Hi all,
I have a NanoPi R5C (4 GB LPDDR4x RAM, 32 GB eMMC, Quad Core ARM-Cortex-A55 CPU) running OpenWRT (snapshot).
It works just fine, but the Wifi card it came with has a crappy Realtek RTL8822CE chipset with an awful signal strength.
Thinking of replacing it, and found this Mediatek one:
Mediatek MT7922
Any opinions about it?
Thanks!
Cheers
Mediatek does not manufacture realtek cards.
It is a MT7922 sorry.
mt7622 is a client-oriented WLAN card, while it has limited AP capabilities, it's not made for that - and while it is tri-band, it's not concurrent tri-band (so you have to decide on one channel, only).
The strong advice remains to get a cheap plastic wifi router/ AP with OpenWrt instead and to outsource the WLAN aspects to this purpose-built device instead of trying to shoehorn your r5c into this service - it can be a capable wired-only router, it will never beat a 15 buck plastic AP for WLAN uses.
What about a USB plug-able type of wifi card with good AP capabilities I can plug to the NanoPi? Reason I'm not too keen on another device is cause of space and clutter.
Does not exist.
This comes up rather often, the answer is always the same - (strongly) not recommended. Details in previous threads, but:
[…]
Ok understood.
Now, the problem is how not to end up with a thousand devices... hahaha. The NanoPi R5C only has 2 ethernet ports, one I use for WAN, and the other one is connected to the MiniPC where I got OpenMediaVault. So...if I was to buy an Access Point, I would also need to either buy a USB-Ethernet adapter where to plug the AP, or buy a small switch to plug to the NanoPi and on that one plug the MiniPC and the AP... not sure what the best option is, or if there is a third option that I'm not thinking of?!
Well, another option would be to buy a repeater instead of an AP, but not sure how those work in terms of performance and all that stuff.
Simple solution, double-sided sticky tape and a 20cm ethernet patch cable between them - and voilá only one device.
If you buy a bog-standard (cheap) wifi 6 plastic router, you get a 5-port managed switch and concurrent dual-band AP all in one, "for free". And considering your other thread and the 30 MBit/s max. WAN speed mentioned there, you wouldn't even need the r5c to begin with (mt7621a+mt7915DBDC or filogic 820 can handle this, including wireguard, easily).
So, yes you can use r5c+$wifi_router (the later used as bridged AP and managed switch) XOR a cheap $wifi_router alone.
The r5c can be a capable and fast wired 2-port router, it's neither a wireless AP nor a switch - and USB/ PCI won't make it one either.
Alright, what do you think about this one, in my country I can get it for 30 euros:
https://www.amazon.nl/-/en/RX2L-Pro-AX1500Mbps-Technology-Dissipation/dp/B0DK579HVY
It has 4-ports, that should be enough (1x WAN, 1x NanoPi, 1x, MiniPC). Wifi6, dual-band, etc. Nothing fancy, but for that price...
Not sure about the best set up though. Right now this is how things look like:
[ISP Mikrotik Antenna] (eth0: 192.168.88.1.) <-----> (eth0: 192.168.88.100 - get the IP from the antenna, although could set it up statically) [NanoPi with OpenWRT] (virtual bridge to LAN, subnet 192.168.0.0/24, IP: 192.168.0.1)
The ISP Antenna I believe is in bridge mode, but can't confirm cause I can't access it.
So the question is, would I plug the Wifi AP to the antenna on its WAN interface, and then use the other ports to plug the NanoPi and the Mini PC? Or would it be easier/better to keep the NanoPi plugged to the antenna, and use the second ethernet port to connect it with the AP, and then connect the MiniPC to the AP?!
Basically I want the NanoPi to be my main router device, and the AP to just act like that, no routing/config stuff on it.
Not supported by OpenWrt.
What about
https://openwrt.org/toh/zyxel/t-56
(the flashing isn't trivial, but worth it)?
That is already overkill for your usage (and the r5c wouldn't be necessary with that one at all), you may find cheaper (also on the used markets).
Not available in my country (spain). I actually don't care too much that I can't install OpenWRT on it, as I said my NanoPi will be my main router and from where I want to control/configure everything, this would just be a dumb AP.
Well supported devices with mt7621a+mt7915DBDC or filogic 820 would be prime candidates, ipq807x would do as well.
All the devices I can find with those chipsets are way over what I would consider a "cheap" router, i.e. they are selling for 60 euros or more, at least here in Spain.
The only 2 Wifi6 routers I have found for less than 35 euros are these 2:
https://www.amazon.es/MERCUSYS-MR1500X-Velocidad-Beamforming-Installacion/dp/B0CJ9SX156
https://www.amazon.es/Tenda-Router-WiFi-AX1500-Puertos/dp/B0BYSFG6HR
asiarf makes m2 simultaneous dual band cards.
Most of these will be cheaper:
https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi
Not available in Amazon Spain, getting them directly from them means 80+ euros in shipping.
For 200€ you can get a bunch of very good APs
How about this one?
The Cudy WR3000 has OpenWrt support (though it has only 16MB flash but using as AP you can ignore this issue) and not expensive, or TP-Link Archer AX23.
That one would be 45 euros. I am still not sure why I would need a WiFi AP to be compatible with OpenWRT when I intend to keep the NanoPi R5C running the business?
Because you refuse to buy m2 card?