[DASK.Music]

Forgive the long first post...

I have been a user of dd-wrt on a Dlink DIR-868L router for many years. Once I got a stable build I just left it rather risk a bad update and it has been great, very stable with good range on both bands.

However it has become a limiting factor on my wired links since it cannot keep up with my upgraded broadband speed which can hit 600Mbps, only giving me 390Mbps with Shortcut Forwarding Engine ON.

Fast forward I picked up a used Linksys WRT3200ACM off ebay and it has been nothing but problems. Maybe I should have done more research but foolishly I thought being open source ready it would be ideal and work very well on dd-wrt or openwrt.



I am going to leave what I have done to get this Linksys wrt3200acm working of sorts here in case it helps someone else. Please don't flame as I am not super techy on networks.

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1. I choose a fairly recent build to start with from 2024 and flashed the router from factory. Booted first time fine but if I changed anything in the settings it would no longer boot up and link via cable. Factory reset (10s reset hold) would clear everything and ddwrt would boot up again. Even just updating the username and p/w at the prompt of a now reset router would stop it booting a 2nd time. I tried many builds from 2024 and late 2023 and all did the same.

2. Digging around here I found a thread that said build DD-WRT-51937 was stable and known good build for the wrt3200acm. So flashed this version and this time the router behaved fine and booted up after changes and saves in the settings. (nvram issue ?). Weird.

3. Installed it on my network and did a wired lan test and it maxed at 600Mbps, great finally. Now a Wifi test using my laptop....WFT.... 1Mbps. I had set all the wifi settings to the same modes and channels as my older Dlink as these channels were free of congestion and have been fast and stable for me for years. I disabled radio 2 on the Linksys (as recommended) and just had radios 0 (5Ghz) and 1 (2.4GHz). This 1Mb speed was via the 5Ghz band. Normally I can get 100Mbps on wifi via laptops.

4. I used LinSSID under linux (my main OS) and checked free bands under 2.4G and 5G. Lots of free space at both ends of the spectrum but no matter what channel I choose initially I barely got past 8Mbps on 5G wifi.

5. At this stage I was getting a bit weary after days of messing and was going to ditch it so I thought, sod it, just update to the now latest dd-wrt build and damn what happens, if it bricks again I'll just go back to factory stock firmware and sell this thing. I updated to DD-WRT-56326 and this time the router would boot and reboot fine after changes. Another weird bug.

6. Still awful wifi on all channels when started to retest, but this time channel 157 at the very top gave me 300Mbps on the 5G band and the link speed from my laptop was now 433Mbps. I can live with that. What is odd that there is lots of free bands outside the DFS range but only this very top band gives me decent speeds.

7. Now 2.4Ghz band. I only use this for an android phone and this has the same issues of speed. I finally managed to get 20Mbps on channel 13 even though 11 is free. I have had the occasional drop out for whatever reason. I disabled WMM support under 2.4G and that seems to have helped with traffic flow. However if I disable WMM support under 5G that band vanishes. I keep them as 2 separate SSID. Re-enable WMM for the 5G radio and it comes back. Another weird bug.

8. The modes that work for me seem to be mixed mode 5G and mixed G/N. Anything else, the speed just drops off. My laptops are all N 5Ghz and phone N 2.4Ghz but just selecting this N mode destroys the bandwidth so mixed it is.


Finally...

The range of this thing sucks. My old £30 ancient Dlink 868L trumps this massively for range and that does not have the 4 fancy antennas on it. I have orientated the aerials to suit were my devices are located.

I understand the firmware for this is actually closed source and the linksys firmware wifi just sucks. Open Source ready they say ? Honestly if Linksys would just open up their firmware, there are some very talented devs that could likely improve it vastly.


So should I keep it or find something better like a Netgear R series. It only cost me £80 thankfully but I certainly would never buy a Linksys product again. I like the look of the Flint 2 (GL-MT6000) but that only has openwrt builds.

Rant Over.

[nickant]

Look for a thread I started on Mar 22, 2023 (currently on page 5 of Marvell):
Linksys WRT3200ACM - issues

I like my WRT3200ACM, as long as you stick to it's needed settings.

[ho1Aetoo]

There are several WRT3200 users here in the forum who also use WLAN.
Learn how to configure WLANs correctly and it will work.

[DASK.Music]

[kernel-panic69]

Sorry that I don't post more forthcoming information "daily", but I have one in place here and not having issues other than uptime. I was hoping that there would've been a 56350 build dropped for Marvell, but nope. Currently on 55630, had the longest uptime with 55615 (21 days) before a random reboot. Some issues are still being sorted out with Linux 6.1 and SFE for Qualcomm IPQ and Marvell devices. As always, "If you don't want it, I will take it"...

[nickant]

[DASK.Music]

For now it seems to be stable and working. I still need to turn off WMM on the 2.4Ghz band otherwise my android phone has issues so I guess I am running on G, it is set to G/N mixed.

The 5Ghz band is ok for where my laptops are, one directly under the router on the ground floor, router is on the floor above (3 bed semi), and the other on the same floor and same room as the router. TV is another issue, opposite end of the house from the router, it connects on 5G but signal is mediocre but I only use it very occasionally via wifi for youtube.

The range overall on both bands is generally worse than an old Dlink 868L RevB. I could go to the bottom on the garden to my shed and the Dlink would still be connected. This Linksys barely keeps connection outside the back door.

I have all 4 antenna horizontal.

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A Few Questions :-

Can anyone tell me the command to run to confirm the country code it is set to. I understand this is also locked in the device. Just curious. Also what is BFWA option for the UK. I have it set to UK standard.

The 2.4Ghz band TX power is 20dBm (Ch 13) but the 5Ghz TX power is lower at 13dBm (Max 26) (Ch 157+155). Does this level change with channel selection or just country (if it was not locked).

[ho1Aetoo]

The transmission power in the 5GHz band depends on the channel and the regulatory domain, but changing the regulatory domain will not help much as the WRT3200 has an integrated pre-programmed power table.

The channels from 149 upwards have the lowest transmission power in the EU and are declared as short range low power.

The channels above 100 have the highest transmission power

[DASK.Music]

Firmware: DD-WRT v3.0-r56326 std (05/10/24)

Just for info...

Some odd behaviour with the 2.4G band and my android phone with this build. If I enable WMM on 2.4G I have a problem you youtube thumbnails of other videos not loading/showing when any current video is playing. I guess it is giving priority to the video stream ? I can live with WMM off since videos still play fine and thumbnails of other suggested videos then show.

Another odd one is if I change the wifi channel on the router, my phone will drop the connection and not re-connect again, with various errors such as connected but no internet (there is, laptop on 5G is fine), or an error such as.. Network Connection Denied. Rebooting the router for what ever reason does not fix it. My only way is to solve this is to switch security type on that band, apply, back to WPA, apply. In fact it won't even switch to disable in the settings. If I set it to disabled and apply, the router does not change anything, it is still on WPA. So I have to change it to another mode like WEP, apply, then back to WPA, apply. Then my phone reconnects.

[atomicamp]

Hey, I tried some of the newer DDWRT Firmwares (2024 and newer) for this router, and had no success. They were all very unstable, and unreliable.

Then I tried https://ftp.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/betas/2023/02-04-2023-r51576/linksys-wrt3200acm/, and have been running it stably without any resets for about 6 months. I am using it as an OpenVPN server, as well as using SmartDNS so it encrypts all traffic to cloudflare using the DoH and DoT protocols. So far, the only errors I have found in it, is that it can't properly do "Port Range Forwarding", so you have to use just plain old "Port Forwarding" and forward necessary ports one by one. Other than that, this is the most stable version of DD-WRT for the WRT3200ACM that I have used in about 6 years, when I first got the router.

So if you are having problems with your WRT3200ACM, I would strongly recommend firmware https://ftp.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/betas/2023/02-04-2023-r51576/linksys-wrt3200acm/ firmware for it, unless you need port range forwarding.

[kernel-panic69]

Various reports either confirm or debunk this, but these are the current picks:

• Last Linux 4.9 kernel release: New Build - 10/14/2023 - r53633
  
• Or a known good Linux 6.1 build (55615 / 55630)
  https://ftp.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/betas/2024/

[Monza]

[SurprisedItWorks]

And don't leave all 4 antennas horizontal! Most people have them vertical. I believe a sound argument, if not a simple one, can be made for instead having each antenna pointing in a different direction, in conjunction with single-user or multi-user beamforming, and that's what I do here.

[kernel-panic69]

Well, with only a couple of changes tested, and the "crashfix" of 58401, 58430 alpha has been running stable for > 12 days on my WRT3200ACM. Still waiting for an 0 or 5 alpha or beta to drop to upgrade and test the reversion of those and other patches applied after the fact. I'm okay with waiting for > 30 days' uptime.

@SurprisedItWorks: I'd love to see your antenna "placement" !

[DASK.Music]

Firmware: DD-WRT v3.0-r56326 std (05/10/24)

Been running on this build now since the start of this thread. It seems stable apart from those few bugs previously mentioned. I ditched my old mobile and bought a newer one and that uses the 5G WiFi band solving the previous issue I had with my mobile on the 2.4Ghz band. I only have a camera on 2.4 now.

Range is still poor but its managable.