USB WIFI with OpenWrt

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi , I have ordered TL WN725N USB WIFI adapter and not able to connect it to OpenWRT router.
How can I do it ? Are drivers missing ?
OpenWRT 15.05 and 19.07 same issues.

2

look if your device is v1 or v2.
v1 version is RTL8188CUS
v2 version is RTL8188EUS

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3

It is detected as RTL8188EUS . But iw list shows nothing.

4

Yes you need drivers. Realtek chips are not well supported though. It looks like only the v1 with C chip may be supported. You could try rtl8188eu-firmware plus kmod-rtl8192cu or kmod-rtl8xxxu.

2 Likes
5

They all does not work for this adapter. Looks like OpenWRT has very limited support of USB devices

6

According to other topics 8188EU driver which is needed , it was removed from stable branch because of issues with compiling of 4.14 kernel.

7

openwrt on usb is the most powerfull only in monitor mode.

8

USB wifi, especially in the AP role, is always restricted in performance due to the speed of the USB2 bus.

The Ralink a/b/g/n chips work fairly well. The AR9170 was probably the best chip overall but it wasn't used in many adapters and has been discontinued a long time. I think there is one ac chip that works but forgot which one.

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9

The mt7612u sticks work fairly well which has AC support and costs around 10€. Getting around 280Mbit/s and maxes out at 330Mbit/s on a Xiaomi mir3g, a mt7621a device.

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10

I'm still trying to make this dongle work as well... any news would be great!
Happy w/ client mode if I can get it working, no need AP mode on this one.

11

I have switched to other USB dongles which Openwrt support. TP LINK still not working. Even updating to 19.07.

12

Hi,

Does the mt7612u work well in client (wwan) and AP (wlan) modes?
What speed does it reach on 2.4GHz and 5GHz?
What do I need to install in the default x86 image?

Do you know any wifi usb that works well with OpenWRT that have SMA, usb 3.0, and 2.4GHz and 5GHz?

13

You need to load kernel module. Performance results depend on WIFI hardware and device CPU.
There was no any significant improvement of USB WIFI drivers in OpenWRT since 15.05 (last 5 years). New releases include most Mediatek (mt****) drivers. Best results for me where on WIFI dongles based on Realtek chips. Vendors can provide different chips cards even under same model code. This is always a problem.

14

Thank you for your message.
Which specific Realtek chip models do you recommend for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0?
A few days ago I had RTL8811AU and it turns out that it is not supported by OpenWRT.

15

It does work, wwan and ap, but not tested for long term stability.

In AP mode using 5Ghz I get around 330mbits but I think the CPU is bottlenecking on my mir3g.

kmod-mt76x2u
usb-modeswitch

The aukey wf-r13 should have all the things you listed, I am not sure if it has a SMA connector but the antennas are detachable.

16

Thank you for your answer, it looks like my MT7612u purchase is a good choice over the previous RTL8811AU.

17

A post was split to a new topic: Compile drivers for RTL8821CU wireless adapter

18

What brand/dongle are you using for MT7612u ?
If you could post a newegg/amazon link would be greatful..
I did the same mistake, and now want to return the rtl8188 dongle.

Is there a "nano-USB" ie tiny small factor usb WIFI dongle ?
I don't need the AP mode, but if its possible it will be great...

G

19

hi

I guess I am back to the same question after some time, how does one find a "mt7612u" adapter in the US ?

almost any stuff on amazon is only rtl* (realtek)

I just need a functional "nano-usb" wifi adapter, which will work with Kernel 5.4.143 and beyond natively. if it offers AP capability, great if not that also works...

Please post links to US products if you can.

G

20

Hi,

e.g.

I have the second one myself (not really nano USB) which works fine like the Aukey wf-r13 which I also have.