MU-MIMO USB ADAPTERS?

[RMerlin]

Broadcom based MU devices/routers actually can reduce performance with MU enabled as Broadcom's implementation isn't very good.

Has this been proven to still be the case with the BCM4366E?

 

[Gar]

Just bouht a Netgear Nighthawk X8 R8500, they are MU-MIMO capable but all my office computers and laptops dont have a MU-MIMO wireless adapter.

Which USB MU-MIMO adapters are out there to buy alread?

I have seen only so far: http://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-WUSB6100M/

Is there any other USB adapters which support this function?

On sale $25 shipped. I realize it’s been awhile since you asked...

 

[sfx2000]

Simply buying a MU capable client won't help if its not based on a Qualcomm or Intel WiFi chipset or a router based on a Qualcomm chipset. Broadcom based MU devices/routers actually can reduce performance with MU enabled as Broadcom's implementation isn't very good. MU works best with decent gains on the QCA9984 based routers (Netgear R7800, Synology RT2600AC, Asus BRTAC828). Also note that you need two or more MU clients to even make use of MU-MIMO in the first place. Also don't expect a night and day difference either.

MU is complicated - from a client STA perspective - Broadcom on the fullmac* chips is very conservative - you'll find fmac chips in mobile devices - there's a reason for this - and it has to do with RF and the MAC, and that's ok from a MU view - MU is more about the AP trying to do some work to make the entire BSS more efficient.

* Broadcom - in general terms - has two chip archs - softmac and fullmac - softmac is what one generally sees on routers and PCI cards - fullmac is generally the chips one sees on USB and Mobile Phones - much of the fullmac line was sold off post-avago purchase to Cypress.

Realtek has pushed out a MU client chipset - which is the subject of this thread - not known how it performs across different MU AP chips - QCA was first, and then Broadcom, Quantenna, Marvell - but Realtek is probably the most common USB client chip as it's low power, and a fullmac firmware - just need drivers to access it.

Not sure where intel is client side with MU - other that Intel does try to at least do an attempt at a reference - sometimes good, sometimes needs work. The intel stuff I've seen are all softmac, so updates there are easier across both Windows and Linux.

 

[avtella]

Has this been proven to still be the case with the BCM4366E?

Good point, I haven’t seen tests with the 4366E based routers/clients.

 

[sfx2000]

Has this been proven to still be the case with the BCM4366E?

With Broadcom - The 4366E did bring in a lot of improvements for the AP side - but with MU, it's really about the client side.

Anyways - for most folks here - MU is probably a non-starter, not much benefit in a small LAN, and even then, MU has characteristics that limit things to about 10 percent of traffic - even with a MU AP and Client, the traffic has to be suitable in 11ac - which is generally multicast stuff...

 

[RMerlin]

With Broadcom - The 4366E did bring in a lot of improvements for the AP side - but with MU, it's really about the client side.

The BCM4366 was broken on the AP side, so no client could work properly with it. Might be a different story with the BCM4366E however.

And yes, MU-MIMO is another one of these ideas which are great on paper, but in practical life rarely work as intended, and are generally not worth the trouble.

 

[psychopomp1]

Mu-Mimo seems to work quite well on my Linksys EA9500v2 which uses BCM4366E radios. This is based on using the Asus PCE-AC88 PCI card and my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 5th gen notebook both of which are Mu-Mimo equipped.

 

[Fingers]

Does anyone know what chip is in the Linksys Lapac2600 AP? I was going to upgrade from a 1750 for the 4x4 MU-MIMO as I have a few machines running the Asus pce-ac88's. I cant seem to find any info on the Linksys site.

 

[psychopomp1]

Does anyone know what chip is in the Linksys Lapac2600 AP? I was going to upgrade from a 1750 for the 4x4 MU-MIMO as I have a few machines running the Asus pce-ac88's. I cant seem to find any info on the Linksys site.

Its Qualcomm based. It uses the Qualcomm IPQ8065 as its CPU (1.7Ghz dual core) and a pair of QCA9990's for the radios.

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_LAPAC2600

 

[avtella]

Mu-Mimo seems to work quite well on my Linksys EA9500v2 which uses BCM4366E radios. This is based on using the Asus PCE-AC88 PCI card and my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 5th gen notebook both of which are Mu-Mimo equipped.

MU most likely won’t be used since both client and host are 4x4 if you have a PCE-AC88 which would make more sense, it’s probably just operating in SU mode just like your laptop. Haven’t seen any mainstream review with 4366E MU tests. A few anecdotes here and there I’ve seen, saying it’s still not par with QCA but at least not dropping performance like the earlier revision.

MU makes more sense with 2 2x2 clients connecting to a 4x4 router. Only the 9984/9994 can utilize two 2x2 MU clients simultaneously as far as I know, not sure about the 4366E. The older QCA 9980 and equivalents can only do 1 1x1 and 1 2x2 clients or 3 1x1 clients simultaneously.