Periodic latency spikes with AP7?
I've been chasing a strange issue and wondered if anyone else has seen something similar.
My setup is a Firewalla Gold Pro with an AP7 and a MacBook Pro (M2 Max running macOS Tahoe). I use Steam Link to stream games from a wired Windows PC to the Mac over Wi-Fi.
This setup worked extremely well for several months. The latency spikes are a relatively recent development, so I'm trying to determine what changed.
When I run Steam Link's built-in network test, I get regular latency spikes every few seconds on both the 5 GHz and 6 GHz radios. I also see corresponding periodic latency spikes when continuously pinging the AP, although there's no packet loss.
As a comparison, I temporarily connected an old Quantum Wi-Fi 6 access point in the same location. With the Quantum AP, the Steam Link graph became almost perfectly flat and the ping spikes were greatly reduced.
Has anyone seen similar periodic latency spikes with an AP7? If so, were you able to track down the cause?
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I have a gold SE and 3 AP7s in a mesh. My sister over the last week has been complaining that really bad lag or issues. She's been having playing fortnite on her Nintendo switch 2. I haven't looked too hard into it. It usually resolves itself but it's only her on Wi-Fi stationary who complains about it.
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Thanks for the reply. That's interesting, especially since she's stationary and it's only happening over Wi-Fi. If you get a chance to look into it, I'd be interested to hear what you find. In my case, plugging the Mac into Ethernet eliminates the latency spikes completely, so it definitely seems Wi-Fi related.
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Thanks for the quick response.
I have a single AP7 with wired Ethernet backhaul, so there's no wireless mesh involved. I've also run Optimize Wi-Fi Experience several times without any noticeable change.
I also ran the Firewalla Wi-Fi latency test from my iPhone, and that looks normal.
One observation that may be helpful is that when I connect this same MacBook to an older Quantum Wi-Fi 6 access point in the same location, the latency spikes are greatly reduced and the Steam Link network graph becomes almost flat.
That makes me wonder if this could be an interaction between the AP7 and the Mac rather than a general Wi-Fi issue. Is there any additional latency or radio diagnostic information you'd like me to collect from the AP7 or the Mac?
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Hey Ron. I don't know if you're aware but you can install the firewalla app on your mac. I think I installed the iPad app through the appstore. I use it to configure it from my desktop but you can also run the wifi test on that machine as well. I just checked and that it runs for me.
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Thanks, John. Good information. I've always just used the iPhone app since it did everything I needed, so I never even thought to look for a Mac app. My terminal ping tests from the Mac show the same periodic latency spikes that Steam Link is reporting, so I'll be interested to see if the Firewalla Wi-Fi test shows the same thing.
Have a great 4th!
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