Netgear WAX206 Supported 802.11ax Wireless Channels

[the-burrito-triangle]

I've just flashed the latest snapshot of OpenWRT (r26345-6832faf340) onto a Netgear WAX206 router and after getting LuCI installed (via SSH), I noticed that the 802.11ax channel selection list on the 5 GHz radio is missing U-NII-3/4 169 and U-NII-4 173, 177.

I thought all AX routers were supposed to have support for U-NII-3 and the new channels from U-NII-3/4 and U-NII-4 to provide a third 160 MHz aggregate channel option? Those new channels make upgrading to an 802.11ax router useful in areas that have a large number of adjacent networks (urban neighborhoods, etc.--which is my situation).

Does the MediaTek MT7915E 5 GHz radio not have support for channels 169, 173 and 177? Do I need to enable them in a config file somewhere? I've set my region correctly and they are available for indoor use here (USA).

As an aside, I've come to understand that the WAX206's MediaTek radios have a few other limitations:

• No support for 802.11ax on 2.4 GHz radio (n only).
• No / broken support for 160 MHz / 80+80 MHz channel widths on 5 GHz radio. (20, 40, 80 MHz only)

[fakemanhk]

My WAX206 has no issue with 160MHz AX, and tested with 1.3-1.6Gbps throughput

[the-burrito-triangle]

Do you have access to channels 169, 173, and 177?

From what I understand, and I have yet to test it myself, 160 MHz channel width is considered an "experimental" feature that has been abandoned by MediaTek themselves:

@odrt

HE160 is out of specification for MT7915. Support for 160 MHz channels was completely dropped by Mediatek for MT7915: [MAC80211][mt76][remove mt7915 BW160 support] Consider it as experimental.

[hecatae]

160mhz also here, highest wireless channel I can see is 165.

Have you seen anywhere that the mt7615 supports 167 and above?

[the-burrito-triangle]

Thanks. It seems--at least with the WAX206--160 MHz works. Though there are reports of AC mode working better than AX when going through walls or with Apple devices. Particularly at higher connection speeds. 160 MHz operation appears to be a "same room" use-case--which is better served with multiple APs than a router hidden away in a closet.

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As for the extended channels required to use the new 160 MHz allocation: I was asking if they can be enabled or not. I can't find anything about the MT7915E in regards to this. I though all AX radios would support the extended 5 GHz spectrum provided by U-NII-3/4 and U-NII-4, but it looks like the MT7915E doesn't. For such a low cost product, I guess this is fine. But I was hoping that I could use these new channels. Oh well.

[hecatae]

I run Snapshot, so I'm using kernel 6.6.30 and the latest mt76 wireless drivers.

I have four apple devices that support AX and I have not noticed an issue here.

I will probably have a read through the wax206 GPL source when I get a minute, if it does support 167 and above then it'll be a PR request to enable.

[fakemanhk]

The 160MHz talking about in the 2 quoted posts were related to 802.11ac 160MHz but not 802.11ax 160MHz, I believe they've already removed the 160MHz AC for that chip so that Apple device is no longer an issue (at least I tested mine with iPhone/iPad, both working fine).

@the-burrito-triangle

Do you have access to channels 169, 173, and 177?

I am using Japan as country code so the 3 channels you mentioned never possible in my country.