"too short" , you mean range is poor?
No, the wifi range of Acer's wifi 6E routers is not poor. I was talking about the time being too short until a large number of your neighbors will also use 6 GHz wifi.
6GHz is even less likely to pass through walls than 5GHz, and the FCC power limitations (at least in the US) for non-managed use are much stricter (18 dBm ifirc for the AP, and 12 dBm for clients). AFAICT (but not based on any testing) it's nearly a single room type of thing - passing through one or two weak walls at the most. I doubt neighbours are going to be a significant issue - even in an apartment building - considering the ample number of basically equivalent (and very wide) channels (also newer wifi standards better manage this, and 6GHz is Wifi6+ only). My parent's European brick/cement 170 m^2 / 1800 sq ft house (5 bed 2 bath) already requires 3 APs to get decent 5GHz wide channel coverage (and parts still only really get 2.4GHz). I'm virtually certain I'd need nearly 1 AP per room on 6GHz.
But of course writing this with no real world experience... YMMV, we'll see, etc... thoughts?
Hi @maze,
I completely agree with you. Even today, in a European single-family detached home, you hardly notice the neighbors' 5 GHz wifi networks. And though the difference between 2 GHz and 5 GHz was greater, there will be even less interference with 6 GHz wifi.
Things are different in a nice 200-year-old apartment building (with wooden ceilings) in the center of a big city (not too far from your parents' house, I think), with neighbors on all sides, business premises on the ground floor and a bus stop (with free city WiFi) right in front of the house. There you can quickly have more than 30 wifi networks in your living room. Hardly anyone is using the 6 GHz band yet, but whether the situation will be less disturbing in the future than it is today in the 5 GHz band is something we can only answer theoretically today.
My comment was on the question of whether the Predator W6d was preferable to the Vero W6m and can only refer to the current situation. And for now and in the future, I hope that the router will not be needed to light the house (see above).
There is yet another (new) variant called W6x, anyone know if it is the same and OpenWRT can be flashed?
if you own one, let us know.
Hello,
This thread goes into more detail than my tinkering skills can handle. I have a good deal on the Vero W6m right now and am seriously considering purchasing two - my idea is to use them as a mesh.
From what I can gather, can I use the software for the Predator W6 from the Table of Hardware, since it's the only officially supported version, but will everything work correctly - correct? Mesh, all 3 bands (2,4 5 and 6GHz ), MIMU, Beamforming, Fast roaming, etc?
Do we know if anybody is working on adding the Vero W6m to the supported table of hardware?
I don't mind doing some tinkering, but is it true that I should install OpenWrt via the serial connector? And avoid automatic updates of the Acer firmware in case there is an update that 'locks us out'? I am a bit afraid of bricking the unit, and I like the possibility of restoring it to factory settings and firmware (in case something happens with OpenWrt?) but it's not a necessity.
I apologize for my numerous questions and some of them may be off-topic, but this is my first router to convert to OpenWrt and I like the concept of OpenWrt. However, there are also a lot of unknowns and no guarantees that everything will work as intended.
The Vero W6m appears to offer many features for its price, are there any downsides? With the current deal, I can get the W6m cheaper than the Asus RT-AX53U, which I originally considered for my mesh, but the W6m seems like a much better option - are there any apparent downsides that I am not seeing?
Hello @Mardi,
indeed many questions – and no simple and complete answers.
... but is it true that I should install OpenWrt via the serial connector?
Most important remark first: If you want to install OpenWrt on a Acer Connect Vero W6m, you have to (not “should”) use the serial interface, and you have to use an appropriate (e.g. pogo pin) adapter or have to solder a three pin connector because there are only through-holes and no connector present on the W6/W6d/W6m board.
... can I use the software for the Predator W6 from the Table of Hardware, since it's the only officially supported version, but will everything work correctly - correct? Mesh, all 3 bands (2,4 5 and 6GHz ), MIMU, Beamforming, Fast roaming, etc?
You can use the W6 snapshot sysupgrade image on the W6m, but there is a brand new snapshot sysupgrade image customized for the W6m you should prefer. As far as I know, everything you mentioned works correctly using the snapshots, the LEDs still don't. (But you can control them via i2c-tools if you know what you are doing.) You should not use the stable OpenWrt versions up to 23.05.5 because of one major bug.
And avoid automatic updates of the Acer firmware in case there is an update that 'locks us out'?
That has already been discussed without clear answer.
I am a bit afraid of bricking the unit, and I like the possibility of restoring it to factory settings and firmware
There is a real chance of bricking the Acer W6/W6d/W6m without any possibility to recover the device. You can generate backups of all /dev/mmcblk0 partitions (i.e. p5 and p6 for Acer's OpenWrt firmware in slot 0, and p7 and p8 in slot 1) before overwriting any of these partitions during the first sysupgrade, but I do not know it anybody has ever tried to restore Acer's stock firmware. (And how could that be done after “something happened with OpenWrt”?)
the W6m seems like a much better option - are there any apparent downsides that I am not seeing?
I think you have noticed all the disadvantages of the W6/W6d/W6m already. All in all these devices are powerful, but complicated to upgrade with OpenWrt and easy to brick. And sysupgrading OpenWrt to the latest snapshot version frequently is really no fun, especially for OpenWrt beginners (as I still am btw).
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OpenWrt snapshot version r28214-5a4eb56a7b was released.
On Acer W6/W6d/W6m, devices connected to the I2C bus (5-pin JST GH connector on the router board) can be controlled by i2c-tools. Acer Connect Vero W6m's only RGB LED (controlled by one Kinetic KTD2026 at I2C address 0x30) is used as (boot|running|failsafe|sysupgrade) status LED and can be controlled via /sys/class/leds/rgb:status/ at runtime.
In addition to the well-known acer_predator-w6-... images, binary images acer_predator-w6d-... and acer_vero-w6m-... are available for the Acer Predator Connect W6d and the Acer Connect Vero W6m.
If you already use an acer_predator-w6-... image installed on an Acer Connect Vero W6m and plan to upgrade using the acer_vero-w6m-... image, some careful preparations are necessary:
-
adjust your network settings: The first switch port ("game" in
acer_predator-w6-...) is "internet" inacer_vero-w6m-...images (and defaults to "wan"). Replacing "game" by "internet" in/etc/config/networkis a good approach, but please check your network configuration before upgrading. (If you do not need all switch ports, it is always a good idea to separate the "lan3" port from the lan bridge and assign a static ip address in an unused network range to this port, just in case you need an “emergency entrance”.) -
you will have to force-sysupgrade (
sysupgrade -F ...) if you change device models, so please check all non-default settings before upgrading.
If someone with write access to the OpenWrt wiki reads this, please replace (wrong) “KTD2601“ with “KTD2061” in the hardware data entry of the Acer Predator Connect W6 (and add acer_predator_w6d and acer_vero_w6m to the toh if you like).
Hello Goldwrt
Thank you for an appreciated answer. I think I will go with the Acer W6m, since it on paper (at least to me) seems like the best option at the price point (around 400DKK or 50€). Wifi 6E and tri-band (which could work great for mesh)
I can solder the pins to the board, but I think for now I will wait with the openWrt, maybe untill I get my hands on another router that I can tinker with and become more familiar with openWrt. Then cross my fingers that Acer does not lock the firmware in the future.
But if i know myself, i cannot leave the thought and just try it out.
I don't mind that the lights does not work.
You say that snapshots need to be sysupgraded on a regular basis. Can this be done via LuCI? I've seen some video's that released version upgrades can be done via LuCI, but maybe that does not work for snapshot versions, or am i missing something?
Anyhow because I'm new to this, I think it would be best to wait for a stable OpenWrt version where W6m is listed in the official Table of Hardware. This way I do not have to upgrade between images.
Again thanks, it definitely helped me with my decision.