Folks, there appears to be an updated Wifi driver in the MTK feeds. I have updated my script for those who want to build themselves, and posted an updated (simple) compiled build here:
Rahzadan/openwrt_bpi-r4_mtk_builder: OpenWRT Builder for BPI-R4 with Mediatek Feeds
It would also appear that the issue of duplicate ports showing up on the status page has been fixed.
Any noticeable performance differences?
I've been struggling to maintain useable speeds more than a few feet away. I currently have different wifi cards in my R4 so it's at-least useable, and I'm wondering if this is worth swapping the BE14 back in to test.
Which WiFi cards you are using?
The BPI-R4 BE1400, the WiFi7 Module.
I just don't have it installed right now because of the performance issues. So I temporarily switched over to using two MT7916E cards. I was curious if anyone has tried this new driver before disassembling my BPI-R4 and swapping the cards back over.
Stupid question: will this work with stock OpenWrt 24.10.1? Or do you need to install a special build for bpi r4 to make it work with the MT7916E cards?
You need to use script which was created by community member in this thread and add required kmods/firmware for the MT7916E card, then build and install.
Iām sorry I think my initial question just added confusion, let me clarify.
I have the BPI-R4-NIC-BE14, the WiFi7 module made for the BananaPi R4. But due to the abysmal performance I removed it and temporarily replaced it with two MT7916E modules from AsiaRF. This was only a stopgap until the BE14 drivers got better.
I was asking if anyone had a chance to try out the image from @Rahzadan and how the performance on the BE14 is, I wasn't trying to ask about the MT7916E at all.
Essentially I wanted to know if these new drivers are worth the hassle of disassembling my BPI-R4 to remove the MT7916E's and put the BE14 back in. I really only mentioned the swap at all to avoid the impression that I was just too lazy to flash an SD Card and try it myself lol.
So my curiosity got the better of me and I ended up putting my BE14 back in just to try out this new driver.
Here is what I noticed so far in the short amount of time I had to test it:
Testing using iperf3 with iPhone 15 Pro which is Wi-Fi 6E, Supporting 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz
MLD seems to work reliably, I connected quickly and negotiated the fastest frequency every time I connected.MLD was actually more problematic. I would typically have to wait at-least 1min for my iPhone to actually connect whereas MLD was nearly instant.1.3Gb/s to 1.5Gb/s, Which is typical real-world performance for the iPhone 15 Pro.1Gb/s from more than 6in away now (this is not a joke). Previously I could only achieve 1Gb/s+ when the phone was within less than 1ft of the router.1Gb/s+ range, even if I see a dip in speed it will quickly recover. Prior I would have already been at 500Mb/s or less.500Mb/s to 800Mb/s (Though at this point I'm very close to my other WiFi router and in another room.) Prior I would have been below 50Mb/s.80Mb/s and 250Mb/s. Prior I would have already dropped to around 1Mb/s or less and possibly disconnected entirely.1Mb/s and 8 Mb/s though the connection isn't super stable it does mostly still work. Prior I 100% would have already disconnected and the SSID would no longer be visible.iperf3 won't run anymore. I was able to SSH into OpenWRT a couple times from this far away but keystrokes weren't even being sent, but I did see the OpenWRT terminal prompt. [1]-80dBm to around -72dBm.tx_power is actually at its max or at least close to it as this is the first time I actually felt any real heat coming from the BE14 Module.[1]. This spot in particular is a big deal. The room Im in at this point has copper pipes in all three interior walls. In addition to that it aligns perfectly so that between me and the R4 is a, sliding glass door (aluminum frame), French doors (aluminum doors), copper pipes in the kitchen walls, plus the refrigerator and the microwave which are both steel. This spot is so bad that my current WiFi router - which is 15ft closer - struggles to maintain useable speeds in here.
So There definitely seems to be some performance improvments in this latest update. I'll spend some more time with it and see if it's possibly even in a useable state finally.
@Rahzadan and @woziwrt , hope you don't mind me tagging you in this. Are there any tips or advice on building my own image based on these updates? Im hoping to start maintaining my own image that stays updated with the MTK feeds at-least until the open source mt76 driver has matured enough.
However in this image I have noticed that opkg update throws an error, several software packages are not listed in the search, and most aren't able to be installed. I'd like to avoid this issue if it's possible to have custom image still be able to download packages from OpenWRT?
I am new to building OpenWRT images, but the R4 has motivated me to start learning. Im getting a build environment set-up and am going to start playing around with it. But I have no experience in modifying build scripts like this, such as changing defaults, adding additional patches or modifications or what the best source of information would be for individual options in the build menu.
Any guidance would be very appreciated, and thank you for the images. @woziwrt if it weren't for you and FrankW over on the BPI Forums I'd pretty much be lost at this point. Three months I've been at this and instead of getting frustrated, Im only getting more motivated to learn and experiment.