Linksys MR7350 Wifi6 Introduction

[chadster766]

The MR7350 is a Mesh Wifi6 router which is designed to work with the Linksys Velop Mesh system as either a primary node (router) or as a secondary node in an existing Velop system.

A power cycle was required after initial setup especially when I configured it as a secondary node with the MR9600. The MR7350 connection to the MR9600 was unstable and the MR7350 LED would flash red when it repeatedly disconnected. After a power cycle the MR7350 was very stable and had a good connection to the MR9600.

I've only tested the MR7350 with the Velop MR9600 and the MX5300 Wifi6 systems but plan to test compatibility with an older Velop system.

The MR7350 has an Internet\WAN port, four 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN ports and a USB3.0 port.

Primary MR7350 Node WAN to LAN (Ethernet) throughput test:
Topology: WRT3200ACM (McDebian) 192.168.1.1 => Primary MR7350 (10.100.1.1) => WRT3200ACM (McDebian) 10.100.1.196

root@MCDEBIAN:~# iperf3 -c 192.168.1.1 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.1.1, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.1.1 is sending
[  5] local 10.100.1.196 port 52534 connected to 192.168.1.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  40.6 MBytes   341 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec   112 MBytes   936 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec   112 MBytes   936 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec   112 MBytes   937 Mbits/sec               
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.02 GBytes   880 Mbits/sec  924             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.02 GBytes   877 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.

Primary MR7350 Node WAN to WLAN (5Ghz, WPA3, Wifi6, strong signal) throughput test:
Topology: WRT3200ACM (McDebian) 192.168.1.1 => Primary MR7350 (10.100.1.1) => Samsung Galaxy S20 10.100.1.161

 

[chadster766]

I hope you enjoyed this introduction of the MR7350 Wifi6 mesh router.

 

[chadster766]

Below are some of my standard Velop setup recommendations:

• 5Ghz doesn't pass through building materials very well so I wouldn't worry about a strong outside 5Ghz interference too much.
• According to my previous Velop testing Bridge Mode will provide the most performance since the Velop won't be doing NAT and firewalling.
• Use your sysinfo.cgi bh_report to maximize your coverage by keeping the AP\STA signal strengths to approx -65 between nodes. This will also help your wireless client roaming between nodes.
• Disable Prioritization, Node and Client Steering.
• Set Prioritization speeds manually to 1024mbps for both download and upload even though it's disabled
• Have separate SSIDs for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
• Try to get a hub and spoke topology instead of a daisy chain.

Instructions to get the Velop sysinfo.cgi report:

1. Linksys App => Velop Administration => Click on first node in list
2. LAN => IP Address
3. Use the LAN IP Address of the node in the below URL
4. http://<your node ip address>/sysinfo.cgi
5. Login using your Velop system password and username of "admin"
6. The report will display in browser, search for "bh_report" to find the backhaul report section

The output should look like this:

bh_report
  Node (MAC)  NODE IP          PARENT IP        Intf.  Chan.   RSSI(AP/STA)      Speed  State Timestamp  
------------  ---------------  ---------------  -----  -----   ------------  ---------  ----- ------------
149182854304  192.168.200.107  192.168.200.131    5GH  161          -70/-59  155.89500     up 1581717301

If you have wired nodes disconnect the Ethernet cable, wait 5 minutes and re-run the report to make sure those nodes are placed properly as well.

 

[chadster766]

I've change my recommended signal strength between nodes from -70 to -65.