Making USB WIFI Dongles work

[braian87b]

Hi, I have some USB Wifi dongles that I've been trying to make it work on TL-WDR4300 usb ports:

Model: TP-Link TL-WDR4300 v1
Architecture: Atheros AR9344 rev 2
Firmware Version: OpenWrt 19.07.4 r11208-ce6496d796 / LuCI openwrt-19.07 branch git-20.247.75781-0d0ab01
Kernel Version: 4.14.195

root@tl-wdr4300:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:a811 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8811AU 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WLAN Adapter
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 148f:7601 Ralink Technology, Corp. MT7601U Wireless Adapter

I tried one at a time.
and I've done:

# Just because I have plenty extroot space I used it instead of wpad-basic
opkg update && opkg remove wpad wpad-mini && opkg install wpad-wolfssl

opkg find *rtl8812*
opkg install kmod-rtl8812au-ct
wifi config # radio2 appeared
uci set wireless.@wifi-device[-1].disabled='0'
uci commit wireless
wifi reload
reboot

and

opkg find *mt76*
opkg install kmod-mt76-usb # brings kmod-mt76-core
opkg install kmod-mt7601u # brings mt7601u-firmware
wifi config # radio2 appeared
uci set wireless.@wifi-device[-1].disabled='0'
uci commit wireless
wifi reload
reboot

in all cases device appers on luci, the mt76 allows to do a scan, the realtek doesn't.
both ones appears as Generic 802.11bgn - Device is not active on luci, and does not initialize AP or STA config, both appears to show their macaddresses listing config using: cat /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf

Please, if someone can help me in proper steps to make it work at least one of them.

Thanks!

[slh]

There no point in even discussing about the Realtek USB wireless card, but while the Mediatek one should more^wless or less work, you'd still be up for a world of pain - just don't, and stick to the internal wireless cards of your tl-wdr4300.

[braian87b]

There is a list somewhere of worth trying USB WiFi Dongles?

[slh]

No.

Avoid USB wireless for 24/7 OR AP usage, it's not good at either, before even thinking about range or throughput (where it can't score either, in particular not connected to the rather slow USB bus of a tl-wdr4300, but NOT limited to this combination).

[braian87b]

I want to use a usb 4-port hub with 4 usb dongles and all of them act as clients, it is for a prof of concep with MWAN3 multiwan capability, so MT7601U may work for this I think, I do not need to be fully performant/stable, I think that I can even unbind/bind again if some of the usbs get stuck (removing-readding usb power by software)

I just tried the MT7601U as client /station an it works. but yes, it didn't work as AP.

LOL it connects but do not receive the DHCP IP...