Reduced throughput while inSSIDer is running

MetaGeek Products inSSIDer
1

I’m trying to monitor the impact of beamforming on signal level during heavy transfer to a client and one thing that I noticed is that running inSSIDer seems to have a dramatic impact on throughput.

Running a simple iPerf test (server is local on LAN) while inSSIDer is running, I get the following results:

C:\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3 -c 192.168.0.210 -t 30 -w 4M -R
Connecting to host 192.168.0.210, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.0.210 is sending
[  4] local 192.168.0.11 port 51309 connected to 192.168.0.210 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  39.7 MBytes   333 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  42.1 MBytes   353 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  47.9 MBytes   401 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  43.8 MBytes   368 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  42.3 MBytes   355 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  8.05 MBytes  67.4 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  12.1 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  29.9 MBytes   250 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  37.6 MBytes   316 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  44.2 MBytes   371 Mbits/sec
[  4]  10.00-11.00  sec  44.7 MBytes   375 Mbits/sec
[  4]  11.00-12.00  sec  41.0 MBytes   344 Mbits/sec
[  4]  12.00-13.00  sec  41.0 MBytes   344 Mbits/sec
[  4]  13.00-14.00  sec  35.2 MBytes   295 Mbits/sec
[  4]  14.00-15.00  sec  34.7 MBytes   291 Mbits/sec
[  4]  15.00-16.00  sec  37.1 MBytes   311 Mbits/sec
[  4]  16.00-17.00  sec  41.0 MBytes   344 Mbits/sec
[  4]  17.00-18.00  sec  45.1 MBytes   378 Mbits/sec
[  4]  18.00-19.00  sec  36.5 MBytes   306 Mbits/sec
[  4]  19.00-20.00  sec  54.8 MBytes   459 Mbits/sec
[  4]  20.00-21.00  sec  50.6 MBytes   425 Mbits/sec
[  4]  21.00-22.00  sec  40.9 MBytes   343 Mbits/sec
[  4]  22.00-23.00  sec  31.6 MBytes   265 Mbits/sec
[  4]  23.00-24.00  sec  37.7 MBytes   316 Mbits/sec
[  4]  24.00-25.00  sec  43.7 MBytes   366 Mbits/sec
[  4]  25.00-26.00  sec  10.1 MBytes  85.2 Mbits/sec
[  4]  26.00-27.00  sec  3.62 MBytes  30.4 Mbits/sec
[  4]  27.00-28.00  sec  7.84 MBytes  65.8 Mbits/sec
[  4]  28.00-29.00  sec  11.3 MBytes  95.1 Mbits/sec
[  4]  29.00-30.00  sec  11.2 MBytes  93.9 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr
[  4]   0.00-30.00  sec  1014 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec    1             sender
[  4]   0.00-30.00  sec  1008 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

If I stop inSSIDer and run the same test again, I get the following:

C:\iperf-3.1.3-win64>iperf3 -c 192.168.0.210 -t 30 -w 4M -R
Connecting to host 192.168.0.210, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.0.210 is sending
[  4] local 192.168.0.11 port 54056 connected to 192.168.0.210 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  81.2 MBytes   681 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  94.3 MBytes   791 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec   101 MBytes   850 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  99.6 MBytes   836 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec   106 MBytes   891 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec   102 MBytes   858 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  99.6 MBytes   835 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  94.9 MBytes   796 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  99.4 MBytes   833 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  95.3 MBytes   800 Mbits/sec
[  4]  10.00-11.00  sec  92.9 MBytes   779 Mbits/sec
[  4]  11.00-12.00  sec  89.8 MBytes   754 Mbits/sec
[  4]  12.00-13.00  sec  98.7 MBytes   828 Mbits/sec
[  4]  13.00-14.00  sec   105 MBytes   876 Mbits/sec
[  4]  14.00-15.00  sec   103 MBytes   866 Mbits/sec
[  4]  15.00-16.00  sec   105 MBytes   878 Mbits/sec
[  4]  16.00-17.00  sec   101 MBytes   852 Mbits/sec
[  4]  17.00-18.00  sec  70.9 MBytes   595 Mbits/sec
[  4]  18.00-19.00  sec  85.3 MBytes   715 Mbits/sec
[  4]  19.00-20.00  sec  91.6 MBytes   769 Mbits/sec
[  4]  20.00-21.00  sec  79.2 MBytes   664 Mbits/sec
[  4]  21.00-22.00  sec  78.5 MBytes   659 Mbits/sec
[  4]  22.00-23.00  sec  81.1 MBytes   681 Mbits/sec
[  4]  23.00-24.00  sec  98.9 MBytes   829 Mbits/sec
[  4]  24.00-25.00  sec  99.4 MBytes   834 Mbits/sec
[  4]  25.00-26.00  sec   103 MBytes   863 Mbits/sec
[  4]  26.00-27.00  sec   102 MBytes   853 Mbits/sec
[  4]  27.00-28.00  sec  68.7 MBytes   577 Mbits/sec
[  4]  28.00-29.00  sec  94.9 MBytes   796 Mbits/sec
[  4]  29.00-30.00  sec  80.2 MBytes   673 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr
[  4]   0.00-30.00  sec  2.74 GBytes   785 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  4]   0.00-30.00  sec  2.74 GBytes   784 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

I’m running inSSIDer version 5.3.22. The NIC is a Intel AX200 and the AP is a WiFi6 device.

Is that throughput degradation expected? Is there something that can be done?

2

Hello @dave.michaud, thanks for the great question. Yes, inSSIDer does have a dramatic impact on Wi-Fi throughput, as it is using the same Wi-Fi interface to actively scan for Wi-Fi BSSIDs. No, if you want to run a throughput test and use inSSIDer to monitor it on the same computer, there isn’t anything you can do to improve this–right now. We could add the ability to select which Wi-Fi interface inSSIDer uses, like Chanalyzer has, though, and that would help. I’ll put in a request to add that capability in a future release of inSSIDer. Thank you for your question/feedback, and real-world data!

1 Like
3

Thanks Brian.

What would be really useful, at least in my case, is the ability to disable scanning other networks/ap than the one I’m connected on.

When running performance measurements, I’m usually only interested in that network anyway.

4

Ooo, yeah, that’s a very clever way to work around the issue. I’m pretty sure we can do something that will help with this. We are working on an update to inSSIDer right this moment, so we’ll investigate right away. Thanks again for your input @dave.michaud!