Netgear r7800 headache regarding the OpenWrt branch/release

hi,
there are millions of threads regarding the r7800... i have frankly no clue which image to pick ... is there any suggestion?

thanks

https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=21.02.1&target=ipq806x%2Fgeneric&id=netgear_r7800

1 Like

@psherman thanks
in that case there is no point to go with some customized ones...as Ipq806x NSS build (Netgear R7800 / TP-Link C2600 / Linksys EA8500) but u suggest to go with the official one?

What do you want to do with the router? What speed internet do you need to support?
The various community builds include useful packages for some/most users. the NSS one is an attempt to support the offloading engine for faster throughput.

Otherwise the official one is the best suggestion as it is vanilla, and you can add all the packages you want after.

@lantis1008 at the moment its as dumb Wifi AP, but i want replace ac1900v1 later on with it, as i have 1000/50 and ac1900v1 is not cappable to do more then 500mbit.

this one seems stable? from ACwifidude

Official R7800 buildswill get you to 600-700mbps max wired with all the performance tweaks out there (max out the CPU). Official builds are best for <500mbps speeds and allow you to use cake if you need ultra low latency like for hardcore gamers (r7800 can only do cake at <200mbps).

With a >500mbps speed, NSS offloading is definitely the way to go with a R7800 (hardly any CPU use). Wireless and wired speeds are much faster and allow you to get the most from your hardware.

@ACwifidude yeah, thanks. Did u also tweaked or played with ac1900v1? I have that one also but i cant get more then 500mbit using vanila. ;/

I own three r7800s (one router, two access points) so I’ve only built for ipq806x platforms because that is what I have / am familiar with. When there are solid more affordable wifi 6 hardware solutions that have good open source support + 2.5g ports I’ll look to upgrade (2 years out?). In the meantime the r7800s support all my needs and the current newer routers only offer marginal performance improvements.

@ACwifidude thanks

May I ask you which is your latest stable build that i can flash to my 7800 running your version
OpenWrt SNAPSHOT r15366+83-dbb542f194 / LuCI Master git-20.358.64958-f3417f2

While upgrading can I preserve settings? thanks.

The name of the bin file shows the date I rebased and built the firmware.

The bin folder has the version file and sha256sums files for reference.

@ACwifidude i meant if i can upgrade to 20x and keep to preserve settings
also do i have to go with squashfs-factory or squashfs-sysupgrade?

also i assume these are with ath10k-ct
R7800-20220127-Stable2012NSS-factory.img
R7800-20220127-Stable2012NSS-sysupgrade.bin

thx

When I tried the build by ACwifidude: I had bad Bufferbloat even though the speeds were fast.

Sysupgrade should work and will keep your settings.

@tapper - without a doubt. If you have latency sensitive networking (gaming, sensitive video calls, etc, or have a slower ISP speed (<500mbps) using cake and official OpenWrt is the better option. For regular internet use with 500mbps+ ISP speeds NSS hardware offloading provides an avenue for the ipq806x to offer a good internet experience.

whats bufferbloat? thx

-> google bufferbloat

That was easy.

@ACwifidude
seems there is something broken. i have ap 2m away from PC, laptop is connected via 2.4ghz and link is 1000/50

when i run speedtest i am getting
20/50. download slower then upload...

image

image

thats serious nonsense, even 5ghz is download slower then upload...
image

not saying that speeds are Extremely slow ...

The r7800 uses wifi4 for its 2.4ghz. It is painfully slow and 2.4ghz has small channels sizes + considerable over crowding (interference). If you have other 2.4ghz clients or 2.4ghz interference you will suffer. I only have non-critical items on 2.4ghz (ex: smart thermostat, other things that just need to be connected and don’t need speed). Setting your channel width to 20mhz max you should expect to see in ideal conditions with no 2.4ghz interference….about 70-80mbps for a better client.

I keep my phones, laptops, tablets, and all speedy devices on 5ghz only. Set the channel width to 80mhz and that will double your speed. Max speed for 80mhz with a 2x2 client should be 500’s to low 600’s under ideal conditions.

I’d read this review in depth (all the sections are great) to understand wifi and how to get through the hype and tweak your settings to get ideal speed:

https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html#PHYd

@ACwifidude thank you so much for these valuable information!