I'd like to second HalfBit's endorsement of 29300 30/03/2016 build on the R7000. It is very stable, and the wifi range and throughput on the 5GHz radio far exceed anything I've found on other dd-wrt releases, shibby tomato, or OEM stock firmware. The 3.10 kernel indeed does seem to play very nicely with the R7000.
In hopes of helping other users, I'm happy to leave the following for the sake of posterity:
2. Many people struggle with which regulatory country to use for the maximum wifi coverage (without regard to their own country's regulatory limits). Buried somewhere, I was able to find to the link to the Linux wireless regulatory database that dd-wrt seems to follow:
The 2402-2472 range is the 2.4GHz channels.
The 5170-5250 range is the 5GHz low channels.
The 5250-5330 range is the 5GHz mid (usually DFS) channels.
The 5735-5835 range is the 5GHz high channels.
Max power is listed for each range in dBm.
For my situation, I need maximum power on the lowest possible 5GHz frequency in the hopes that the signal will penetrate through a two walls to my home office and give me the maximum amount of bandwidth. Many countries will allow 24dBM in the 5GHz low range, but only one country will allow 30dBM in the 5GHz mid channels: Bolivia.
I have verified the transmission power in this configuration using the "wl txpwr" command which yielded the result of "31.75 dBm = 1496 mw".
After lengthy experimentation, I can confirm that the R7000 running dd-wrt 29300 30/03/2016, using Bolivia as the regulatory domain, and the 5GHz radio configured for channel 52 with extension channel lower-lower and an 80 MHz width produces unsurpassed wifi results in my environment.
@vonLampertheim Thanks for sharing! I put a link inside the sticky R7000 thread. _________________ IT Crowd - Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again?
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I have verified the transmission power in this configuration using the "wl txpwr" command which yielded the result of "31.75 dBm = 1496 mw".
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That's useless since it will give you the same value for any country.
Kong wrote:
The default "auto" power shows
31.75 dBm = 1496 mw
This is no real value it is a broadcom internal val which means "default" power.
Whatever you set, the unit will not allow more output than defined in the regions output table.
It is not possible on these units to boost the output, that's why I added the option "Auto" so that people don't even try to mess with txpwr value.
Also, can you give some actual comparison numbers on how Bolivia was the best of all?
Also, can you give some actual comparison numbers on how Bolivia was the best of all?
vonLampertheim wrote:
After lengthy experimentation, I can confirm that the R7000 running dd-wrt 29300 30/03/2016, using Bolivia as the regulatory domain, and the 5GHz radio configured for channel 52 with extension channel lower-lower and an 80 MHz width produces unsurpassed wifi results in my environment.
Field studies :- )
Quicktest tried by myself (beamforming expl./impl. enabled,AC connection), no significant signal strength change metered with wifi analyzer but after router reboot the smartphone internal meter showed increased signal quality. After switching back regulatory domain signal quality stayed good so no, can't confirm signal boost on my site (Germany/Bolivia,channel 52 low/low)
If the router is truly following the regulatory database of the kernel that I included above, then this is the best all around profile I can find that gives maximum power across most frequencies:
This profile is available on the following countries: American Samoa, Bermuda, Micronesia, Haiti, Marshall Islands, Northern Marinara Islands, Nicaragua, Palau, and US Virgin Islands. However, not all of these regulatory domains are available as choices in the dd-wrt dropdown lists.
Also of note, Bolivia is the only country to offer 30 dBM on the 5.2GHz mid band, but it doesn't offer 5.2GHz lows at all and it only gives 20 dBm on the 2.4 GHz channels:
Venezuela had power limits just under the "max" profile above, and it is available as a choice in dd-wrt. It also gives you channel 13 on the 2.4 GHz band.
Yeah by actual comparison numbers I mean file transfer rates comparison, range signal quality comparison etc.
I know that theorically you gained 7dBM but I'm curious to check if that actually translate to real performance or it is just crap. I would try it myself but haven't got my router since few weeks.
Also of note, Bolivia is the only country to offer 30 dBM on the 5.2GHz mid band, but it doesn't offer 5.2GHz lows at all and it only gives 20 dBm on the 2.4 GHz channels:
Venezuela had power limits just under the "max" profile above, and it is available as a choice in dd-wrt. It also gives you channel 13 on the 2.4 GHz band.
I did some thorough analysis on this yesterday and you stole the words right out of my mouth. Bolivia's power limit for 2.4GHz completely sucks in comparison with USA's.
Also, there is no other Regulatory Domain which has a 2.4GHz DBm higher than 30DBm anyway so there isn't much of an incentive to switch it as far as I can see.
Here you can easily see the regulatory limits for each country
Kong states on this other thread where he gets the regulatory limits during a discussion where a user felt his router was changing channels for DFS too easily.
Is this essentially the same information as vonLampertheim is referring to?
<Kong> also stated on the topic I linked above how to check firmware output to confirm it matches regulatory limits.
<Kong> wrote:
Just compare firmware output for channels and country by using these commands:
iw phy0 info (2.4G on a 1200AC)
iw phy1 info (5G on a 1200AC)
and compare output with regulatory rules.
This year, the FCC has newly allowed some looser limits in USA allowing more transmit power on the lower 5ghz channels and allowing (with DFS) certain channels that were banned before.
Referring to links at the bottom of that page for diagrams of the 5ghz limits
905462 D05 802.11 Channel Plans Old Rules v01
905462 D06 802 11 Channel Plans New Rules v02
We see transmit power allowed is raised to 30 dBm for channels 36-48 and their overlapping 40 and 80 mhz wide channels.
Also, channels 120, 124, and 128 (along with overlapping 40 and 80 mhz channels) are added, subject to DFS for Doppler Radar.
How can we configure our R7000's to take advantage of these new legal options here in the USA? I would like to be able to do this, utilizing fully, but also staying within the correct limits of the new regulations.
It seems the regulation databases quoted above still show the older USA FCC guidelines.
I am curious, given that one user was complaining about the router changing channels too easily for DFS (on an older build), what are current impressions as to whether DFS is working as it should on the R7000 (changing channels when it should, but not too easily, and reverting back to the original channel when it should)?
What changes have there been in the history of DD-WRT for R7000 that might affect user setting of transmit power or operation of DFS? Can we set tranmit power as we wish, anywhere between very low values and the legal limit as directed by the selected regulatory domain?
Are there versions of DD-WRT (that we may want to avoid to ensure compliance) that did not correctly limit transmit power on some or all channels or did not implement DFS when it should have been implemented?
Also, what builds will allow us to use transmit power fully up to the lesser of the hardware capability of the router and the legal limit as per the selected regulatory domain? Is that only the 29300 discussed on this thread, or what other builds?
Conclusion: txpower matches the regulatory domain of 30 dBm on channel 52, which is the only regulatory domain which allows that power at that frequency.
That's useless since it will give you the same value for any country.
Kong wrote:
The default "auto" power shows
31.75 dBm = 1496 mw
This is no real value it is a broadcom internal val which means "default" power.
Whatever you set, the unit will not allow more output than defined in the regions output table.
It is not possible on these units to boost the output, that's why I added the option "Auto" so that people don't even try to mess with txpwr value.
You are right: the "wl txpwr" command seems useless for determining what tx power the R7000 is actually using. It is the same value every time.
root@DD-WRT:~# wl country
BO (BO/0) BOLIVIA
root@DD-WRT:~# wl txpwr
31.75 dBm = 1496 mw.
root@DD-WRT:~# wl txpwr1
TxPower is 127 qdbm, 31.75 dbm, 1496 mW Override is Off
root@DD-WRT:~# wl country
US (US/0) UNITED STATES
root@DD-WRT:~# wl txpwr
31.75 dBm = 1496 mw.
root@DD-WRT:~# wl txpwr1
TxPower is 127 qdbm, 31.75 dbm, 1496 mW Override is Off
root@DD-WRT:~# wl country
NZ (NZ/0) NEW ZEALAND
root@DD-WRT:~# wl txpwr
31.75 dBm = 1496 mw.
root@DD-WRT:~# wl txpwr1
TxPower is 127 qdbm, 31.75 dbm, 1496 mW Override is Off
root@DD-WRT:~#
Do you know of a better command on the R7000 to check what tx power the unit is actually transmitting? The GUI reports "auto" which is also of little help.
As you see from the above posts, the WRT1200AC seems to have a better command set for determining actual tx power output. Any help with similar R7000 commands is appreciated.
Also, can you give some actual comparison numbers on how Bolivia was the best of all?
Hi Xeon,
Admitting all of the inherent problems of posting subjective results in my particular environment, here's a quick and dirty comparison:
R7000
Kong build 29300
Transmitting to my client 30 feet away through 2 layers of sheetrock, which was the problem I was trying to solve when I started experimenting in the first place:
Per the earlier post, I have yet to find an R7000 command that returns the actual tx power value being used by the unit, so all I have to go on is the published regulatory limits and how my client behaves when changing the regulatory domains.
Also, can you give some actual comparison numbers on how Bolivia was the best of all?
Hi Xeon,
Update: I've ran a second batch of tests and updated the findings below.
R7000
-Kong build 29300
-Transmitting to my client 30 feet away through 2 layers of sheetrock.
-File copy of a 500MB file from the USB 3.0 port to my PC
I'm now very happy to conclude that the R7000 is indeed following the regulatory domain database that we've identified (as documented with the power output statistics generated from the wrt1200ac, which don't seem to be available on the R7000).
The Bolivian 30 dBM power limit on channel 52 is yielding the best 5GHZ performance in my environment. However, as noted above, selecting Bolivia means a reduction to 20 dBm on the 2.4GHz band over the US. Horses for courses.
