M.2 Card for WiFi AP

WhoAmI68

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a wifi module for the M.2 slot?
Unfortunately, my AC7265 card does not support AP.
Thank you for help.

johnpoz

@WhoAmI68 It is pretty pointless to try and use your pfsense box as an AP.. Freebsd and wifi are not really a good fit.

Just buy some cheap wifi router and use it as an AP to be honest.. And you will get better speeds and way less hassle and stability. I mean you can pick up some AC wifi router for like 20 bucks these days that would out perform anything you could put in freebsd.

I see some AC routers on amazon for like 20 bucks, for sure like 40 bucks you could get something that would be far better than anything freebsd could do with some card you could find that could work.

WhoAmI68

@johnpoz I know about this way but at the moment I prefer the wifi module. I was recommended to use AR9565 by Qotom support.
This module is only available for the Mini PCIe slot.
They told that WIFI on these motherboards is M.2 by default. They also recommend the use of a jumper as a fix, however. It is much work :(.

johnpoz

@WhoAmI68 said in M.2 Card for WiFi AP:

It is much work :(.

Yeah and then if it works best you can get with freebsd is N speeds..

Not sure why anyone would go through the PITA and cost to get subpar wifi at speeds from 15 years ago..

A $20 wifi router as an AP is the cheapest easiest way to get some wifi on your network. Better solution is to get real AP that can do vlans, etc. But even budget route if the wifi router you get can do 3rd party firmware like openwrt or dd-wrt, etc. you can prob get vlan support.

keyser

@WhoAmI68 @johnpoz ‘s advice is Solid. You are setting yourself up for a major dissapointment because you didn’t listen. Just rememeber not to blame pfSense but yourself when it fails to deliver what you were hoping :-)

johnpoz

If your worried about size or something - get one of the little gl.inet routers and just use as AP.. Tiny little things.

here is the one I have for when I travel
https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-sft1200/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=menubar

Little thing rocks.. I throw it in my suitecase - and really first thing I fire up in the hotel room.. Now all devices just auto connect to my ssid, none of that BS captive portal nonsense on every device.

But it would way better than any wifi card you put into your pfsense box that is for damn sure - $40.

JKnott

@johnpoz said in M.2 Card for WiFi AP:

Just buy some cheap wifi router and use it as an AP to be honest

Or better yet, a proper access point, mounted in the best available location.

johnpoz

@JKnott yup that would be the best option.. The self inflicted pain never ceases to amaze me to be honest.. Get a very reasonable priced product that will allow you to mount it in best location for best wifi, poe and does vlans, all the bells and whistle of the lastest wifi standards.. ofdma, twt, bss color, etc.

Vs how many hoops can I jump through to get wifi to work on an OS that is known to be horrible with wifi and at best provide some wifi with 15 year old performance.

While it doesn't support 6ghz the U7 Lite from unifi is $99 bucks - its tiny, and gets many of the other benefits that come with wifi 7. There are sure other options - but I believe that is the cheapest wifi 7 AP - even if not full set of all the wifi 7 features.. There are some concessions

My point of old wifi router for $20 was purely from budget and ease vs the pita that would be trying to get some wifi card in your pfsense box to act as AP. Shoot many people have some old wifi router sitting on their shelf collecting dust most likely..

But there are options, for the tightest of budgets what hands down will get you way better wifi then trying to use some card in pfsense as an AP.

WhoAmI68

Perhaps this post will be of some help to someone else.

I have tried to change the WiFi module on my Qotom device. The Atheros QCWB335 AR9565 work well. Card is equipped with mSATA connectors but The PCIe signal for WiFi on this motherboard is M.2 by default. It is possible to adjust the jumper. After that the interface is well assigned.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendations.

stephenw10

@WhoAmI68 said in M.2 Card for WiFi AP:

QCWB335

QCNFA335 is an m.2 card that would have worked there just FYI.

provels

@WhoAmI68 said in M.2 Card for WiFi AP:

The Atheros QCWB335 AR9565 work well.

Hey, these work pretty good if you have the slot! Thanks for the tip! $10 on the 'Bay.

stephenw10

Yup the one advantage of the terrible wifi hardware support is that what does work is available used for almost nothing!

provels

@stephenw10 Still a step up from my 20 year old Buffalos! :)