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    TL-WN727N as WAN interface

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
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    • NightlySharkN
      NightlyShark @bavcon22
      last edited by

      @bavcon22 It is a problem if the port drops to 1.1. I don't know if this can be caused by a rusted connector, driver (both controller and chipset) or something...

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      • NightlySharkN
        NightlyShark
        last edited by

        @bavcon22 said in TL-WN727N as WAN interface:

        Lenovo ThinkCentre M9xp

        a2acf4c6-6934-4639-a18f-fdfb15d23a16-image.png
        Do you need any OEM chipset (more like, on-CPU-controller) drivers for the AMD Lenovo-specific (most likely), CPU?

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Hmm, I don't have one I can test in station mode. In hostap mode though the Status > Interfaces page does show the link 'Rate'. Do you see that?

          NightlySharkN 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • NightlySharkN
            NightlyShark @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 Maybe you can whip-up a VM in a PC, pass-trough a USB controller and test it from there?

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            • B
              bavcon22 @NightlyShark
              last edited by

              @nightlyshark The PC has USB 2.0 connectors I will try it. Next weekend I have intent to update my pfsense+ 12.05 to 13.01 and then I will give the feedback in this forum.

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              • NightlySharkN
                NightlyShark @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 Sorry, replied to the wrong answer. 🙄

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                • B
                  bavcon22 @bavcon22
                  last edited by

                  @bavcon22 Speedtest results with USB 2.0 PC port:
                  Screenshot from 2023-02-19 21-05-40.png

                  No better results.
                  Thank you for all, I will see if any better results with newer version of pfSense+ afrer I will update the software.

                  NightlySharkN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • NightlySharkN
                    NightlyShark @bavcon22
                    last edited by

                    @bavcon22 There is always the case that the adapter has some damaged component that causes it to drop to a USB 1.1 mode, or just be like that from factory (highly unlikely).

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                    • B
                      bavcon22 @NightlyShark
                      last edited by

                      @nightlyshark I will try to connect this dongle tp-link tl-wn727n to Raspberry Pi to "see" if the device actually work with 11n connection with different OS's and than report back what I will find.

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                      • B
                        bavcon22 @bavcon22
                        last edited by

                        @bavcon22 I tested the dongle on PC x86 x64 with Linux mint OS.
                        Testing specs:

                        OS: Linux mint 21.1 cinnamon
                        PC: Acer Aspire 5 A515-45-R5X9
                        USB: dongle conected to USB3 on PC, USB2 on dongle
                        Connection: via Android phone or home wifi
                        Conected: LAN
                        Speedtest results ~30Mbit simetric on bought wifi devices.

                        I think the dongle is capable of 11n transmission.

                        NightlySharkN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Were you able to see what the reported connection 'rate' was in pfSense?

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                          • NightlySharkN
                            NightlyShark @bavcon22
                            last edited by

                            @bavcon22 Judging from my bad experiences with TP-Link Wi-Fi adapters, maybe try another adapter? 30 Mbits is still pretty low. I owned such an adapter, and I had to manually resolder the antenna connections (many years ago, though). My point is, they are unreliable and unpredictable.

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                            • B
                              bavcon22
                              last edited by

                              Now I tested dongle with the upgraded pfSense+ v. 13.01 and FreeBSD 14 and the connection was 11g not 11n. Speed test gives me 10Mbits symmetric. My conclusion is not to buy this version of dongle for FreeBSD OS, it is not fully supported.
                              Before I buy it, I consulted the FreeBSD hardware and I saw the TL-WN727N that is supported in FreeBSD 13 but I missed crucial information v.3.0 is supported not my version of dongle, my dongle is v.5.2. I will use it for my other project.

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                              • B
                                bavcon22 @NightlyShark
                                last edited by

                                @nightlyshark Hi in have a maximum speed of around 100Mbits DOWN 50Mbits UP, I know it is not great.

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                                • B
                                  bavcon22 @stephenw10
                                  last edited by

                                  @stephenw10 What is command in Linux mint like the command ifconfig -vvv in pfSense? In test I done the command ifconfig -v and I was able to see only WiFi bandwidth and it was 20MHz the connection 11n was not mentioned.

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    iwconfig might do it

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                                    • B
                                      bavcon22 @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10 I will put it in test again.

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                                      • B
                                        bavcon22 @stephenw10
                                        last edited by bavcon22

                                        @stephenw10 TL-WN727N.txt In this file are results of the commands ifconfig and iwconfig. The WiFi dongle is connected to USB 3.0 on Acer Aspire 5 laptop as external Wifi, internal Wifi is disabled.

                                        NightlySharkN 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • NightlySharkN
                                          NightlyShark @bavcon22
                                          last edited by

                                          @bavcon22 If I may, I don't believe you need anything really expensive to achieve your goal, just not that particular adapter. If you absolutely need WiFi, there are a lot of inexpensive but good adapters. You can also use something like this, if you have free PCIe ports. You can then insert whatever miniPCIe WiFi you like, including one with the Atheros AR9280 chip that is the best supported by PfSense, as per the documentation. Or, if you endpoints sit behind the same electrical mains panel, you can use something like this, that doesn't even get into the whole USB-Drivers-Controller-Signal debacle, since its ethernet, for 50 bucks. It even has AES 128-bit encryption.

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                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            That 802.11ac PCIe card definitely won't work in pfSense directly.

                                            NightlySharkN 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
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