Airport Extreme bad throughput on 5GHz, faulty unit?

[kot]

Hello guys, I'm using a brand-new Airport Extreme 5th gen BS. I installed it in my apartment on top of an elevated cabinet, and I'm getting low throughput when on the 5GHz network.

AFAIK 5GHz is supposed to be the innovative ultra-fast one, where it is little to no interference.

However, as you can see on the map I have drawn, my throughput is really not that fast and it decreases dramatically when I'm far from the BS. I'm wondering if my unit is faulty?

And sometimes I'm getting even better throughput on the 2.4GHz network in the "remote" rooms, even though it is supposed to be crowded and generally bad.

Could you offer advice on what is wrong here? Is it normal?

P.S. All the walls in my apt are concrete.

P.P.S. All the measurements were taken using iperf to my desktop which is connected to the AEBS with UTP.

 

[drsox]

What you have demonstrated to yourself is the essential difference between the two bands.
5Ghz - faster but doesn't go far ; 2.4Ghz - slower but more resilient.
Try moving the unit around a bit. What are you testing with ? Any metal bits and pieces in the way ?

I have several AEs on 5Ghz and reception varies from 300Mbps to 120Mbps.
300Mbps is 5m line of sight - 120Mbps is 10m through a double wooden floor.
Concrete is a killer and that's why I have 3 units distributed around.

 

[kot]

Thanks, I tried to move it around but still couldn't find the perfect spot. Since all the walls are concrete (some are thicker than others), the signal is not good when through 3 walls.

I moved it to a better position. Also I found that on 5GHz you get shorter range but more throuighput, with 2.4GHz it's vice versa.

 

[drsox]

You'll only be able to improve data rates but using a LAN.
Possibilities are PowerLine or cable. With either one you will need a second AE (Express) connected by LAN in bridge mode to make a roaming network.