Problem: 5GHz maximum transmit power is capped at 9.00dBm as reported by LuCI and iw dev.
Symptoms: Wi-Fi performance is heavily restricted max 45Mbps Down & 115Mbps Up initially), though speeds sometimes jump higher 250Mbps Down despite the driver still reporting the 9dBm limit.
Steps Taken:
Checked 2.4GHz radio (phy#0): This is working fine at 20.00dBm.
Manually set txpower '23' in /etc/config/wireless for the 5GHz radio, but this is ignored by the mt76 driver.
I am looking for a definitive, reliable fix for this calibration/EEPROM issue.
What is the recommended and safest solution for the DIR-853 A3 to unlock the full TxPower?
Please connect to your OpenWrt device using ssh and copy the output of the following commands and post it here using the "Preformatted text </> " button (red circle; this works best in the 'Markdown' composer view in the blue oval):
Remember to redact passwords, VPN keys, MAC addresses and any public IP addresses you may have:
ubus call system board
cat /etc/config/network
cat /etc/config/wireless
Remove these lines. Past that setup seems perfect.
Please check dmesg or in luci system log - something about assigning random MAC?
Please run iw phy and find 5ghz channel map there.
Should be 17dbm/50mW in ch40 (or significantly less if driver is fed with broken calibration data)
Fill a bug report here https://github.com/openwrt/mt76
Please test like this:
Disable all radios, reboot
iw reg set US .... JP .... DE
for each country run iw phy and iw reg get and compare the signal strength, should be capped either by regulatory or hardware amplifier power in 20-30dBm range.
Confirming 9 dBm TX power cap on DIR-853 A4 — Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz affected
Hi all, I want to confirm this exact issue on my device. My router is physically a D-Link DIR-853 A4 but OpenWrt identifies it as A3 since it runs the A3 firmware. I am located in UAE, country code AE.
Device info:
Model: D-Link DIR-853 A4 (reported as A3 by firmware)
Chipset: MediaTek MT7615E
OpenWrt version: 22.03.0 r19685-512e76967f
Country: AE (UAE)
Problem: Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz TX power are stuck at abnormally low values causing very low WiFi range on both bands. Speed is fine when close to the router but signal drops off quickly with distance or through walls. I currently have 2.4GHz disabled because the signal is so weak it is practically unusable.
Attempted manual fix via SSH on 5GHz (did not work):
root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev wlan1 set txpower fixed 2300
root@OpenWrt:~# iwinfo wlan1 info | grep Tx
Tx-Power: 9 dBm
The driver completely ignores the manual TX power command and stays at 9 dBm. This confirms it is a driver or EEPROM calibration issue, not a configuration issue.
Wireless config:
config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option path '1e140000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
option cell_density '0'
option htmode 'HT40'
option band '2g'
option channel '6'
option country 'AE'
config wifi-device 'radio1'
option type 'mac80211'
option path '1e140000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0+1'
option band '5g'
option cell_density '0'
option channel '40'
option htmode 'VHT80'
option country 'AE'
Both radios share the same MediaTek MT7615E chipset and both are affected. The 2.4GHz situation is worse at only 3 dBm making it completely unusable in practice.
Is there any known fix or workaround for the MT7615E calibration data on this device? Would upgrading to a newer OpenWrt version help at all?
