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Question: throughput from WAN to LAN port

Ken_8085
Community Member

I have an existing home network that incorporates three Google WiFi points in a mesh network.  I'm upgrading to FIOS Gigabit now, and dropping static IP which I had used for a previous home business, so I'd like to simplify my network.

Because I have a mixed wired/wireless network, I would like to avoid subnetting it.  My understanding is that, with the Google WiFi systems, I cannot run them in access point mode while maintaining a mesh network.  So, I think my only option (short of changing out my wifi system) would be to take my feed for my entire wired network from the LAN port of one of the Google WiFi units.

My question is: will the Google WiFi unit constitute a bandwidth bottleneck, since ALL my traffic will have to relay through the WAN-to-LAN connection?  I couldn't find any specification on this.  Thanks for any help!

13 REPLIES 13

kiltguy2112
Silver Product Expert
Silver Product Expert

My advise would be to try it and see how it goes. The only thing you would be out is some time. If it is not working like you want, upgrade to something like Unifi which will do what you want and more.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, Ken_8085.
I just wanted to jump in real fast to see if you saw kiltguy2112's reply and to see if you still needed some help on this or if you were able to get it sorted out. If you are still needing some help, just let us know and we'll be happy to continue helping.
Thanks.

Ken_8085
Community Member

Well, I saw the reply, but it really doesn't answer my question as to the throughput rate between the ports.  I *know* I could "try it", but there would be several hundred dollars worth of electrician expense involved due to the physical location of my Verizon ONT and other network components, and the fact that this is in a 260 year old house where anything involving wiring is problematic.  What I was hoping for (and what I asked) was for someone who might either know the spec, or had done some testing in this regard.  The Google WiFi system seems to be unique in that it does not support bridge mode in a mesh configuration, which is the nominal cause of the whole dilemma.  I'm aware that the ultimate fallback is to discard the Google WiFi system in favor of a mesh system that allows bridge mode, as the earlier respondent suggested, but I'd rather not do that unless necessary.  It's a simple question - can't Google answer it?

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Ah, I understand better, Ken_8085.

Here are the max speeds for the Google WiFi points (for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections).

  • 2.4 GHz - 300 Mbps
  • 5 GHz - 867 Mbps

That's the speed at which data can go from point to point. If you are leaping across points and then running LAN from there, you're going to be capped by the max wireless speed. In order to get full speed on that setup from the WAN to LAN setup, you'll either need WiFi points that can handle the full speed your ISP provides or, as you said, investigate other options. Hopefully this makes a bit more sense.

Thanks.

Ken_8085
Community Member

Thank you, I think we're getting closer.  But, what I'm proposing is that the WAN port of one of the Google WiFi units would be connected via 1 GB Ethernet to my FIOS router (fed with 1 GB service), and then my entire wired network would be fed from that same Google WiFi unit's LAN port.  So, no wireless link would be involved in the connection path for the wired network, just the potential bottleneck of the data transfer between the WAN and LAN connection on a single WiFi unit.  The rest of the WiFi units would serve just to feed various wireless devices which are less critical as to bandwidth.

The whole purpose of this exercise is to keep all my wired devices in the same subnet (e.g., 192.168.86.xxx) as any wireless devices that might need to contact them.  It's the wired devices, however, that need the GB access to the Internet.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, Ken_8085.

It's been a while since we touched on this. I'm just curious to see if you got any closer to getting this sorted out on your end. Let me know if we need to keep looking deeper into this.

Thanks.

Ken_8085
Community Member

So, I finally just bit the bullet on this one and went ahead with the install using the Google WiFi unit as an intermediary second router.  My Verizon ONT connects to the Verizon router, which in turn connects to a Google WiFi unit's WAN port, and the same Google WiFi unit's LAN port connects to the balance of my wired internal network.  Therefore, everything is on the same virtual subnet 192.168.86.xxx. 

On a gigabit FIOS connection, the resulting throughput I'm getting (using Ookla speed test from a browser) is 878mbps down and 892mbps up.  So, it appears that the WiFi unit is not causing any meaningful reduction in performance.  Of course, WiFi performance is limited by the underlying technology, but that was not my concern.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Thanks for the update, Ken_8085.

Do you feel like this is going to be a workable solution for you?

Ken_8085
Community Member

Yes, although with one caveat - this configuration may complicate using DDNS to access certain internal devices (e.g., an NAS and a home automation computer) from the public internet.  I'll have to experiment with getting port forwarding to work through two routers or, potentially, dual-homing my NAS with connections both before and after the Google WiFi unit.  Never a dull moment.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, Ken_8085.

I'll keep the thread open for a while so you can test and have time to see how things work. We can always mark this as resolved down the line, but I want to make sure we don't do that too early. If anything changes, let me know.

Thanks.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, Ken_8085.

I just wanted to circle back on this and see if things were still working for you. If so, let me know and we can mark this as resolved. If you need any help, I'll be happy to jump back in.

Thanks.

Ken_8085
Community Member

Yes, you can mark it as resolved.  My subsequent experience indicates that the throughput between the wired ports does not constitute a substantive bottleneck in the network.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Thanks, Ken_8085.

I'll go ahead and close up the thread, but if you need anything else at all, please feel free to open up a new discussion.

Thanks.