Hi everyone,
I’ve tested multiple firmware versions, including the OpenWRT snapshot build, and noticed a significant issue with Wi-Fi speed when using an Qualcomm 8Gen3 client (with BE support) connected to the 5GHz Band 36 at 160MHz (the only 160MHz channel allowed by local regulations). The speed is extremely slow, ranging between 20Mbps and 110Mbps (with noticeable jitter, lag, and packet loss). In comparison, the “MTK 4.0 SDK” firmware achieves over 2000Mbps throughput.
Testing method:
- First, I tested like normal router using NAT.
- Then, try bridged the Wi-Fi ports to the SFP+ port, cut NAT
SFP+ linking to an R7525 server running OpenSpeedTest. For reference, the iperf3 from the BPI-R4 to the server showed >9.6Gbps, so the fiber link is confirmed to be fine.
also 80Mhz 40Mhz also tested, it’s slow. 8Gen1 Wifi 6 Phone, Qualcomm 7200 Laptop, also tested, no suprise, SDK 4.0 has >Gbps, and snapshot never push > 200Mbps.
While I understand that open-source drivers might have lower performance, the gap between the OpenWRT snapshot and the MTK 4.0 SDK firmware was far larger than I expected.
Interestingly, the “MTK 4.0 SDK” firmware doesn’t even show BE (it’s detected as AX on the client side), whereas the OpenWRT snapshot does show BE. a bit odd.
and the bpi-r4 MTK 4.0 sdk firmware (download from: Banana Pi BPI-R4 - Banana Pi Wiki ) has several luci page contain unknown error about some proxy tool?.. do we have a clean version?
Additionally, I’ve noticed that the MTK 4.0 SDK firmware can occasionally be slow as well, but placing my palm close to the board seems to dramatically improve speed. This led me to suspect internal interference. (For power, I used a Type-C adapter with three-pin grounding from a Lenovo laptop, so I don’t think this is a power supply issue.) Adjusting the antenna placement away from the GPIO pins seems to improve performance. After this adjustment, the MTK 4.0 firmware consistently achieves speeds above 1800Mbps. However, the OpenWRT snapshot firmware remains stuck at just tens of Mbps, even after these tweaks.
I’ve check the forum since wifi performance hasn’t been widely discussed, so I’m curious:
- What firmware / repo are you using?
- What has your experience been?
- What Wi-Fi speeds are you achieving under different firmware versions / build repo?
spent a lot of time just tring to find a better firmware… or repo… Or if no one has encountered this problem, I may need to contact RMA whether there is an abnormality with the board…
Would appreciate any insights or suggestions!
