MR33 speed

Mel
New here

MR33 speed

What can I do to have a MR33 get the same signal and speed as the MR42?

 

How I tested: Used a macbook pro using speedtest.net 

 

MR33 with 5Ghz channel only did a speed test only got about 43Mbps down and 57Mbps up.

 

replace the MR33 with MR42 with the same settings

 

130 Mbps down and 200 Mbps up

4 REPLIES 4
MerakiDave
Meraki Employee
Meraki Employee

There's not much you can do to "tune down" an MR42 to match the performance of an MR33, or vice-versa, you can't "tune up" and MR33 to match an MR42's performance.  These are 2 different models, the MR33 is a 2x2:2 while the MR42 is a 3x3:3 access point.  Any 3x3 AP will in general outperform any 2x2 AP all day long, and the same is true for any 4x4 AP like the MR52 or MR53 outperforming a 3x3 AP like the MR42 all day long.  That's primarily because you have additional radio chains and antennas, and when it comes to MIMO and MU-MIMO, more is better.  One critical figure or merit in wifi is SNR, Signal to Noise Ratio, and when you've transmitting/receiving on more antennas, the higher-end APs perform better, and give a better user experience as well, especially when there's a higher density of clients and/or more noise/interference.  Of course that's one major factor that translates into the higher prices as you progress from general purpose to highest performance.

 

Is there any other that compares to the MR42 or MR52? I need something to upgrade my home. I think using Meraki for the past year has spoiled me. Especially with all the information you can see and application blocking by just using the wireless access point. I know linksys had their version of cloud wireless routers, but I did not like them too much. Meraki would make big bucks if they made that move especially since cloud is the way

LeoG
Meraki Alumni (Retired)
Meraki Alumni (Retired)

I have an MR33 at home and using Speedtest.net on my 75/20 Mbps line, I get 72 Mbps download and 17 upload.

 

If I do an iPerf TCP test between my Macbook Pro and my Windows machine (On the LAN) I get this:

 

Connecting to host 172.20.Y.Y, port 5201
[ 4] local 172.20.X.X port 60762 connected to 172.20.Y.Y port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 36.6 MBytes 307 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 36.8 MBytes 309 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 34.4 MBytes 289 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 32.3 MBytes 271 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 31.0 MBytes 260 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 33.9 MBytes 285 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 34.7 MBytes 291 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 32.9 MBytes 276 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 31.1 MBytes 261 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 34.8 MBytes 292 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 338 MBytes 284 Mbits/sec sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 338 MBytes 284 Mbits/sec receiver

Accepted connection from 172.20.Y.Y, port 51240
[ 5] local 172.20.X.X port 5201 connected to 172.20.Y.Y port 51241
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 39.4 MBytes 330 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 38.6 MBytes 324 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 41.1 MBytes 344 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 34.2 MBytes 287 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 35.5 MBytes 298 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 40.2 MBytes 337 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 42.6 MBytes 357 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 38.5 MBytes 323 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 33.9 MBytes 284 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 32.6 MBytes 273 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 10.00-10.05 sec 1.90 MBytes 327 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 5] 0.00-10.05 sec 0.00 Bytes 0.00 bits/sec sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.05 sec 378 MBytes 316 Mbits/sec receiver

 

Keep in mind these are Lab tests (I am like 1 meter away from the AP) and very synthetic in the end, but I would definitely recommend you to upgrade to our latest beta version (and you can go back anytime you need) and see if it improves the speed. By the way, I'm using 80 MHz channels (my neighbors haven't crowded the 5 GHz band, at least for now).

 

Of course, as mentioned by @MerakiDave, SNR, Signal, Noise, Spatial Streams and the number of antennas are very important (SNR & number of Spatial Streams above everything).

Leo Gomez
MerakiDave
Meraki Employee
Meraki Employee

@Mel how about one of each!?  Haha, just kidding.  It's a "your mileage may vary" type of thing depending on the layout of your home of course, I run my own home wireless on an MR42 in the basement (home office & lab area) and an MR33 in one of the 2nd floor bedroom closets.  I ran the whole home off the MR42 with no issues, I put in the MR33 really just to build out the home lab.

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