Linksys MR8300 'wifi to LAN' speed limit - 325 Mbits/sec?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi guys.

There must be something I'm doing wrong here.
I have 'OpenWrt 21.02.0 r16279-5cc0535800' and Fedora client connected via 'AC' mode with oWRT reporting "866.7 Mbit/s, 80 MHz, VHT-MCS 9, VHT-NSS 2, Short GI"
But when I run simple test with 'iperf3' then max I get is:

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 315 MBytes 264 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.03 sec 314 MBytes 262 Mbits/sec receiver

If I'm lucky an expert will shed some light on that.
Is that the best 'wifi <-> LAN' can do?

many thanks, L.

2

To make it "bit" more bizarre - another MR8300 I got from my IPS (I have two) with customized OpenWrt 19.07.4 r11208-ce6496d796 - and this one on that 'wlan0' to that same client on LAN can hit:

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 611 MBytes 513 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.02 sec 610 MBytes 511 Mbits/sec receiver

weir... so it's not HW bottleneck.
Could it be WPA2 vs WPA3..? hmm..

3

vs

customized by you or by ISP? Customized with proprietary stuff?

If proprietary ISP stuff: simple reason for perf diff: open drivers vs proprietary hardware accellerated code

4

Out of curiosity, does your customised MR8300 actually report itself as a MR8300 or EA8300 in OpenWrt status page?

I read elsewhere on this forum that EA8300 19.07 images will work on MR8300 as hardware is the same. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Have you tried using WPA2 if that is the only other difference between both routers?

5

Just performed tests
desktop being server: 370 Mbit/s
laptop being server: 313 Mbit/s

openwrt 21.02
all computers on win10
same link 866.7 Mbit/s, 80 MHz, VHT-MCS 9, VHT-NSS 2, Short GI

If I transfer huge ISO files between computers, I have an average 45 to 50 MB/s, which is good for such hardware.

6

MR8300 has 512 MB memory, while EA8300 has 256.
EA8300 has a blutooth module (not supported anyway), MR8300 hasn't apparently.
I also read the same thing about using EA8300 images, you are correct. Some enthousiast users flash images from very close devices when support is not yet availalbe. I haven't had the opportunity since I shipped the MR8300 just after 21.02 release.

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7

I wonder if there is something wrong with new OpenWrt 21.02.0 r16279-5cc0535800(kernel)?

iperf3 to the MR8300 itself is close to twice of what MR8300 does on HW lan connected devices.
router:
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 674 MBytes 565 Mbits/sec 1 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.02 sec 672 MBytes 563 Mbits/sec receiver

so it's not env factors, not radio
same moment to a LAN client:
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 322 MBytes 270 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.02 sec 320 MBytes 268 Mbits/sec receiver

8

Both MR8300, one with 19.x and second with 21.x identify as MR8300.
WPA versions seems to play no role.

9

I have not asked but customisation seems to be for management and 'luci'.

10

Any news here? Seems like I have the same issue. WiFi->LAN speed ~200-300 Mbit/s
This is definitely a non-HW issue, cause on the original FW I got a max speed of ~800Mbit/s.

11

I use an MR8300 without issues. BUT... I installed the packages for these replacement firmware versions. Without this, I encountered issues with Apple devices and disconnect issues (devices would complain about no internet connectivity, switching WiFi off/on would re-enable connectivity).
Here are the packages I installed. You must uninstall the base ath10k-firmware packages because these conflict with this custom firmware. To do this, you must have a wired connection so that you can uninstall the conflicting package, and still be able to download/install these packages:
ath10k-firmware-qca4019-ct-full-htt
ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct-full-htt

Hope this helps

12

Hi.
What do exactly these full-htt versions ? I have read description but it's bit short.

13

The "-ct-" refers to Candela Technologies. They developed a "community" type of release that includes additional features that are added to the base Qualcomm ath-10k firmware, but the licensing terms mandate that you can only use this firmware for non-commercial usage (see their home page for details).
The "-full-htt" refers to the inclusion of additional 802.11 features. Again, the distribution license requires that you use it ONLY for non-commercial purposes.
To install it, you must remove the default package and install these packages. To do this, you MUST connect by wired connection, then manually remove the ath-10k-firmware* packages which will COMPLETELY disable WiFi. Then install the alternative packages. And then reconfigure your wireless.

See this page from Candela Technologies for more details on the differences and specific licensing terms (non-commercial use only is the key one!):
http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php

14

Hi.
That is ... what I have already read. Thanks anyhow. :wink:

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15

What speeds are you getting on 21.03?

iperf3 gives me only 73.0 Mbits/sec LAN<-->WIFI. Openwrt is reporting a bitrate of 320 Mbit/s in the qca4019 5GHz radio. The qca9888 radio is not working at all...

Basically the MR8300 with openwrt 21.03 is usable as a home wifi access point but it should be way faster, right?

By the way, I noticed that the following packages come pre-installed with 21.03:
ath10k-board-qca4019
ath10k-board-qca9888
ath10k-firmware-qca4019-ct
ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct
kmod-ath10k-ct

16

After many long moths since I originated this thread - as a feedback to those who might be curious - in my findings it seems that 'Packet Steering' (with GUI in Network->Interface) plays important!! part - at least on this hardware(22.03.2) - when ENABLED improved performance by quite a bit - no other "tweaks" such as replacing/swapping drivers/packages were needed.

thanks, L.

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