[nickant]

Not wishing to turn this into a OpenWRT thread, but I have now updated my WRT3200ACM from 19.7.10 to 21.2.5 (reset everything) and then to 22.03.2.
I did not apply the recommended workaround and only have one 5MHz radio on band 149 at 30Db.
This time everything - including wifi - works fine.

[nickant]

Having established that both stock Linksys and OpenWrt firmwares work on this unit, it's now time to try DD-WRT once again.
1. Flashed Linksys twice - full reset
2. factory to dd-wrt - and again for second partition.
3. set up as wired AP:
No WAN, no DHCP, set IP + Gateway + DNS, only 1st 5GHz radio, AC/N Mixed, 80MHz width, Band 149, US at 30dB, WPA2/AES, MAC Filter - whitelist
Wifi all works fine!
A few more changes:
Protection Mode RTS/CTS, Beamforming, WPA Strict Reykeying, Disable EAPOL Key Retries
Trying to make up for WPA2 shortcommings.

[blkt]

Protection Mode & RTS Threshold I recommend None and Disable, unless trying to solve a hidden node problem.
Disable EAPOL Key Retries workaround has not been needed for very long time and may introduce some issues.

Very good to hear WRT3200ACM all is well on r52330; your persistence to troubleshoot problems is appreciated.

[nickant]

Thank you, blkt.
I have modified settings as you recommend.
This router is flawed but usable.
Performance under DD-WRT and OpenWrt under my limited testing shows similar performance, so of course it's now on DD-WRT.
Overall, everying seems fine - but with limitations:

1. Don't even try WPA3 (or enabling Frame Protection in OpenWrt) - this broke wifi for me - and when I went back to WPA2 without Frame Protection I noticed that my wifi signal (Band 149 at 30dB at US setting) only output 24dB, no matter that it said 30dB. I had to restore my settings from a backup made prior to testing WPA3. A reboot was not sufficient to get back my full TX output.
2. Despite setting Region for US or NZ or Panama, wifi TX output is restricted to 24dB on DFS bands. I am in Australia, so this is correct for here, but a little disappointing.
3. I did not remove the second 5GHz radio kernel component - as recommeded by OpenWrt - but I could stil access the DFS bands and switch back and forth - as long as I didn't change Region from US. Once I did, the DFS bands disappeared and switching region back to US did not get them back. I had to restore earlier settings from backup.

In looking at others wifi settings and testing out many variables, to me it appears that what some people think are key to getting a WRT3200ACM wifi working are just not so.
The basics of only WPA2, Band 36 or 149 for 5GHz and leaving Region to US if that is what your unit defaults at are more critical.
This was hard to confirm, as simply reverting settings just did not do what it was supposed to - somehow internally it retained all my poor choices.
Overall, it is a frustrating router, but for me now, wifi on Band 149 at 30dB has been very strong and stable - I have had no problem connecting various Android mobiles of varying ages, as well as several laptops older and newer.

[blkt]

WRT3200ACM has hardware region and power tables factory programmed and regulatory domain needs to match.
Yes disappointing WPA3 but not much can be done given the current status mwlwifi missing key features and bugs.

Agree about 36 and 149, I use 149 for 80 MHz backhaul, 36 for clients, never worry SSID delays or DFS vacations.

[nickant]

I had high hopes for this OpenWrt patch in a recent Snapshot:
https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=7475321f46b83cc04296638d6cf31542d11e3e78
However, it didn't seem to make a difference on my unit.
I might have to try it at a later stage.

[blkt]

Added my two cents about 5 GHz channels above. Patch is about ath11k? Certainly is not Marvell this is new QCA.
That is where a majority of the open source focus will be these days, new Qualcomm Atheros, and also MediaTek.

[Gameman Advanced Kid]

Router Model: Linksys WRT3200ACM
Firmware Version: DD-WRT v3.0-r52369 std (04/20/23)
Kernel Version: Linux 4.9.337 #3757 SMP Thu Apr 20 01:10:00 +07 2023 armv7l
Reset?: Yes, I did a factory reset like I do every time I flash this router since it is the family router.

/rant start
I do not understand why so many of you people have issues with the wifi on this marvell router. I have had it setup for my family and if they had any issues, they would be telling me about like they did in the past. Especially my sister who is very particular about how well the internet is working.

But if I do have any wireless issues coming up, I will let you know. But as it stands, I dont have any that I can report about.

Me and my sisters computers have no issues with the 5ghz marvell wifi when playing computer games or watching videos, downloading large files, or talking with people online via video or audio chats.

I do know that years ago when I tried marvell wifi particularly with the WRT1900ACv1, there were issues with the latency so I put them in storage. I tried them again a few years later and it seems like the issues they had were all fixed up. But now it seems like everyone else is having issues while I am not.

For WIRED devices, I have a desktop computer, powerline adapter and printer, my secondary computer, my sisters computer on few occasions, and my nintendo switch (docked).

For WIRELESS Devices I have my sisters computer, my computer on few occasions, My Thinkpad T14, my iPhone, sisters Ipad, my moms cellphone, sisters cellphone, my older sisters Galaxy s22, My brother-in-laws two cellphones, my own cellphone, Nintendo Switch (when non-docked)

Now if you all look closely at the list of devices I just shared, you will see that I posted my nintendo switch. Super Smash brothers is VERY particular about internet connections. IF there is ANY problems, it will either be like a power point presentation with buttons not being all responsive or it will just straight up disconnect with nintendo PROBABLY penalizing you for it. /rant end

Would also like to add that I am using WPA2 Personal with AES encryption. planning to test with WPA3 Personal with AES Encryption later.

EDIT: calling it right now. BLKT is going to tell me that I dont know any better and that despite my good experience with this router, call this a terrible router and that I should be using some qualcomm atheros router because QCA Wifi SUPREME! WOW AMAZING /rant really over this time

[blkt]

Familiarize yourself with the history of mwlwifi; so unnecessary to test WPA3 since results already known long ago.

https://github.com/kaloz/mwlwifi/pull/408#issuecomment-1518631176 Disconnection issue isolated single commit.

Investigations ongoing into known issues in the patch introduced to improve stability so the regression is very real.

[SurprisedItWorks]

I set up a Netgear XR500 (updated R7800) to replace my Linksys/Marvell WRT1900ACSv2 thinking, as you say based on all the heavily biased local lore, that everything would be better and faster. Turns out my Linksys system was faster in many ways. I've tested my little Linksys at over 400 Mbps over wireguard and at 220 Mbps over OpenVPN. More typically I get 80 Mbps via OpenVPN on the Linksys but 40 Mbps or less on the XR500. I more consistently get maxxed-out wifi speeds on the Linksys as well. The XR500 is superior in wifi range (better RF hardware and antenna matching?), but on other matters I'm not seeing it. In fact, I have one old laptop with "N" wifi on both bands but no AC that will not connect to the XR500 on 5G at all. The Linksys would happily connect with anything over N or AC.

For context, this setup has six SSIDs, the two main ones and four VAPs, along with VLAN splitting of the LAN ports, all for careful network segmentation. It has an OpenVPN client to a commercial server, three wireguard clients to commercial servers, one wireguard client to a relative's router, and two wireguard servers providing access when we're out to our fancy DNS and VPN clients. Fancy DNS is built around three (triple redundancy) dnscrypt providers, of course routed via the VPNs, as well as a DNS-sinkhole adblocker blocking some 700,000+ domains (half that but doubled for IPv4 and IPv6). Most of our TV watching routes through a wireguard tunnel to a different family residence, at which we all must "live" now in order to share.

That little 1900AC Linksys with the inadequate reputation handles all this for ten to twenty household devices, for two of us full-time humans plus occasional guests, with a bit of help from USB fans to keep the CPUs cool. Yes, it's insanely overcomplicated, but what the heck, it was a learning experience! The XR500 is new to the household, and I may not have it tweaked up quite right yet, but so far I'm not impressed. I made the change anyway just to get away from a model, the Linksys, for which replacements are no longer available new or used. Spares matter. There are five identical routers in my extended family system (managed remotely via wireguard, VPN port forwarding, and ssh with keys, and that includes flashing new builds), and the hardware is five or so years old. We have had one partial failure, a 5G radio giving it up, and I'm afraid of more in a world with no spares.

[blkt]