AP with WIFI N and choose mini PCIe card

TKOF

Hi All

I have "Qotom Q190G4N" (a very nice device) and last pfSense (2.3.4-RELEASE-p1).

Wireless card is "AzureWave AW-NU706H" (mini PCIe).
This card allow B/G/N , After search, chipset is : "Ralink RT3070"

"AP with WIFI N on AzureWave AW-NU706H (Ralink RT3070) with pfsense " ?
pfsense allow only B/G, any idea/tips/solutions for allow N mode ?

If there is no way for enable N with this card, i can replace the card by another card (mini PCIe).

Thanks for your suggestions/help.

TKOF

After see :

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php?search=wireless
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Is_802.11n_wireless_supported
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Supported_Wireless_Cards
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/What_is_the_best_wireless_card_to_use

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11cF4UoNL68Me5ZC6qhjFPmzdW7mib56dBIAKz30Qpug/edit?hl=en&hl=en#gid=0

The best card seem to be "Atheros", any preference for a new "mini PCIe" card ?

Regards

jahonix

Get an external AccessPoint, place it where it makes sense adn you're done.
Don't spend your time trying to do WiFi with pfSense.

BTW: you never mentioned which version you are using. pfSense 2.4 will have better wireless support than older releases!

TKOF

Thanks for your reply.
I'm using the last pfsense build : "2.3.4-RELEASE-p1 (amd64) (FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE-p19)".

I'm looking for replace the internal wifi card by another.

FranciscoFranco

Yes those cards are ABG only. The manual has that as the CAVEAT:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?run%284%29

To replace that might be tough. Thing is that is a "usb interface" MiniPCIe type card. They are very limited for upgrades.
The Atheros AR9380 I would recommend is probably not going to work in a USB signaling MiniPCIe slot.

There a 3 MiniPCIe slot types:

MiniPCIe
MiniPCIe with USB signaling(Usually has SIM onboard)
mSATA

They are all keyed the same unlike M.2 form factor.

For Atheros(MiniPCIe slot only) half card the best is AR9380. I would stay away from AR928x half cards. Cheap but underwhelming.
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Atheros_AR5BHB112
It is not cheap but they are the best half cards you can get. HostAP on a half card is less than ideal.

Many people here recommend only external AP and pfSense/FreeBSD wireless speed is very poor. So for 30 bucks you could do better with an off-the-shelf WAP. I use Atheros/SR71E Ubiquity on a APU3 and it works fine for me. I finally figured out pf rules and made my own.

If you have an MiniPCIe slot with USB signaling then you may be out of luck. The RALink is the only usb signaling card I know of.
Might be a dead end.

TKOF

Thanks for your message. ;)

In the idea I seek to have a "unique" device, for energy reasons, after wifi is for some peripherals (mobile or laptop), the most important have an RJ45 cable on Switch with VLAN.

I will have 2 ~ 8 devices on wifi.

A preview of my current hardware (for see size) :

Qotom Q190G4N (for a full Product Description)
• 1 x Mini pcie port (only for mSATA SSD)
• 1 x Mini pcie port (only for WIFI, only for USB singal)
• 3 x USB 2.0 Ports
• 1 x USB 3.0 Port

Any "MiniPCIe" card that allow N (and recognized by pfsense) will be good.

I can maybe use "Atheros Ar9380" OR "Atheros SR71E" (it looks like the card can go into the case).

remlei

report back here if you manage to get it work properly.

i have 0% chance making it work on my side, not even 2.4 saves it.

my pfsense console is flooding with beacon errors and wireless reset errors. it just doesnt work well to me.

johnpoz

"In the idea I seek to have a "unique" device, for energy reasons"

How much power do you think an AP uses? The max power draw for a UAP AC access point is 6.5watts - that is MAX…

FranciscoFranco

With those specs I am pretty sure you cannot use just any old MiniPCIe card. The SIM slot is a giveaway. USB signaling slot, not MiniPCIe signaling.
But yes the SR71E is a good choice for full length card. I do notice the standoff's holes for a full length MiniPCIe card.
I doubt it will work due to the slot type. For cheap experiment try a AR5BXB112 for 10 bucks first, See if recognized.
Not a bad consumer grade card.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AR5BXB112-Wireless-WIFI-Card-for-Apple-iMac-Mac-Pro-607-7211-A-/232479279259?hash=item3620d8489b:g:OQcAAOSw~fpZsBz2

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Atheros_AR5BXB112

FranciscoFranco

In your first picture I see the module is marked "Wireless USB Half Mini Card".
So right there it is telling you it is a USB module made for MiniPCIe slot.
I think the description on the Qotum site is misleading. That MiniPCIe slot is a 3G modem slot with the sim right next to it.
This RT3070 is made solely for machines with only a 3G slot. (usb signaling)

Why else would they have a sim slot for a wireless card slot?

As I stated this RT3070 module is the only USB signaling MiniPCIe that I have ever seen.
They are not too common.

Some boards BIOS do have the capability to discern from a MiniPCIe signal device and a USB signal device and communicate accordingly.

Checkout the pinout chart in the answer here. It shows what is missing in usb signaling mPCIe devices.
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/26961/wifi-module-says-mini-pci-e-format-with-usb-host-interface-what-does-this

Same topic different model:
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=114867.0

FranciscoFranco

From the other post I quoted I see that the FoxConn WFUR6 is indeed a USB signaling MiniPCIe Card. 2T2R as well.
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Foxconn_WFUR6
The chipset is not yet supported on FreeBSD. There does appear to be a diff for the utwm interface though.
https://github.com/s3erios/urtwm

GuyGreg

Hi,
I have a mini-PC with that card and it doesn't seem to be detected at all. How did you get it working? I downloaded PFSense yesterday, it's the latest release.

FranciscoFranco

From the pfSense console go to shell and see what usbconfig shows.

GuyGreg

@FranciscoFranco:

From the pfSense console go to shell and see what usbconfig shows.

It says:

ugen0.4: <802.11 n WLAN Ralink> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480 Mbps) pwr=ON (450mA)

I was actually able to get the wireless up and running, and bridged with the LAN, using the instructions posted here:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-configure-wireless-bridge-access-point-in-pfsense

So, I'll put it through its paces, I understand speed may be an issue. Thank you for your help!

cioby23

@GuyGreg Is this the same card you used https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000617905029.html ?

netblues

@cioby23 This is rtl based, not atheros. Also it creates a usb interface, can't work in 2.4/5 concurrently, and I doubt it supports ap mode altogether.

Not worth the hassle. Use an external ap.

cioby23

@netblues I know this card is based on Realtek chipset RTL8812AU. I have tested a different external USB 2.0 wifi card TP-link Archer T2U nano using the same chipset RTL8812AU and it works even AP mode. I have done the tests on the development pfSense version 2.5.0. It's not a problem if the card doesn't allow 2.4 and 5GHz at the same time.
I do not want to use an external AP due to some personal reasons.

netblues

This looks like an emulated usb interface on a chip card
If it worked externaly, it would do so internally too.
But I wouldn't touch a usb interface on pf.
if for any reason is not found on a restart, then pf goes into lan reassignement mode and you need console access.
Usually hell breaks loose after that.

stephenw10

It's much less likely to not find it on a mPCIe card even if it's using the USB lines. You can't pull it out by mistake.

I have had success with such cards but you may not. An actual PCIe device will always be better.

Steve

akuma1x

@cioby23 said in AP with WIFI N and choose mini PCIe card:

I do not want to use an external AP due to some personal reasons.

What does this mean?