BPI-R4 WiFi range

Banana Pi Router design BPI-R4/BPI-R4 Pro(MT7988)
345

Ok, so I can confirm that with

  • the plastic enclosure installed
  • replacing that thin low-grade pigtailes by RG178-pigtailes, that are routed away from the mPCIe-connectors
  • populating the unused SFP cage with a random module (the cheapest I could get were 2,5€ each)
  • reducing bandwidth from 160MHz to 80MHz (in BE-mode)

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I get a really satisfying throughput (/higher usable coverage) for the floor I installed this device for. Thanks a lot for your help!

1 Like
346

Insert a (not used) SFP increases you wifi range (rx level on client/reduce noise)?

347

Doesn’t for me, doesn’t do anything at all tbh

348

I precised my feedback.

It reduces noise for me by 1-2dBi.

349

I observe different noise levels across reboots:

  • high noise values (seen in > 90% of the board boots)
root@bpi-r4:~# iw dev wlan0 survey dump | grep -B1 noise
        frequency:                      2442 MHz [in use]
        noise:                          -88 dBm
--
        frequency:                      5180 MHz [in use]
        noise:                          -75 dBm
root@bpi-r4:~#
  • relatively (as for this HW) low noise values (seen in < 10% of the board boots):
root@bpi-r4:~# iw dev wlan0 survey dump | grep -B1 noise
        frequency:                      2442 MHz [in use]
        noise:                          -88 dBm
--
        frequency:                      5180 MHz [in use]
        noise:                          -83 dBm
root@bpi-r4:~#

worth pointing out:

  • it applies to the 5 GHz band, the noise level for 2.4 GHz is constant between the reboots, I did not test the 6 GHz band as I do not have the antennas for that band,
  • router stands still between the reboots (i.e. nothing changes regarding the router position nor element placement, antennas stand still, connectors and cables too)
  • the different noise levels result in different Rx throughput of the router (obviously higher throughput is observed when the noise level is lower)
  • it is less common to get low noise level value than high noise value (read it as: 1 per ~20 reboots I get low noise while all the others bring high noise value)
  • I’m using the latest mt7996 firmware:
[   14.388511] mt7996e 0000:01:00.0: HW/SW Version: 0x8a108a10, Build Time: 20250904203308a
[   14.627003] mt7996e 0000:01:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250904203304
[   14.676271] mt7996e 0000:01:00.0: DSP Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250904202814
[   14.717602] mt7996e 0000:01:00.0: WA Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20250904203218
  • as for my understanding/knowledge the noise levels are being calculated and reported by the HW/FW, so it is a HW/FW issue
1 Like
350

A question to BPI-R4 Pro early adopters: did you try it with the BE14 NIC, and what’s your noise figures?

351

@sinovoip does this qualify for a BPI-BE14 module replacement?
- the problem described in post 19418/349 persists.

352

@Betonmischer I get quite high (-77 dBm) noise values with the BE14 and the metal case/provided pigtails. I get -91 dBm noise on my previous router, so about 25x more noise or so. It makes the AP pretty much unusable. Pretty disappointing, all things considered, especially for how much it cost. I guess it’s on me for not reading the forum before buying.

I will try switching to the plastic case and better pigtails.

Edit: sorry, this is the R4, not pro.

1 Like
353

Please do not buy this early …

354

Unfortunately I’ve bought the wireless module nearly a year ago. Haven’t gotten it to work well since. Hopefully I can get the board replaced…

1 Like
356

镜像名：mtk-bpi-r4-MP4_1-NAND-20241216.img（Downloaded from the BPI official website）

First, use the command to start Wi-Fi scanning: iw dev rai1 scan

Then use the command to find and record noise at in-use frequencies: iw dev ra1 survey dump | grep -B1 noise

Test environment:

be61787ffead82d196bbaa6096920457
be61787ffead82d196bbaa60969204571920×1080 143 KB

Test Results:

5G（device rai1）
frequency noise
First startup 5180 MHz -88 dBm
Second startup 5180 MHz -89 dBm
3rd startup 5180 MHz -89 dBm
4th startup 5180 MHz -88 dBm
5th startup 5180 MHz -88 dBm
6th startup 5180 MHz -89 dBm
7th startup 5180 MHz -86 dBm
8th startup 5180 MHz -84 dBm
9th startup 5180 MHz -84 dBm
10th startup 5180 MHz -88 dBm
11th startup 5180 MHz -89 dBm
12th startup 5180 MHz -88 dBm
13th startup 5180 MHz -89 dBm
14th startup 5180 MHz -89 dBm
15th startup 5180 MHz -87 dBm
16th startup 5180 MHz -87 dBm
17th startup 5180 MHz -87 dBm
18th startup 5180 MHz -88 dBm
19th startup 5180 MHz -86 dBm
20th startup 5180 MHz -87 dBm

I restarted it 20 times, and the low-noise situation didn’t occur amidst the noise of the 5G Wi-Fi. Perhaps I did something wrong? :thinking:

357

Hello @hyf,
You didn’t do anything wrong, that just confirms two things:
- your BPI-NIC-BE14 module is all fine,
- my module is faulty, which I try to prove since the very beginning.

358

Okay, then it’s probably a problem with BE14. And I’m also looking forward to the new version too.