What is typical 5 GHz latency (ping) when in the same room? (re: MacBook Pro M1 + UniFi U6-LR, Wi-Fi 6, spikes to 100ms+)

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sofakng

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Apr 27, 2011
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I've just purchased a UniFi U6-LR (802.11ax) but I'm seeing inconsistent and high latency: (I've tested the router [UDM Pro] and other machines on my network)

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The UniFi U6-LR is sitting on top of a bookshelf and I'm sitting on a couch about 15 feet away with my MacBook Pro M1:

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The signal strength is great (-48 dBm) and the noise too (-93 dBm). I also have a wi-spy dBx spectrum analyzer:
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I can't see any interference or any problems so what could be causing this? From what I've read I should be seeing about 3ms on average.

I've replaced a previous UniFi UAP-AC-PRO which I believe had the same problem but I'm not concern. I live in a house (ie. not an apartment) on 1/2 acre so nobody is too close but I can still see several access points.

I'd love to try a Ruckus (or similar) access point but I'm deep in the UniFi ecosystem (UDM-Pro, US-48-500W switch, US-8 switches, US-6L AP, etc) and I'm not sure that would solve my problem anyways?
 

jei

Active Member
Aug 8, 2021
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Finland
Ruckus R710 with pretty basic conf and no noisy neighbours. AP at the adjacent hallway. I just sold my NanoHD and U6-Lite. R710 is faster for my ac clients and overall more stable & better signal.

Screenshot 2021-10-15 at 2.16.26.png
Screenshot 2021-10-15 at 2.16.56.png
 

LodeRunner

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Apr 27, 2019
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Only one of your neighbors in the 2.4 Ghzband is loud enough to even be a minor problem, but it looks like your AP picked a 5Ghz DFS channel. It may be taking interference from a weather or ATC RADAR. Or the DFS interference check is causing it. If you are in the US, then move to the 36-48 or 149+ bands for 5G. For non-US, well, look at your local regulations to see which bands are DFS.
 
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sofakng

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Apr 27, 2011
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Ruckus R710 with pretty basic conf and no noisy neighbours. AP at the adjacent hallway. I just sold my NanoHD and U6-Lite. R710 is faster for my ac clients and overall more stable & better signal.
I'm trying to get my hands on a used or refurbished Ruckus R710/R720 to see if that solves my problem. Your ping times are what I'm expecting.

Only one of your neighbors in the 2.4 Ghzband is loud enough to even be a minor problem, but it looks like your AP picked a 5Ghz DFS channel. It may be taking interference from a weather or ATC RADAR. Or the DFS interference check is causing it. If you are in the US, then move to the 36-48 or 149+ bands for 5G. For non-US, well, look at your local regulations to see which bands are DFS.
Thanks for the advice. I've actually manually selected channel 100. The AP selected 36 and it had the same exact problem which is why I manually selected 100. :(
 

BlueFox

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Oct 26, 2015
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That seems pretty high. I live in a very crowded area (so far as radio is concerned at least), with 84 neighbouring APs on the 2.4GHz band and 13 on the 5GHz one (that my AP can see at least), but I still average 1ms latency between my 802.11ax AP and a device that supports it (Surface Go 2). Even with all the crowding and multiple devices connected, still have no issues maintaining a 2.4Gbit connection.
 

BlueFox

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I have an Aerohive AP650. Not exactly the most common thing out there, but this is a hardware enthusiast community after all.
 

klui

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2019
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I was intrigued with what you experienced and tried it on my network. I don't allow pinging my AP but I am pinging their gateway from my desktop. The Ruckus APs connect directly to my firewall and my desktop connects to an intermediary switch.

Pinging smart phones like an iPhone and very old Android results in 30-50ms but 1-6 ms on a Windows notebook on WiFi.
 

LodeRunner

Active Member
Apr 27, 2019
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Thanks for the advice. I've actually manually selected channel 100. The AP selected 36 and it had the same exact problem which is why I manually selected 100. :(
I did some digging late last night and the symptoms you described appear to be a long running on-again, off-again bug in Mac OS and location services causing regular latency spikes on wifi.
 

sofakng

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Apr 27, 2011
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Does anybody have a Macbook M1 they can use to ping their access point? I'd love to rent/borrow a Ruckus AP to see the latency results.

I understand the latency/ping spikes are caused by MacOS Location Services but I'm still seeing a normal ping of 3-10ms which is much higher than my portable Linux RPi setup.