There are plenty of low cost 802.11n routers or boards supporting OpenWRT, even starting at $10 or less such as A5-V11 mini router, but if you’re looking for something a bit more powerful with 802.11ac connectivity, options are much more limited, especially if you need something at a lower cost. One option is Xiaomi MiWiFi router based on Mediatek MT7620A with 64MB RAM, and T-Firefly team is now working on FireWRT board based on the more powerful MT7621A processor coupled with 512 MB RAM, and 16 MB SPI flash.
FireWRT specifications:
- Wi-Fi SoC – Mediatek MT7621A dual core MIPS 1004Kc processor @ 880MHz
- System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 (Beta version: 256 MB)
- Storage – 16 MB SPI flash memory, 2x SATA 3.0 ports, micro SD card slot
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4GHz up to 300Mbps
- 802.11 a/n/ac @ 5 GHz, up to 867Mbps (AC1200 class router)
- External High-Gain Antennas – 2x for 2.4GHz, 2x for 5GHz
- Ethernet – 2x LAN (Gigabit Ethernet), 1x WAN (Gigabit Ethernet)
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x USB 3.0 port
- Expansion
- mini PCIe slot (multiplexed with SATA), on the back of the board
- 2x 32-pin headers with GPIO, I2C, I2S, UART, NFC, JTAG, RGMII, 12V, 5V, 3.3V, GND
- Misc – Power, WPS and reset keys. LEDs for Ethernet, WiFi, SATA, and power
- Power – 12V/2A
- Dimensions – 125 x 93.5 mm
The boar runs OpenWRT, and the company has already released binary images, source code (U-boot, OpenWRT SDK), schematics (PDF), and mechanical files on the project’s download page, as well as some WIP documentation on the Wiki.
You can’t purchase the board directly on Aliexpress yet, but the company launched a beta program to allow developers to purchase a $69 kit including FireWRT board, a 12V/2A power adapter, an acrylic enclosure, a SATA cable, an heatsink, and a USB TO TTL UART Module. Please note that this beta board only has 256 MB RAM instead of 512 MB for the final version.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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> Mediatek
> MIPS
Well, this is going to be fun on the GPL compliance / FLOSS front…
Which linespeeds can it achieve? 400/400 Mbps? Because that is what I need on my FttH.
My TP-link with TP-link-firmware could achieve that, thanks to NAT hardware acceleration.
However, the same TP-link with Openwrt only achieves 120 Mbps.
@Sander
Yes the Hardware NAT acceleration patch in Openwrt is such an ugly hack that not openwrt dev wants to maintain it. This page is reall troll: https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11779
As far as I can tell the MT7621A contain WiFi so what chip are they using for the WiFi. Their website doesn’t mention what the WiFi chip is. Wikidevi lists 4 systems that use the MT7621A(T) all of which use the MT7612E or MT7612EN and either the MT7602 or MT7603.
Found the schematics on their website. MT7612E and MT7602E are used for WiFi. Looks like a ASMedia ASM1061 for the SATA, IC+ IP1001 for the Gigabit Phy and an MT6605 NFC chip.
@zoobab
Yes, I have seen that thread before. Disappointing, but hey … that’s the world of closed specs. That’s why I try to only buy hardware that is open specced and fully supported by open source hardware. That’s why I asked about this FireWRT-platform … 🙂
almost no mention of this hardware on openwrt.org – just a thread with 3 posts (1 of mine)
@maurer
They mention FireWRT is “officially supported by OpenWRT” on their page.. I guess they stretched the truth a little bit then.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Patches were applied back in January (https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2015-January/030912.html). It appears that all that was necessary was a DTS file and a make file as all of the hardware elements were already supported by existing device drivers.
Anyone know of other boards with 802.11AC (>750mbps is good enough for me) and gigabit nics? it can be in a AP or full fledged router form factor.
<$50 but if it is as feature rich as this then around $75 is fine.
@poningru
Same, I’d love to know of 802.11ac with Gigabit NICs that supports open-source. Closest thing I’ve picked up so far is Xiaomi MiWiFi which is 802.11ac but with 10/100 ports, the nice thing is its only $27
@e97
Closest thing I’ve seen is this: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wireless-Router-1200Mbps-dual-band-AC-Router-Support-a-SIM-card-for-3-g-4-g/32382460744.html
2 orders (100% Reviews)
Specs:
New dual-core MT7621 chipset 880MHz
128 Mb DDR3 (Max 512 Mb)
16 Mb SPI Flash (Max 16 Mb)
4x 1000 LAN
1x 1000 WAN
Wireless Router 1200Mbps dual-band AC Router
Support 3G/4G/USB3.0/ MT7621A+MT7602E+MT7612E (PCBA /OEM/ODM)
Seems pretty good since its 802.11ac, Gigabit, USB3.0, SATA3, AND 3G.. if OpenWRT support is good this might be worth while..
FireWRT board won’t go into production due to cost issues -> https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=283363#p283363
bascially im interested in driver development (sniffer) Whether this board allow me to flash my driver code and test against a host?
please help me with your valuable comments
@Anjana
See comments above http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/05/14/firewrt-is-an-openwrt-802-11ac-board-powered-by-mediatek-mt7621a-processor/#comment-435515
The board won’t be produced. The alternative board WiTi board @ http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/12/14/witi-router-board-powered-by-mediatek-mt7621a-soc-now-sells-for-79/, also seems to be out of stock.
So instead you could consider something like Turris Omnia @ http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/11/13/turris-omnia-open-source-hardware-routers-crowdfunding-campaign-is-up/
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Thank you