MT7621 Board and MT7915 WiFi Card Compatibility?

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I'm planning to get a bunch of HiLink HLK-7621A and a Wallys MT7915 card to use because I can get them for very cheap and want to build a custom enclosure for it.

I asked the seller of the MT7621A board about compatibility, and they said “no.” However, their explanation was unclear.

I think it might just be that:
1.) Their custom OpenWRT fork doesn’t support MT7915 out-of-the-box, or
2.) They prefer not to guarantee compatibility with a competitor’s board (they do also sell this board as a bundle with a Hilink MT7612E card).

Is there any hardware or known mainline OpenWRT reason that the HiLink HLK-7621A (which is present in the firmware selector here: OpenWRT Firmware Selector - HLK-7621A EVB) would not work with the Wallys DR7915 (MT7915) card?

I'd very much appreciate the help. Thanks!

HiLink HLK-7621A evaluation board
HiLink HLK-7621A evaluation board800×800 146 KB

Wallys DR7915 card
Wallys DR7915 card600×450 89.1 KB

2

unless you get the combo dirt cheap, why are you even considering it ?

3

Extract and decompile DTS in OEM image and try.

4

I can get this combo for around ~58 USD eqiv. which is cheaper than any MT7915+MT7975 routers I can get, as where I live they are at least ~90 USD or more even on sale and with discount codes, and I'm planning on getting multiple units.

(I checked the prices of all routers in this category excluding ones unavailable from any reputable shops in my area: https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi)

If you have suggestions for better hardware or one that is usually cheap for people and doesn't require any work on bringup to OpenWRT mainline, I'd appreciate it.

1 Like
5

Thank you for the pointer.

I thought it would be as easy as just installing mainline OpenWRT and kmod-mt7915e, but after reading through this forum thread, it seems like an off-the-shelf router might be a better choice. Do you have any recommendations?

6

cudy ??3000? has 50x faster cpu at 40-50 bucks, availability varies
any 7621 is what you are macgyvering together now.

7

Thanks for the suggestion. The Cudy does look great and has a much faster CPU at a similar price point. However, it has never been available in my area. Importing it would be prohibitively expensive, with shipping often several times the unit price (if it even passes customs). So unfortunately, the search for cheap hardware is still on.

8

would probably help if you told us where your area is ...

2 Likes
9

Thanks for the suggestion. The cudy routers seem to only get more enticing the more I research. I've also finally found a vendor that carries Cudy.

However, they only have the WR3000P PoE version with a 2.5GbE PoE port. I only see WR3000, WR3000E, WR3000H, and WR3000S at https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/. On Cudy's website the WR3000P looks exactly like a WR3000H. Is the inside the same or does it support the same firmware at least? I don't see it explicitly at the intermediate firmware page or the drive folder.

Thank you for your help.

10

we have no idea, you'd have to ask Cudy.
on the bright side, they are very customer oriented, and will actually answer :wink:

11

Cudy support said they can provide a DTS file and an intermediate firmware for the WR3000P. The have also confirmed that the ICs used are the same as the WR3000H:

  • MediaTek MT7981BA CPU
  • Mediatek MT7531AE Ethernet Switch
  • MT7981BA and MT7976CN WLAN

Only difference is that the RAM is upgraded from 256MB to 512MB. NAND stays the same at 128MB.

Do you think porting OpenWRT to this router will be hard? It's quite a nifty router. Possibly the cheapest AX3000 class router with a 2.5G PoE port.