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Hey Community,

Sorry. I haven't been on a forum in years. In case I missed a post about this topic, feel free to delete this, and I will gladly go through the discussion there. Thanks!
 
I recently upgraded my home network to WiFi 7 (802.11be) and realized that I can now benefit from MLO on my Pixel 8 Pro. I quickly configured it and was able to connect to the new SSID using MLO on 6GHz and 5GHz. I was happy to see on my Pixel that both bandwidths are shown in the Wi-Fi details, and the connection was running and stable.
 
Pixel8Pro_WiFi-Info.jpeg.b9813a2b9859b23b6fee7c0c67b11eb8.jpeg
 
To my surprise, when quickly testing it using the Wifiman mobile app (later also with other solutions like Ookla speed test or openspeedtest), I couldn't see any performance increase.
While researching this topic online, I was surprised to find little about it apart from a couple of Reddit entries about general issues with the functionality or some closely related but not the same questions on the TP-linked community pages. Also, from the official Google side, there is basically no information about this functionality that I could find. Therefore, I ended up doing some more testing with it.
 
The testing scenario always followed the same process, and I started with the SSID using MLO, then only 6GHz and as a third step, the 5GHz connection:
 
  • General information:
    • Router: TP-Link Archer GE800 | BE19000, newest firmware (Don't ask, this monster was second hand and cheap due to the frustration of the previous owner 😄)
    • Phone: Google Pixel 8 Pro
    • Android: Version 15 (Build: AP4A.250105.002
    • Security update: 05.01.2025
    • Edit: I'm from Europe, so the ETSI regulations, which limit the frequency of 6GHz to 6,425 MHz (only Channels 1-93 are available)
    • Internet: Fiber 10GB up and down
    • LAN Performance: Averages around 5000Mbps to 6000Mbps (PC uses a ASUS XG-C100C 10G PCI-E Network Adapter)
  • Testing process:
    • Position: 2m away from router in direct line of sight.
    • Channel quality: Excellent for both 5GHz and 6GHz
    • Bandwidth 5Ghz: 160MHz for all 4 test series
    • Bandwidth 6GHz: 320MHz for test series 1,2,4 / 160MHz on test series 3
 
Test-Results_MLO_Pixel8Pro.thumb.jpeg.e65a8aae43e95010acbca887d2a66e08.jpeg
 
From my understanding, this technology should improve performance, but the testing results showed no performance increase while using MLO, heck it was even the worst for all three scenarios I tested.
I would consider myself a "Rooky Enthusiast" in this topic. While I can follow guidelines on how to configure something and understand when to connect which information with another, I usually don't have the full picture of why certain things had to be done this way or how the technology actually works^^. So it could be that I did something wrong with my setup, but I couldn't point out where to start searching as it all seems to be properly configured.
 
  • Has anyone here already played with MLO?
  • What was your experience with it?
  • How did it impact your network performance?
  • Does anyone see a flaw in my configuration that I seem to be missing, which is why I end up with those results?
 
I posted a similar request on the official Google Pixel Community pages. If I get any further information there, I will update this post here.
I'm happy to share more details about my testing or setup, which I may have missed including here.
 
Thanks!
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There are a bunch of different modes to MLO in terms if what can actually be done with the multiple connections and most devices, both clients and APs, only support one or two of them. I suggest these videos:

Edit: In short, in the Ubiquiti video he states that client device vendors aren’t likely to put in multiple radios, and in the Cisco video he claims that all the Intel 802.11be radios only support eMLSR, meaning on the client side it has a single radio and can flip between the radio bands very fast, which helps for reliability but not speed.

Looking to buy GTX690, other multi-GPU cards, or single-slot graphics cards: 

 

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Thanks @tankyx for the information.

At the moment I would point my finger on the GE800 because I also ran some tests with my pc and the results were the same. Everything shows to be correct but the MLO SSID has the lowest throughput of all.

 

I'm gonna put this project on hold for now. Considering that I simply wanted to set MLO up while I already had all the devices to use it, I spent already way to many hours into troubleshooting this gimmick, which I most certainly wouldn't even realize a difference if it works. Maybe in a year or two the feature used for marketing is going to work as promised 😅

 

 

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4 hours ago, CHIMICHAANGA said:

Thanks @tankyx for the information.

At the moment I would point my finger on the GE800 because I also ran some tests with my pc and the results were the same. Everything shows to be correct but the MLO SSID has the lowest throughput of all.

 

I'm gonna put this project on hold for now. Considering that I simply wanted to set MLO up while I already had all the devices to use it, I spent already way to many hours into troubleshooting this gimmick, which I most certainly wouldn't even realize a difference if it works. Maybe in a year or two the feature used for marketing is going to work as promised 😅

 

 

Bear in mind that WiFi 7 spec might not be fully ratified yet. Even if it has been it was recent. Many devices out are "Draft" products, similar to what happened during the WIFI 4 days. So some of these devices might not 100% conform to what the standard actually is. In my opinion waiting a year or two or waiting for WIFi 8 is probably the better option. 

I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. 

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On 1/26/2025 at 3:52 AM, brwainer said:

In short, in the Ubiquiti video he states that client device vendors aren’t likely to put in multiple radios, and in the Cisco video he claims that all the Intel 802.11be radios only support eMLSR, meaning on the client side it has a single radio and can flip between the radio bands very fast, which helps for reliability but not speed.

This is precisely what I feared would happen.  Being able to switch fast enough to instantly roam between bands is great, but personally I was mostly looking forward to the speed boost so clients not supporting multi-band aggregation is a huge let down.  Glad to find this out BEFORE upgrading.

ASUS B650E-F GAMING WIFI + R7 7800X3D + 2x Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30-36-36-76  + ASUS RTX 4090 TUF Gaming OC

Router:  Intel N100 (pfSense) Backup: GL.iNet GL-X3000/ Spitz AX Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, MS510TXPP, GS110EMX
WiFi6: Zyxel NWA210AX (1.7Gbit peak at 160Mhz) WiFi5: Ubiquiti NanoHD OpenWRT (~500Mbit at 80Mhz)
ISPs: Zen Full Fibre 900 (~930Mbit down, 115Mbit up) + Three 5G (~1200Mbit down, 115Mbit up, variable)
Upgrading Laptop/Desktop CNVIo WiFi 5 cards to PCIe WiFi6e/7

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1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

This is precisely what I feared would happen.  Being able to switch fast enough to instantly roam between bands is great, but personally I was mostly looking forward to the speed boost so clients not supporting multi-band aggregation is a huge let down.  Glad to find this out BEFORE upgrading.

This is the first WIFi generation with this feature. In a generation or two they will probably have it mostly figured out. Thats just the way I think anyway. 

I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. 

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5 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

This is the first WIFi generation with this feature. In a generation or two they will probably have it mostly figured out. Thats just the way I think anyway. 

I'm just sick of new versions of WiFi being promoted as having x,y,z features and then real-world it simply not working as promised, partly due to making all the good stuff optional.

ASUS B650E-F GAMING WIFI + R7 7800X3D + 2x Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30-36-36-76  + ASUS RTX 4090 TUF Gaming OC

Router:  Intel N100 (pfSense) Backup: GL.iNet GL-X3000/ Spitz AX Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, MS510TXPP, GS110EMX
WiFi6: Zyxel NWA210AX (1.7Gbit peak at 160Mhz) WiFi5: Ubiquiti NanoHD OpenWRT (~500Mbit at 80Mhz)
ISPs: Zen Full Fibre 900 (~930Mbit down, 115Mbit up) + Three 5G (~1200Mbit down, 115Mbit up, variable)
Upgrading Laptop/Desktop CNVIo WiFi 5 cards to PCIe WiFi6e/7

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34 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I'm just sick of new versions of WiFi being promoted as having x,y,z features and then real-world it simply not working as promised, partly due to making all the good stuff optional.

Im happy with WIFi 5 to be honest. While the new features sound cool. I just find that WIFi 5 is fast enough for most things. Im in the opinion that WiFi specs never live up to what they say. I take everything they say with a grain of salt. 

I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. 

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59 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Im happy with WIFi 5 to be honest. While the new features sound cool. I just find that WIFi 5 is fast enough for most things. Im in the opinion that WiFi specs never live up to what they say. I take everything they say with a grain of salt. 

Well the spec issues and changes are part of why WiFi 8 is focusing on reliability and maybe a few incremental improvements to existing tech and not adding MOAR SPEED thankfully

Current Network Layout:

Current Build Log/PC:

Prior Build Log/PC:

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3 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Well the spec issues and changes are part of why WiFi 8 is focusing on reliability and maybe a few incremental improvements to existing tech and not adding MOAR SPEED thankfully

There's not really any scope for adding more speed past MLO.  They've pushed channel widths to the extreme on WiFi 7, there's not really much space for improvement IMO, that can't already be achieved by WiFi 7 if they hadn't made the good features optional.

ASUS B650E-F GAMING WIFI + R7 7800X3D + 2x Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30-36-36-76  + ASUS RTX 4090 TUF Gaming OC

Router:  Intel N100 (pfSense) Backup: GL.iNet GL-X3000/ Spitz AX Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, MS510TXPP, GS110EMX
WiFi6: Zyxel NWA210AX (1.7Gbit peak at 160Mhz) WiFi5: Ubiquiti NanoHD OpenWRT (~500Mbit at 80Mhz)
ISPs: Zen Full Fibre 900 (~930Mbit down, 115Mbit up) + Three 5G (~1200Mbit down, 115Mbit up, variable)
Upgrading Laptop/Desktop CNVIo WiFi 5 cards to PCIe WiFi6e/7

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/28/2025 at 12:37 PM, Alex Atkin UK said:

I'm just sick of new versions of WiFi being promoted as having x,y,z features and then real-world it simply not working as promised, partly due to making all the good stuff optional.

Please don't use my limited testing processes to rate whether the promised improvements with MLO actually work or not. As mentioned, the chance of user error isn't small here. 😄
I can find other results online, and there, it seems to work better regarding increased throughput using MLO. Recently, I even bumped into the following clip from LTT, and after enabling MLO (6:40), the performance was better right away:

What still surprises me is how little information you find about MLO and how devices having access to this function actually implemented the feature on their side.

Thanks all for getting back to me about this topic 🙂

 

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