Better Wifi Performance

[samwrt]

Hi, I bought a D2 router from a third party and flashed it with the latest PCWRT from your site. Unfortunately I didn’t get satisfactory Wifi performance. Particularly troublesome is the 5ghz band, where I would get frequent disconnects (it couldn’t stay connected for more than 2 minutes).

Following this OpenWrt forum post, I experimented with several Wifi EEPROMS. Unfortunately none would solve the problem on PCWRT firmware. However, I did get satisfactory results with OpenWrt (no disconnects and a strong signal). As an additional benefit, OpenWrt enabled me to change the Wifi country to France, such that I could boost the tx-Power to 23 dBm, as opposed to the default 20 dBm. PCWRT doesn’t show what tx-Power is used, as the frontend only gives a percentage (i.e. what does 100% mean?).

As I prefer to use PCWRT as opposed to OpenWrt, would it be possible to make a download of your Wifi EEPROM available? That way, I know for sure that I have the same setup as the D2 router sold on your website. In addition, can you indicate what WiFi country settings are used by PCWRT, and if this is reflected in the percentage?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

[samwrt]

Hmm… since PCWRT is based on OpenWrt I would expect similar performance. That would mean that it is not the Wifi EEPROM but a different firmware setting in OpenWrt and PCWRT that causes the difference in performance. I would need to compare the /etc/config/wireless of both firmwares for that. Still it would be good to know what Wifi EEPROM you use. Is it the stock Newifi D2 Wifi EEPROM or is it an altered version? Looking forward to receiving more information about this. Thanks.

[samwrt]

And perhaps you can also indicate what OpenWrt version PCWRT is based on and what the update policy is (i.e. when are updates in OpenWrt reflected in PCWRT)? Thanks.

[support]

We don’t use any special EEPROM and there is no WiFi performance issue. You may want to switch to the OpenWRT mt76 driver if it works better for you.

[samwrt]

Well, let’s not jump to conclusions here. Your device might not have WiFi issues, my device most certainly has. For customers who are considering buying your 50 USD premium firmware, any assistance in understanding what is causing this issue would be highly appreciated.

My device came with a patched Wifi driver, which as my tests confirm perform well with OpenWrt. What I will do is to try to load the stock Newifi D2 Wifi EEPROM together with PCWrt firmware, and determine if my connection will not drop every two minutes when sitting upstairs.

In the meantime, could you please also answer my question regarding how PCWrt tries to keep in line with OpenWrt? I’m asking this from a security perspective (the main reason I would buy your firmware), i.e. how long would it take for a patched OpenWrt breach to find its way back into PCWrt?

Thanks in advance for your time answering my questions.

[Author]

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