Another Tik AC post regading wifi-qcom-ac. I know many of us using cAP AC or hAP AC with minimal disk free space after installing the wifi-qcom-ac driver.
Who all in favor of MikroTik spending time and augmenting the RouterOS package for these devices with 16MB Flash. This might be a good move for other wireless only type products.
IE: Wireless AP’s that will ONLY be used for a CAP deployment – managed by CAPsMan. For those AP’s centrally managed, it might be best of MikroTik released a basic RouterOS package, on a diet. Only giving us TCP/IP [with bridge, vlan, etc]and wireless driver(s). This may also aid in performance.
Same can be said for us running the wireless AC hardware [perhaps soon to be legacy] - we have a different RouterOS package model to give us more time. Otherwise, this may all be planned obsolescence on MikroTik part. Although, the 16Mb flash storage decision by them was very poor planning, stepping over a small BoM increase at the TIME. They’re now paying for it years later [which costing much more - employee time, coding around and troubleshooting]
A dedicated all-in-one package designed just for “cap ac” to work as a “simple cap” in a CAPsMAN setup or as a single access point could remove a lot of unnecessary features. Such a device wouldn’t even need WebFig, or things like Samba, DLNA, Adlist, WireGuard, or lots of extra drivers. Maybe MikroTik could consider moving in this direction.
As a first step, it would already help a lot if MikroTik could move the driver/firmware for the QCA9984 into a separate package.
Yep. Split into per-architecture-hardware-feature packages so it will allow to support old/limited devices by picking only needed packages.
Of course we understand company wants to grow and sell more new devices but behind current success standing people choosing Mikrotik for 10+ years because of the strong support and smart decisions.
I buy new devices when they are better than the old ones. I have cap ac for my home and for comparison I bought a wap ax because the number 802.11ax compatible client devices is slowly growing. the cap ac still outperforms the wap ax (in my location). So I don’t want to swap the cap ac for the wap ax because of obsolescence reasons.
I can get close to 1gb via wifi via wap ax using laptop with wifi 6 card versus internal speedtest server.
No way cap ac can do that, simply because it can not use 160MHz channels.
Even 2.4GHz using AX is superior to AC. Ax Lite can push 400Mb. Try that with any qcom-ac device using 2.4GHz.
Or am I missing something ?
But I am all in favor of a slimmed down wifi-qcom-ac ROS version.
I edit my post. cap ac performs better in my location/setup right now. In terms of coverage and reliability. Then I have these occasional “signal too strong” disconnects which are pretty annoying on wap ax (Mikrotik working on it). And wap ax has some mysterious “performance degradation” after some days of uptime. wifi pings increase and dont get below 100ms anymore. After a reboot of wap ax the pings are in 2-5ms range again. So it seems - coverage aside - is a software issue. Until the software is not working at it’s best, cap ac still needs to serve rock solid. Maybe when qcom driver is finally without disconnect-issues I can upgrade. But let’s see which Mediatek based 802.11be devices are coming soon.
Considering the critically small amount of space on some devices with fairly modern WiFi, I also support the initiative to split the WiFi package to extend the life of normally functioning devices that can act as a minimum high-quality WiFi expansion access point and, at most, preserve other fairly important and high-quality functions.
The only thing we can really do is to raise awareness about the issue and maybe share a few ideas on how it could be solved on a more abstract level. Unfortunately, that’s all we can do. Normis has mentioned several times that only a tiny fraction of MikroTik users ever visit the forum. So in the end, it’s just a few voices from a few passionate users – not much more.
Still, it’s worth trying. ROSE data server for example, mentions this quote in the brochure:
The green design reflects its energy efficiency and eco-friendly approach. The RDS is built to reduce power consumption
while delivering high performance, making it a sustainable alternative to traditional power-hungry enterprise servers.
So I think Mikrotik cares for sustainability when developing new hardware. But it’s also sustainable to keep using fully functional hardware for as long as possible. After all, MikroTik just recently launched the Chateau LTE12 (2025 version) with only 32MB of flash. Apart from the modem and flash chip, it’s based on the same well-known IPQ4018/4019 platform used on several 16MB flash devices.
So why should older devices like the original Chateau LTE12, Chateau 5G, Chateau 5G R16, cAP ac, hap ac2 and others suddenly run out of storage or become obsolete, if nearly identical hardware is still being released in 2025 - just with slightly more flash memory?
Let’s be mindful of our planet’s resources and try to reduce electronic waste. Sustainable use of existing hardware is just as important as efficient software design.
Good point.. and I agree with you. Hopefully we can push MikroTik – or we also email them.
This is again, why I feel there should be an Enterprise level license where we have direct paid access to MikroTik support/engineers – this all to aid current and future development. There’s such a weird blend of where MIkroTik is trying to fit - for which niche and market vertical.. Do it all…
All the rage is their Discord channel. I have mixed feelings about the input they receive from Discord users. Perhaps, mainly from home-users and their input…
I’ve been very passionate for MIkroTik and really wish the best for them. However - we have been lately “voting with our wallet” and been shifting toward other vendors. I will still give suggestions and hope things turn around, but we’ve lost confidence. Perhaps in 6mo - 1year for now things may change for the better. But the current track, lack of focus and direction - not a great feeling.
Yeah, hapac2 is pretty much dated it would be a waste to throw them and upgrade to hapax2 just to experience improved wireless performance, we have 300+ device in the field welcoming this change if ever it will happen. come on MT Please give love what this device deserved
Otherwise, I feel the most of us – especially in production environments who have deployed CAP Ac [ I have a few in some restaurant envs]. However, performance was never perfect due to noise. But working. I eat my own dog food and have used cAp AC’s and haAP AC at my home office and they worked “fine”, and for a few other home installs.
These will become paperweights and cheaper to recycle and replace with another vendor [as we’ve been doing for other installs]. It costs us too much time, resources and money to troubleshoot and chase issues. When other WiFi vendors “just work”.
The cAP AC and hAP AC are great products. But the 16MB Flash is now killing them, when they can be usable devices. RouterOS split into architecture for these wireless chipsets, or a RouterOS package released thats slimmed down that is suited for when deployed in CAP mode. This can also be said for AX devices.
In this impending time of (IMO) unnecessary waste with Windows 10 EOL, extending the lifespan of a perfectly function piece of equipment sounds sensible to me. I don’t buy into Net Zero madness but equally I don’t like throwing away perfectly good stuff. I happened to do a Unifi install and wasn’t aware of their strict EOL on some devices. Left a bad taste.