Fast AP+switch only (AC)

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hello everyone,

Short question for those who don't want to read all my blah:
is there an AP that can do more than 650Mbps with a client having a AC 2x2 card under OpenWRT?

Now my blah :scream::
I'm trying to find a fast AP to replace a new TP-Archer C80 (3x3 on the 2 bands - 600+1300 - fast but not OpenWRT compatible) that I want to send back to the seller while I can.
With this one I can do a real 650~700Mbps with my laptop (AX200 2x2 Wifi card) but I don't like its UI at all and found some bugs / drawbacks which will probably never be fixed by TP-Link (the max wired speed is also 700 Mbps limited for example).

I cannot achieve this speed with any other AP / router that I have (or had for a few days) at home (Archer C7 v2, Fritz!box4040, Cudy WR1300, some Linksys and a few more) the best I can get is ~ 500Mbps with the smallest ... a GL.Inet MT1300 which is dedicated to be the spare of my X86_64 router (and my travel router the rest of the time), I have almost the same perf with the MT7621 Cudy WR1300 running FreeWRT (~ 500Mbps).

Oh yes, I also get a HUAWEI AX3 router for 20eur during amazon days ... this thing is a joke.
Wifi speed is incredible (full wifi Gb speed with my laptop, full wired Gb speed, and it does not block tagged vlans) but the software is ... no world for that, sorry
Will keep it because of its price and because it will perhaps be usefull ... one day.
but I don't want to have this thing on my network for a long time with the stock firmware.

I'm able to find many "compatible routers" on the toh, but I can't find any real life experience for many of them (real throughput).

So if someone knows one candidate:

  • price < 100$/€ (60 or less should be perfect) new or used, I don't care
  • just want it to be an AP/switch, as routing/SQM/nat/Adguard ... are done on my main OpenWRT router
  • real Wifi speed >= 650Mbps (read => I want to transfert files from my laptop to my nas at 80MBps minimum)
  • AC of course, no pb if it is AX if working in AC mode until better driver support
  • 802.11r working on it

And, if possible:

  • ideally 5 Gb NIC (wan + 4 ports switch)
  • vlan working (sorry @slh , but I really don't like IPQ4x SOCs :wink: but I dont know if IPQ8x have the same vlan behaviour, and with the Fritz 4040 I only have ~400Mbps under OWRT and a verrrrrrrry long boot time)
  • not a monster with 6/8/10/12 antennas ! (at least the C80 is relatively discreet)

Thanks for all your replies
vevere

2

no one can direct me to adequate equipment?
I returned the Archer C80 and I'm stuck to ~300/500Mbps (down/up) with the WR1300 (MT7621AT)

3

I'd suggest the Belkin RT3200:

  • 4x4 ax
  • dual core ARM
  • $99.00

On the down side

  • Snapshot builds only
  • WiFi signal not particularly strong (OK to use in the same room though)
4

Thanks for your reply,

I'm looking at this one since few days as I recently saw the @O_o posts and @Dopam-IT_1987 tests
Seems very hard to find in EU. No pb with the snapshot build, and 21.x will become stable soon (at least this year) so it is not a big deal

It's hard to find some real life wi-fi speed reporting (lan only) on the OpenWRT community.
Looks like people using OpenWRT don't really care about wi-fi speeds as long as it works reliably (and I can understand that of course)

if Wi-fi-to-internet speed is enough nobody asks for better speed (that is not my case, I have a 300/300 ftth line, I don't care to have 300Mbps speed for any of my portable devices to look at my emails of to look at the weather app !!! ... but I'm looking for a better speed not for the internet part ... just because Wi-fi is simply a normal part of my lan and is not fast enough with any of my APs running O-WRT)

Thanks again

5

Hello for information I installed the router in houses for people who did not receive wifi in some rooms and with this router it captures it,

first example router installed on the ground floor, not capture in the attic, and with the belkin rt3200 the Wi-Fi was correct

I would say a 150m2 house with floor and 3 separate bedrooms the router captures the wifi (belkin) a classic box no!

6

I'm confident that if your client is ready for it, the RT3200 is able to do Ethernet to wifi only limited by the gigabit Ethernet port speed.

I have one in a single room camper trailer with some late-model Apple clients less than 5 meters away and it's definitely fast.

I have four of them now as I was hoping to build a mesh between tents at a festival, but my outdoor range tests showed it is several dB down from a good desktop router. But if you're in a small apartment, or building out a system with an AP in each room of heavy use, it will be fine.

1 Like
7

Thanks to all,

Good news if the RT3200 is able to do Gb Wi-fi.

My fastest laptop has a AX200 160Mhz Wi-fi card, I was able to reach Gb speed with a 20€ HUAWEI AX3, but I'm not confident with the HUAWEI firmware -- for data privacy -- and I can't have 802.11r working with it and my other APs. I probably also can't have vlans working for my IoT Wi-Fi, I didn't take time to test that.

I live in a 160m² single storey house (ground floor house).
As I have 2 load-bearing walls between the living room and my desk I prefer using the less possible power to any AP (like 25 mW or less) and add more APs to have a good coverage.
it seems to me that it is also probably healthier.

So I now have 4 APs (living room, desk on the opposite side of the house, external garage and pool house for IoT stuff and garden coverage). So it should not be a pb at all if the futur AP (RT3200 ?) coverage is not very extensive.

All my 'peripheral' APs are old ones (the ugly Archer C7 v2, the lovely WD MyNet N750, and the 'long range' WR841N) and they all run under OWRT 19.07.7 with 802.11r.
I want to have really good speed only on the 45m² living room but none of the others I have give me good perf (Fritz!box 4040 I really don't like, Cudy wr1300 very easy to use actually in the living room since the Archer C80 return).

The WR3200 seems very hard to find in EU (I live in France).
I will try to locate one and report its perfs if I can get one.

Until that time, feel free to give me more advices on other routers if they exists

1 Like
8

if you try a mesh (maillage) i'm live in france too

haute savoie 74 :wink:

9

Which 802.11r settings do you have? I can't manage to get it working, even between the same router model. Does your fast transition work even with android phones?

10

to be honest I don't know.
I tried many things with 802.11r using OpenWRT but it seems to work only when it wants.
Sometime my Android phone accept to jump from one AP to the other without any pb but is not able to do the reverse travel, it disconnects then reconnect (and sometimes it has to use 4G for few seconds before reconnecting to the next AP ... perfect !)

The OpenWRT logs are not clear at all and I wasn't able to locate any doc about what is logged and how depending on which version of what is installed.

in fact it is perhaps easy for them because they already know many things about that (which SOC is compatible, which version of wpad to use, which exact version of OpenWRT to use etc ... I don't know)

As an example I would be happy to find which one is needed for what (an exhaustive answer):

image
image189×601 2.64 KB

I tried to have WPA3 + .11r at the same time ... I tried .... perhaps my harware or harware/software combination is not able to handle that on ALL my APs at the same time (different ages, different arch) ... without an easy to read matrix I'm just stuck with the question and will never have a definitive answer

I was not able to locate any usefull documentation neither any compatibility list.
You can find a lot of outdated doc, but if you find one that is up to date feel free to share

On this forum you will read "it is so easy, hit the .11r option and 'voila', it will work and generate itself all the needed keys .... blablabla ..... it is as easy" but in fact nothing is logged that can confirm it will work as expected.

I don't know how I have to manage that (eg. do all my APs need to be on different channel numbers or is it mandatory to use the same channels)

I don't know if it is better to use 'FT over the Air" or 'FT over DS' (what does 'DS' means ??? ) .... I would like to have this answer, but I would especially like to know the why and the how. And I would especially like to be able to find this type of answer in a doc which references the version for which it applies, and not in a forum where one asks 'did you read the doc?'

I would love to have a correct doc, and not only some examples of common configurations that don't explain the availables options and their mean

In my job we always reply to stupid questions with "RTFM" (perhaps because we have exhaustive documentation) .... but here I would be tempted to propose 'WTFM' ... and keep it almost up to date

I would even love to participate in the drafting of the doc, really ... but I do not have the knowledge of the subjects allowing me to do it (I do not know the developers, and I do not know which version changes what)

OpenWRT is a great project, but it looks like it is reserved to tech guys that like to spend a lot of time on it and follow the project week after week.

Each year I try (again and again and again) to install it on all my APs, expecting to have a common OS with common features and decent Wi-fi perfs. I have no problem installing it on all my APs, as it is now super easy to do.

But in fact each year I revert them back to their old stock FW after weeks trying to make simple things to work and finally hoping for success for the next year.

that's the life