Hello all,
I've been doing some reading on OpenWRT and wifi performance in particular. Is it wrong to conclude that wifi performance with OpenWRT will never be on par with OEM firmware due to to the unavailability of opensource drivers?
If that is indeed the case, is the best way to get the best of both worlds to buy a standalone Access Point, connected potentially via a POE Switch to an OpenWRT box (RPi 4 or similar) for the routing part?
That said, if Wifi performance is an issue, how come people recommend OpenWRT on Ubiquity APs? Do they provide full access to their driver stack?
With the Ubiquiti AC LR, I reached a maximum speed of 550 mbps in the original firmware. Of course fluctuating, an average of 450 mbps. With Openwrt, I reach a maximum speed of 400 mbps. But stable is always 400 mbps. There is no excessive loss for this device with openwrt. But with Unifi HD, I reach 950 mbps speed in the original firmware. With Openwrt, I still get 400 mbps speed. The device is much more powerful but gives the same performance with AC LR in openwrt.
The adapter I use is Intel AX200NGW
In short, Unifi HD needs a little more development. But I still use Openwrt on both devices.
Ubiquity is popular for it's more hardened/corporate IT look rather than home routers where everything is "gaming" now. Personally I'm not sure why they are so popular. The WRT3200ACM / WRT32X router can shape with SQM Cake 800+ Mbits where very few others can, and I got mine "renewed" for only $120.
No open source wifi will probably ever be as good sadly. There is still no WiFi 6 supported routers at all for example.
