Thank you so much, you are absolutely right!
Did not know that snapshot builds downloaded from OpenWrt website do not include luci and that is why it appears that the router did not boot successfully. Following your instructions I was able to upgrade to snapshot from 24.10.2 
.
Appreciate your help and insight!
In the future always try to ping the router first just to be sure or even better try to connect to SSH.
Hi all,
Iāve been trying to figure out why my video calls stutter all the time, and I think Iāve narrowed it down to jitter. When I ping my mx8500 while standing next to it and connected over 5ghz wifi, I see ping times jump between ~5ms to ~20ms. This seems highly erratic and I think this may be causing random stuttering in video calls. Does anyone know how to look into this further?
What kind of numbers do you see? Iām going to try to test on my old non-openwrt router later today to compare.
That is most likely caused be the client having power-saving features enabled for their WLAN card (intel is particular bad at this).
thanks for the tip. tried my macbook and it was ~5ms pretty consistently.
I got 4 used MX8500s for free recently and have installed OpenWRT 24.10.3 and updated the AQR FW to 5.6.5 (was 5.4.b). Iām actually kinda sad that there are no client devices that use the ānewā UNII-4 5GHz bands 159, 163 and 167 (Intelās AX200 and AX210 show them as disabled with iw list). But I guess these can still be used for a backhaul between APs, which is better than nothing I suppose.
Anyways, I was doing some iperf3 tests with the 5GbE port and I get worse performance between two MX8500s with a 5ft shielded CAT6 cable than I do with a WAX206 that has a 2.5GbE port. Furthermore, I am seeing random packet loss on the MX8500s 5GbE portā¦ I never did any testing with the default Linksys FW (looked awful so I nuked it from orbit with OpenWRT when I got these) so I donāt know if this is just an unfortunate quirk of this platform or if there is possible room for improvement.
Test setup: TRENDnet TEG-S308/A 8-port 2.5GbE switch with 4x MX8500 connected with 5GbE port, 1x WAX206 connected with 2.5GbE port and 1x Lenovo TB4 Dock with (I225v3) 2.5GbE port.
Baseline: Laptop I225v3 via 25ft of CAT5E and WAX206 via 4ft of CAT5E to 2.5GbE switch:
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 #WAX206 to I225v3
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.74 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 -R #I225v3 to WAX206
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.52 GBytes 2.16 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.51 GBytes 2.16 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 --bidir
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.58 GBytes 2.21 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.57 GBytes 2.21 Gbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.84 GBytes 1.58 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.83 GBytes 1.57 Gbits/sec receiver
The WAX206 has higher throughput than the Intel I225v3. No packet loss in either direction. Cables seem fine for 2.5GbE use.
WAX206 and MX8500 #1 via 5ft CAT6 STP cable to switch.
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 #WAX206 to MX8500
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 -R #MX8500 to WAX206
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.49 GBytes 2.14 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.49 GBytes 2.14 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 --bidir
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.43 GBytes 1.23 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.43 GBytes 1.22 Gbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 885 MBytes 742 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 882 MBytes 739 Mbits/sec receiver
The MX8500ās 5GbE port looks okay initially but craps out with --bidir. No packet lossā¦yet. If I run the receive mode enough times I do eventually get packet loss with the MX8500 as transmitter while the WAX206 transmitting and MX8500 receiving doesnāt show any loss.
Hereās the same tests with MX8500 #1 and the Laptop I225v3 as server.
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 #MX8500 to I225v3
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.51 GBytes 2.16 Gbits/sec 7 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.52 GBytes 2.16 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 -R #I225v3 to MX8500
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.52 GBytes 2.17 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.52 GBytes 2.16 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 --bidir
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.71 GBytes 1.47 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.71 GBytes 1.47 Gbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.44 GBytes 1.24 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.44 GBytes 1.24 Gbits/sec receiver
Slightly better performance with --bidir, but we now have packet loss. The retransmits can be as high as 500 in some tests but jumps around from 0 to less than 600 or so.
And now two MX8500s (#1 and #2) each connected via 5ft CAT6 to the switch
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 #MX8500 #2 to MX8500 #1
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.88 GBytes 1.61 Gbits/sec 1084 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.87 GBytes 1.61 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 -R #MX8500 #1 to MX8500 #2
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.30 GBytes 1.98 Gbits/sec 1209 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.30 GBytes 1.97 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 --bidir
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.12 GBytes 962 Mbits/sec 5 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.12 GBytes 960 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 964 MBytes 808 Mbits/sec 94 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 961 MBytes 806 Mbits/sec receiver
Lots of packet lossā¦and pretty bad performance vs. WAX206 and the Intel I225v3 NICs.
And here is when both MX8500 are connected to each other directly via the 5GbE ports with 5ft CAT6 (1GbE port on MX8500 #1 is connected to switch for ssh access).
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 #MX8500 #2 to MX8500 #1
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.21 GBytes 1.90 Gbits/sec 175 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.01 sec 2.21 GBytes 1.89 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 -R #MX8500 #1 to MX8500 #2
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.12 GBytes 1.82 Gbits/sec 156 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.11 GBytes 1.82 Gbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 --bidir
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.07 GBytes 921 Mbits/sec 21 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.07 GBytes 918 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 976 MBytes 819 Mbits/sec 67 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 973 MBytes 816 Mbits/sec receiver
Still packet loss. Clearly, the 2.5GbE switch is not the issue. Changing Ethernet cables does not help.
And for fun, here is MX8500#2 <-5GbE-> MX8500#1 <-1GbE-> switch <-2.5GbE-> I225v3
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 #MX8500 #2 to I225v3
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 942 Mbits/sec 199 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 -R #I225v3 to MX8500 #2
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 944 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec receiver
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 --bidir
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 860 MBytes 721 Mbits/sec 262 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 858 MBytes 720 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 933 MBytes 783 Mbits/sec 485 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 929 MBytes 779 Mbits/sec receiver
Lots of packet loss. Clearly, these 5GbE ports have issues.
And, for completeness, MX8500#2 <-1GbE-> switch <-2.5GbE-> I225v3
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 943 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 -R
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 945 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.10 GBytes 941 Mbits/sec
iperf3 -c 192.168.1.19 --bidir
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.08 GBytes 931 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.08 GBytes 929 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.06 GBytes 914 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.06 GBytes 911 Mbits/sec
The 1GbE ports work great, no packet loss and perf seems good, and --bidir looks great compared to the MX8500 5GbE to 5GbE or 5GbE to 2.5GbE switch perf.
Iām at a loss for what to do hereā¦ I guess It is probably best not to use the 5GbE port for anything with OpenWRT installed. They just donāt seem reliable even with newer 5.6.5 firmware.
Oof, that looks pretty bad for a 5GbE product, but in practice, almost no one has a 5GbE network. It seems like this will integrate reasonably well with a 2.5GbE network.
Would be interesting to test 160Mhz 5G backhaul vs 6G backhaul.
I mean, if you donāt let two MX8500s interact (directly or through a switch) via their 5GbE ports, and you donāt mind a little packet loss, they seem entirely usable with 2.5GbE networks. But, holy moly, Batman! If you pass traffic between two of these units over their 5GbE portsā¦ you just won a free trip to Disappointment Town. This issue, unfortunately, precludes a lot of potential applications (mainly >1Gb WAN connections and >1Gb WiFi AP throughput with wired connection back to a switch). But I guess these were mainly intended for wireless backhaul / mesh usage where the UNII-4 extended 5GHz bands are handy to have.
With the measured packet loss (observed on all four of my units), Iād advise people not to use the 5GbE port for the WAN connection if possible. The 1GbE ports seem to work well and using one of them for the WAN connection is the better choice for a stable internet connection. Even for the local network, with these MX8500s acting as APs with a wired connection back to the router, using a 1GbE port is still the better choice if WiFi throughput doesnāt need to exceed ~940MiB/s.
Hopefully someone can figure out why these AQR114C are acting so squirrelly.
In the meantime, Iāll try buying some Cat7 (for āfuture proofingā my LAN) and see if that changes anything (unlikely, but Iāll never know if I donāt try).
Iāll try measuring MX8500 to MX8500 WiFI throughput tomorrow. And I guess Iāll give the ipq807x-nsswifi-mesh-2025-06-04-1609 build a try too.
Where did you get this firmware from?
The wiki has a link to it (hosted on OpenWRT-fanboyās github)
https://github.com/OpenWRT-fanboy/mx8500/raw/refs/heads/main/aqr_fw.mbn
I also have two MX8500s on 24.10.1 connected to a 10gbe switch via their 5gbe port on the latest firmware. It doesnāt seem as bad as what youāve observedā¦but I still wonder why itās no where near 5gbe speeds.
iperf3 -c 192.168.10.8
Connecting to host 192.168.10.8, port 5201
[ 5] local 192.168.10.3 port 46780 connected to 192.168.10.8 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr Cwnd
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 181 MBytes 1.52 Gbits/sec 0 496 KBytes
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 180 MBytes 1.51 Gbits/sec 0 522 KBytes
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 172 MBytes 1.44 Gbits/sec 0 522 KBytes
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 176 MBytes 1.48 Gbits/sec 7 465 KBytes
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 175 MBytes 1.47 Gbits/sec 0 465 KBytes
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 176 MBytes 1.48 Gbits/sec 0 564 KBytes
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 187 MBytes 1.57 Gbits/sec 0 564 KBytes
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 175 MBytes 1.47 Gbits/sec 0 564 KBytes
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 171 MBytes 1.44 Gbits/sec 0 590 KBytes
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 176 MBytes 1.47 Gbits/sec 7 465 KBytes
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.73 GBytes 1.49 Gbits/sec 14 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.73 GBytes 1.48 Gbits/sec receiver
EDIT: format
Can you confirm that it is actually negotiating a 5GbE connection and not 2.5GbE? A lot of 10GbE switches donāt support 5GbE.
See for example: https://www.trendnet.com/products/10g-switch/5-port-10g-switch-TEG-S750-v2.0R
What kind of use case does that entail? I guess if you are trying to transfer your collection of Linux ISOs from a laptop wirelessly connected to an MX8500 to another laptop wirelessly connected to a second MX8500.
Practically speaking, it is difficult to exceed gigabit speeds over any wireless link. There are many devices today that have superfast Ethernet ports. But I doubt gigabit is a bottleneck in any real world AP use.
The MX8500 is particularly ridiculous because the 5GbE port was intended to be a WAN port. Left unexplained was how any device connected to the other ports was supposed to benefit from that.
The negotiated link speed is 5gb. Verified in both mx8500 openwrt UI and my switch UI.
IIUC 5gb WAN is still useful even if the other ports/wifi are ~1gb. 5 devices could potentially download at 1gb speeds.
Yup, all we need is a tester with a blazing fast ISP connection, an MX8500, and four computers downloading simultaneously to discover thatā¦ the Aquantia port will probably disappoint here, too. 
If itās already performing badly with direct ethernet connections according to @the-burrito-triangle, so it will surely perform even worse in a real world scenario.
Could running iperf on the mx8500s be enough overhead to cause this? Maybe someone can test like this:
ā¦though Iām not sure if wifi6e will max out 5gbe port even if standing right next to the router.
Nah, all you need is to set up multiple iperf3 clients over the 4x 1GbE ports and an iperf3 server connected to the 5GbE port. Pretty easy to do actually, but I donāt have any 5GbE or 10GbE devices (other than another MX8500) so I canāt test that. I could try three 1GbE clients connected to the MX8500 1GbE ports and a 2.5GbE server connected to the 5GbE port. But Iām not sure I even want to test that since these 5GbE ports are so flakey. Even bogardon couldnāt get much better speeds than me with a 10GbE switch (and presumably CAT7 or CAT6E cables). Iād really like to see his units tested with --bidir, that test really shows how bad these NICs are. Unfortunately, even when using a switch between them, these NICs perform worse when communicating with each other than they do with other brands/models of NICs. But I guess this is a good thing, really, since this is the most common use case and they can do decent 2.5GbE speeds with the clients I tested (although the bidirectional throughput was somewhat poor).
There is some new work going on in the Linux kernel (for 6.18) around the AQR412 and AQR115, maybe weāll see some fixes for the AQR114C as a result?
When I get some more free time to burn, Iāll try testing two MX8500s connected via the 6GHz radios with two 2.5GbE devices (my laptop as client and the WAX206 as server) on their 5GbE ports. I suspect we should see close to 2Gb/s but who knows.
It took awhile for the CAT7 cables to arrive, but I can now eliminate cabling as the issue. My MX8500 perform identically with F/FTP CAT7 cables.
First test: MX8500 is setup as iperf3 server with 5ft of CAT7 cable between its 5GbE port and the WAX206ās 2.5GbE port (with no switch in between). A 1GbE port on the WAX206 is connected to my 2.5GbE switch for ssh access.
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.8
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.35 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.73 GBytes 2.34 Gbits/sec receiver
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.8 -R
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.50 GBytes 2.15 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.50 GBytes 2.15 Gbits/sec receiver
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.8 --bidir #test1
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.13 GBytes 967 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.12 GBytes 964 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.08 GBytes 930 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.08 GBytes 926 Mbits/sec receiver
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.8 --bidir #test2
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.46 GBytes 1.25 Gbits/sec 0 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.46 GBytes 1.25 Gbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 873 MBytes 732 Mbits/sec 50 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 870 MBytes 729 Mbits/sec receiver
The bidirectional iperf3 tests are disappointing and bounce around between ~680Mb to ~1.3Gb, well below other 2.5GbE devices I have tested. Probably due to packet loss, which doesnāt always occur. Otherwise, the throughput looks decent.
Next test: Two MX8500 directly connected via their 5GbE ports with the same CAT7 cable. One MX8500 is connected to the switch via a 1GbE port for ssh access. The MX8500 not directly connected to the switch is the iperf3 server.
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.12 GBytes 1.82 Gbits/sec 119 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.12 GBytes 1.82 Gbits/sec receiver
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 -R
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.13 GBytes 1.83 Gbits/sec 67 sender
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 2.13 GBytes 1.83 Gbits/sec receiver
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 --bidir #test1
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.05 GBytes 903 Mbits/sec 63 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.05 GBytes 901 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.09 GBytes 937 Mbits/sec 47 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.01 sec 1.09 GBytes 933 Mbits/sec receiver
# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.7 --bidir #test 2
[ ID][Role] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 953 MBytes 799 Mbits/sec 56 sender
[ 5][TX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 950 MBytes 797 Mbits/sec receiver
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.30 GBytes 1.12 Gbits/sec 158 sender
[ 7][RX-C] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.30 GBytes 1.12 Gbits/sec receiver
Link speed is 5Gb (verified via LuCI for both units), throughput is barely in 2.5GbE territory. The bidirectional throughput is barely at or slightly above 1GbE and jumps around. Worst of all is the packet loss. This is 5ft of shielded CAT7 cable. Attenuation, EMI, etc. are not the issue. There is no switch to blame here either. Hopefully this is just a firmware issue that can eventually be resolved, either in the driver or a future FW update.
Iāll test the 6 and 5 Ghz WiFi throughput tomorrow. MX8500 āwirelessā MX8500 (baseline WiFi throughput) and then WAX206ā2.5GbEāMX8500āwirelessāMX8500ā2.5GbEāLaptop (wireless backhaul).
Do we have baseline numbers from a stock MX8500? Or how do we know for sure the bad performance for 5gbe port is a mx8500 + openwrt issue? i think mx8500 also has ddwrt support right? maybe they have some numbersā¦
