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hel
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Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sat Jun 25, 2022 1:05 am

Installed 7.3.1 with wifiwave2 package today on my hAP AC3 home router.

I think wifiwave could be a lot more intuitive than what I see now:
1. By default wifiwave interfaces names are wifi1 and wifi2. I'm not sure where is 2.4 and where is 5 GHz radio there. It is possible to select 5GHz channels on a 2.4GHz radio and 2.4GHz channels on a 5GHz radio, that's only make things more complicated.
2. Why do we need the exactly same settings (configuration, channel, security) in a both wifiwave2 interfaces and wireless tables?
3. I need to configure G/N(/AX) for a 2GHz band and N/AC(/AX) mode for a 5GHz band. There is only separate G or N and N or AC, I need them both for best performance and legacy support.
4. There is no selectable standard frequencies in the channel configuration. I could only guess - will my phone scan this frequency and connect. For example: I can type frequency 5432 MHz and my phone will not connect.
5. I have set TX Power on both interfaces to 17 dBm. In the standard wireless package we had a total TX Power table (usually ~3 dBm higher). What total TX Power will be there?
 
holvoetn
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sat Jun 25, 2022 1:15 pm

To me wifiwave2 is quite a lot like capsman.
Once you get your head around it, it's actually quite simple.
 
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mkx
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:01 pm

Installed 7.3.1 with wifiwave2 package today on my hAP AC3 home router.

My comments:
  1. agree on that. While the legacy driver with interface names like wlan1, wlan2, ... didn't offer frequency band information either, this could be somehow improved. It's even worse with audience which has got 2 5GHz radios.
  2. you don't have to make those identical if you want to use radios for different clients. If you do want to provide dual channel coverage (with ability to roam between them), then you can set certain things in profiles ... e.g. security profile. Then you simply refer to same profile in both radio configurations.
    The concept is, as @holvoetn mentioned, very much like in capsman
  3. I think the channel band setting is "maximum" and allows backward compatibility.
  4. you should refer to some (3rd party) list of standard frequencies and channel widths when manualy configuring these things
  5. even with legacy driver the power set for ac chipsets was total power (sum of powers per chain), so nothing new here
 
Ovic
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:17 pm

On hap ac3 wifi1 is the interface for 2.4 Ghz network and wifi2 is the interface for 5 Ghz network...so do your settings accordingly.
Here is a list of frequencies for wifi networks

https://www.electronics-notes.com/artic ... dwidth.php
 
pe1chl
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:28 pm

  1. agree on that. While the legacy driver with interface names like wlan1, wlan2, ... didn't offer frequency band information either, this could be somehow improved. It's even worse with audience which has got 2 5GHz radios.
What I think is worst is that there is not even a naming consistency between models...
On a RB4011 the wlan1 interface is 5GHz and the wlan2 interface is 2GHz
On a hAP ac2 (and I think on most other 2-band devices) the wlan1 interface is 2GHz and wlan2 is 5GHz.

And when you think "let's rename those to more sensible names" you run into bugs with configuration and conversion scripts (on upgrade, reboot).
 
holvoetn
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sat Jun 25, 2022 6:10 pm

Quite valid point there !
 
hel
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sun Jun 26, 2022 8:15 pm

And when you think "let's rename those to more sensible names" you run into bugs with configuration and conversion scripts (on upgrade, reboot).
No, I don't want them to be renamed. But those interfaces needs frequency band information, as mkx said. These interfaces should also not to allow unsupported frequencies and wireless standarts.
I have found a "radios" tab which has bands info. Radios there have corresponding MAC addresses to wifiwave2 interfaces. Why not add this info from "radios" tab to a separate tab inside wifiwave2 interface?
bandradio.jpg
mkx,
2. I think I understand how it works. One set of settings (inside wifiwave2 interfaces) are individual for one interface. Another set of settings are global, to use in multiple interfaces. Am I correct? I haven't used CAPSMAN.
3. Seems like that.
4. I'm not against manually set custom frequencies. But having a list of standard channels/frequencies will help a lot.
5. If I remember correctly, when in a standard wireless package I select "all rates fixed" tx power to 14dBm, the total tx power tab shows 17dBm (EIRP?).

Ovic,
Some of the frequencies are missing. I have set 5120 MHz. My phone connected to it without problems.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
 
pe1chl
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Re: Configuring Wifiwave2 is confusing

Sun Jun 26, 2022 9:03 pm

5. If I remember correctly, when in a standard wireless package I select "all rates fixed" tx power to 14dBm, the total tx power tab shows 17dBm (EIRP?).
In a radio with 2 TX chains, each running at 14dBm, the total tx power will be 17dBm. If it had 4 chains it would be 20dBm.
Each 3dB addition is a doubling of the power.
Antenna gain is in addition to that. Total tx power(in dBm) + antenna gain(in dBi) = EIRP (in dBm).

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