M2 WiFi AC/AX card recommendation

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I need good 2.4GHz AP m.2. WiFi card.
Range is most important thing. AC is ok. I don't need 5GHz (5GHz range is too low).
Any ideas?
I tried intel cards (AX200, 8265NGW), and they do not work in AP mode (only adhoc).

PCI-E x1 is alternative.

1 Like
2

ath9k-, ath10k based or mt7615 would probably the chipsets to look for.

3 Likes
4

Problem is with M2 cards with AP support. Anyone have some experiance?

PCI-E x1 is alternative.

5

You just received three suggestions?

6

Only suggestions. This doesn't help me without name of real wifi card.

7

https://lmgtfy.app/?q=m.2+mt7615

https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Ath9k
https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Ath10k

[moderator edit and note: the Deviwiki links above are now bad as of june 2024, as they appear to have been hijacked. Leaving them in place in case they are useful in the future, but deactivated for safety]

Three simple searches is all you need, and you're welcome.

2 Likes
8

I was looking for hours. Sorry stupid me....
... one is enough for 2.4GHz+5GHz or I need two of them?

9

Was actually answered just a week ago, in X86 2.5gb-e MiniPC + PCie AX card suggestions - #7 by slh

10

I bought QCA6174A-5 jjPlus JWX6058. It is working fine in windows. In openwrt I have serious of problems. I installed firmware and drivers.

On new openwrt It can't load, init firmware (errors).
I tried old one (19.07)

    7.802139] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0 r                                                           eset_mode 0
[    8.242201] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-                                                           pci-0000:00:11.0.bin failed with error -2
[    8.256582] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: Falling back to user helper
[    8.272097] firmware ath10k!pre-cal-pci-0000:00:11.0.bin: firmware_loading_st                                                           ore: map pages failed
[    8.287860] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-                                                           0000:00:11.0.bin failed with error -2
[    8.302638] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: Falling back to user helper
[    8.318741] firmware ath10k!cal-pci-0000:00:11.0.bin: firmware_loading_store:                                                            map pages failed
[    8.335795] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: qca6174 hw3.0 target 0x05020000 chip_id                                                            0x003409ff sub 168c:3361
[    8.350612] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: kconfig debug 0 debugfs 1 tracing 0 dfs                                                            1 testmode 1
[    8.367196] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: firmware ver RM.4.4.1.c2-00057-QCARMSWP-                                                           1 api 6 features wowlan,ignore-otp,no-4addr-pad,raw-mode crc32 e061250a
[    8.464427] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: board_file api 2 bmi_id N/A crc32 4ed356                                                           9e
[   10.627396] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: Unknown eventid: 118809
[   10.643606] ath10k_pci 0000:00:11.0: htt-ver 3.56 wmi-op 4 htt-op 3 cal otp m                                                           ax-sta 32 raw 0 hwcrypto 1

Is it worth of try another QCA6174A or try ath9k?

11

QCA617x is a bit of QCA's red-headed stepchild, it works, but it doesn't meet the reliability of the QCA9xxx series (especially in AP mode) - it's made for cheaper notebooks, not routers/ APs.

Personally I'd first try to have a little more fun with the card you have, while I wouldn't envision a bright future for its intended purposes, you really should be able to get it working.

12

There is no another m2 (2x2:2) with ath10k except QCA617x .