rx/Tx rate of the client?

Regards,

Glenn R.

---

Just added TX rate above, bounces between 866Mbps and 760Mbps

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @mds1256,

It's an UAP AC LITE on VHT80 right?

You should see better performance with a UAP NanoHD, the question is do you really need it?

Regards,

Glenn R.

[ub40]

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@ub40 wrote:

You could gain up to 50% more speed (factor 1.5) if the notebook indeed has 3x3 MIMO hardware.

---

That.

[mds1256]

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@AmazedMender16 wrote:

Hello @mds1256,

It's an UAP AC LITE on VHT80 right?

You should see better performance with a UAP NanoHD, the question is do you really need it?

Regards,

Glenn R.

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Yes that is correct, VHT80 AC-LITE.

It would probably help with my uploads and downloads from my NAS which will save me minutes on each transfer which can add up during the day. 

Aside from that I would say no.

i do find it interesting that I connect at around 760Mbps but transfer I am only getting 250Mbps.

i understand that it is theoretical but I would have thought it would be around 400-500 Mbps

[RobbieH]

Don't forget, wired is full duplex, wifi is half duplex.

[mds1256]

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@RobbieH wrote:

Don't forget, wired is full duplex, wifi is half duplex.

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True!

Also please see my stats from the controller re: tx/rx rate and signal strength.

[AmazedMender16]

Hello @mds1256,

You will see some performance gain when going with the UAP NanoHD, the question is do you need it.

Regards,

Glenn R.