Arch Linux

r0b0t

Member

From: /tmp

Registered: 2009-05-24

Posts: 510

Picking a good wifi-7 network adapter for my laptops

Hi,
I'm looking to replace my laptops network adapters to a reliable and trusty wifi-7 adapter (that of course would need to support the 6Ghz band) that's supported out-of-the box.
My pick so far is MT7925 https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/ … t76/mt7925 as a good price/quality. I would wish for the MT7996 but it's hard to find.

I'v researched a bit but didn't find any reliable comparison between the models , pro/cons, quality etc.
If someone has already experience with MT7925 or another alternative , I'm all ears by all means.

thanks.

r0b0t

Member

From: /tmp

Registered: 2009-05-24

Posts: 510

Re: Picking a good wifi-7 network adapter for my laptops

I did go for MT7925 and here are my thoughts while using a tri-band wifi-7 / 6Ghz wifi router :

- Don't bother with settings and tweaks on your Arch forcing 6ghz support through iw reg set , if you have problems then make sure the router actually has 6Ghz enabled (1), and it's on a country that has support for 6Ghz (2) on some devices you might need to change the country so it can be enabled (due to regulations). If the router is pushing the right settings, wpa_supplicant and the wireless registry will follow suit adapting automatically the support according to the router.
- MLO is very shaky, in my case I was able to connect using both 5ghz and 6ghz but the stable connection was with 5ghz, the rest kept deauthenticating and actually interrupting the connection

Jul 14 18:24:48 arch kernel: wlp1s0: deauthenticated from A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 while associating (Reason: 9=STA_REQ_ASSOC_WITHOUT_AUTH)
Jul 14 18:24:48 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 reason=9
Jul 14 18:24:48 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Added BSSID A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 into ignore list, ignoring for 10 seconds
Jul 14 18:24:48 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: BSSID A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 ignore list count incremented to 2, ignoring for 10 seconds
Jul 14 18:24:48 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510288.9088] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: associating -> disconnected
Jul 14 18:24:48 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510288.9089] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: associating -> disconnected
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510289.0316] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510289.0316] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: SME: Trying to authenticate with A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 (SSID='wifi_nomap' freq=2462 MHz)
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch kernel: wlp1s0: authenticate with A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 (local address=fc:80:1e:55:58:0b)
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch kernel: wlp1s0: send auth to A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 (try 1/3)
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510289.3614] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510289.3614] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch kernel: wlp1s0: send auth to A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 (try 2/3)
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch kernel: wlp1s0: send auth to A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 (try 3/3)
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch kernel: wlp1s0: authentication with A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 timed out
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Added BSSID A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 into ignore list, ignoring for 10 seconds
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510289.7743] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> disconnected
Jul 14 18:24:49 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510289.7744] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> disconnected
Jul 14 18:24:50 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510290.7966] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Jul 14 18:24:50 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510290.7967] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Removed BSSID A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 from ignore list (clear)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Removed BSSID A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 from ignore list (clear)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Removed BSSID A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 from ignore list (clear)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: SME: Trying to authenticate with A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 (SSID='wifi_nomap' freq=5975 MHz)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch kernel: wlp1s0: [link 2] regulatory prevented using AP config, downgraded
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch kernel: wlp1s0: authenticate with A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 (local address=92:9d:a0:97:10:b1)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch kernel: wlp1s0: send auth to A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 (try 1/3)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510294.4690] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510294.4690] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: scanning -> authenticating
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Trying to associate with A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 (SSID='wifi_nomap' freq=5975 MHz)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch kernel: wlp1s0: authenticated
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510294.4725] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> associating
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch NetworkManager[1361]: <info>  [1752510294.4725] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: authenticating -> associating
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch kernel: wlp1s0: associate with A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 (try 1/3)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch kernel: wlp1s0: deauthenticated from A2:A2:45:13:4A:22 while associating (Reason: 9=STA_REQ_ASSOC_WITHOUT_AUTH)
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 reason=9
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: Added BSSID A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 into ignore list, ignoring for 10 seconds
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: BSSID A1:A2:45:13:4A:22 ignore list count incremented to 2, ignoring for 10 seconds
Jul 14 18:24:54 arch wpa_supplicant[1664]: wlp1s0: CTRL-EVENT-SSID-TEMP-DISABLED id=0 ssid="wifi_nomap" auth_failures=1 duration=10 reason=CONN_FAILED

In order to bypass this, I separated the 6ghz AP and connected directly to it.
- I found NetworkManager lack of 6 Ghz band on the UI interface surprising, but it's safe to ignore since wpa_supplicant, the driver and the hw is what matters and after separating the AP I was able to connect using wifi 7 on a 6 Ghz band.

Was it worth it?
If by that you mean having some crazy gains compared to previous 5Ghz / wifi 6 then no, it's almost exactly the same speedtest, the only gain was that I'm basically on a dedicated bandwidth with no one else creating interference but for that you don't need wifi 7. A router that has a 6Ghz bandwidth would be enough.

Last edited by r0b0t (2025-07-14 17:13:09)