AirCube AC Speed Issues

[joshkinabrew]

Hi all,

We're running a FTTH ISP in Colorado using all UFiber gear (It's working super well BTW. We have 1Gbps to 100+ homes and on peak hours our 2 OLTs are peaking around 500Mbps down, 25Mbps up. We switched from Calix OLT to UFiber and are loving every minute of it). I love the single pane of glass with UNMS and our routers, switches, and UFiber + AirCube integration.

We offer a plan where we provide the wireless router and we settled on Google Routers, however I'd like to move in the direction of deploying AirCubes. We deployed around 20 of them so far and are getting mediocre results. The main problem is that since we're supplying 1Gbps we need the routers to hit at least half of that wirelessly. The Google Routers can routinely hit 850Mbps while our AirCubes can barely hit 300Mbps both wired and wireless on a good day. (We use the AirCube AC, not the AirCube ISP). Plugged directly in to the ONT we get 940Mbps up and 940Mbps down. In our lab and in the real world Bridge mode has the same speeds as router mode on the AirCube. With firmware 2.1.0 we were getting a little faster with around 350Mbps but 2.2.0 we're down to 300Mbps wired and wireless.

Can anyone from UBNT respond to the slow speeds we're seeing? Or can anyone corroborate on similar speeds? We bought 100 of them to deploy to new customers and were planning on buying a few hundred more if we can resolve these speed issues. Otherwise we'll stick with our Google Routers for the time being. If the speed can be fixed in a new firmware update I'm OK with holding on to these that we bought but if we're hitting a hardware limitation then we have no choice but to go with another manufacturer.

[twinkletoes]

This is a serious bummer. Have you tested AmpliFi routers? They will be supported in UNMS too. And apparently they actually use some different code base than the Aircube

[beyondwireless]

Hey there,

I'm sure you've checked into this already but I've been having a continous problem with packet loss on wireless with AirCube AC. Any UBNT staff out there can ping me for device logs.

I've tried different channels and channel widths, also running the latest firmware.

[UBNT-SNK]

@d_baltrusis can you check with @joshkinabrew on this issue?

[d_baltrusis]

@UBNT-SNK, I'll check on this.

[joshkinabrew]

@d_baltrusis any progress thus far? 

[UBNT-SNK]

Hi all - here is our formal statement on this.

The airCube AC and ISP were designed primarily for the WISP market, where the vast majority of customers won't receive a connection faster than 50 or 100 Mbps from their WISP. The hardware was designed with this in mind, and in our internal testing, we are able to achieve 250 Mbps in router mode and 700 Mbps in bridge mode through the airCube AC. This is far beyond what almost all WISP network subscribers will get from their WISP.

FTTH is obviously a different story, with a different set of throughput expectations. If the 700 Mbps achievable in bridge mode on the airCube AC does not match what you are providing on your fiber-based service plans, I'd have to recommend looking at one of the EdgeMAX, UniFi or AmpliFi products instead. We are unable to significantly increase the throughput with the current hardware, and would rather spend the development resources needed to do so on adding new features.

Ultimately, airCube was originally designed as an airMAX accessory. It has uses outside of that market, such as for FTTH in many cases, but this was not the primary use case during its development. The UFiber forum is the best place to ask whether there is intent to create a FTTH-oriented equivalent.

Thanks.

[joshkinabrew]

That's such a bummer to hear. Thanks for telling us.

Our original decision in January/February 2018 to go with AirCube was based on this post: https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UFiber-GPON/airCube-Paired-WiFi-Solution-for-UFiber/td-p/2160780 - Can you add a disclaimer on that post so future travelers can know about the speed limits and not spend a bunch of money and time on AirCube only to find out that it won't work for heavy Gig users?

Can we get wholesale pricing on AmpliFi? I'd really like to use UBNT equipment but the AmpliFi from retailers are a bit too expensive for what we'd like to spend.

[UBNT-SNK]

We will look at updating the spec sheet for these to account for the throughput figures I mentioned above.

@UBNT-Ben is probably your best bet for AmpliFi pricing.

[UBNT-SNK]

@joshkinabrew check your PMs.

[MonkeyDan]

This is sad news. I hate anything that needs to be configured using an app. We want to be able to hand customers a box they can just plug in and go. The AirCube was nearly perfect as it is so cheap and has a pre-configured SSID and WPA key.

I was hoping the lack of AirCube ACs on the market meant they got pulled for a much-needed switch chip upgrade but I guess that's not the case.

[UBNT-SNK]

It doesn't need to be configured using an app, it has a full-featured web management interface in v2.0.0 and later.

[MonkeyDan]

But if you want full-gig speeds, you need to get an AmpliFi which does require an app.

[UBNT-SNK]

If you need to go above about 700 Mbps, yes.

[rdc]

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@joshkinabrew wrote:

We're running a FTTH ISP in Colorado using all UFiber gear

our AirCubes can barely hit 300Mbps both wired and wireless on a good day

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btw, if you are ISP, you can connect ONU to airCube LAN, enable bridge, and at least wired speed will be ok.

[jseifertapg]

I think this post speaks volumes, there is a need for a higher-end aircube that can handle the gigiabit speeds.  We were about to repalce the consumer routers in our store with the AirCube-ACs until we saw the bandwidth limitations.  The ISP in our area now offers 100/500/1G speeds.

[UBNT-SNK]

airCube was designed for WISP customers, for whom these speeds are sufficient. If you are a FTTH customer, I recommend AmpliFi.