TP-Link Wireless N ADSL router & Wireless dongles

Situation Overview

My Parents inherited a Netgear DG814 ADSL router modem. This is a prehistoric piece of equipment and dates from a time when most UK ADSL connections were 512 Kbits/second. I also believe it was one of the first ADSL modem routers on sale in the UK as it was purchased around 2001. More details can be found at www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/12-netgear-dg814.html

To cut a long story short, connectivity issues were being experienced by my parents where their ADSL connection would drop after a period of time, resetting the connection or power cycling the router restored the connection. I took the view it was worth replacing the router with a more up-to-date model and I chose the TP-LINK TD-W300KIT. The kit contains:

• Wireless N ADSL modem router
• Wireless N USB dongle (TL-WN821N)
• Some mini CDs
• Ethernet Patch cable
• 2 telephone cables with RJ11 connectors
• Microfilter with female RJ11 and BT connectors and a male BT connector
• GPL Licence agreement

After installing the router and ensuring it connected to the internet and resolves the connection issues, it was time to play!

At home I also have a Netgear Wireless N router, but I don't use the "N" dongle it was supplied with because I had issues trying to make Linux work with it, that was 18 months ago. This wireless N dongle is a Netgear WN111v2.

Test Systems

With me I have a laptop and a netbook.

The laptop is a Fujitsu Siemens E8010

The netbook is a Toshiba NB200

Fujitsu Siemens E8010 Laptop

I purchased this laptop in 2004 and has provided excellent service and has been a Linux host for most of it's useful life, about 5 minutes after I received it :-). Although the laptop has a 108.11b wireless adapter, I thought I would try the "N" dongles anyway.

The laptop is currently running Linux Mint 32 bit "Debian Edition", and most of the hardware works "out of the box". The only unrecognised hardware is the SD Card slot.

Attaching the Netgear dongle revealed the Linux Mint didn't start the WIFI immediately, there seemed to be some issue with firmware:

  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.540065] usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.720268] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0846, idProduct=9001
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.720280] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=16, Product=32, SerialNumber=48
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.720290] usb 1-2: Product: USB2.0 WLAN
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.720297] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: ATHER
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.720304] usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 12345
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.720575] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824534] cfg80211: Using static regulatory domain info
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824538] cfg80211: Regulatory domain: US
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824540]     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824543]     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2700 mBm)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824546]     (5170000 KHz - 5190000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824549]     (5190000 KHz - 5210000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824552]     (5210000 KHz - 5230000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824555]     (5230000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824558]     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 3000 mBm)
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  707.824852] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
  Dec 25 19:57:17 lwok006dtp kernel: [  708.204068] usb 1-2: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4
  Dec 25 19:57:19 lwok006dtp kernel: [  709.376065] usb 1-2: firmware: requesting ar9170.fw
  Dec 25 19:57:19 lwok006dtp kernel: [  709.381737] usb 1-2: firmware: requesting ar9170-1.fw
  Dec 25 19:57:19 lwok006dtp kernel: [  709.386873] ar9170usb: probe of 1-2:1.0 failed with error -2

Searching online for "ar9170" led me to the following page, wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ar9170 which has the official firmware from Atheros to drive the wireless dongle. Linux Mint Debian edition is running Linux Kernel 2.6.32-5, so the "One Stage" driver is sufficient: www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/mcgrof/firmware/ar9170/ar9170.fw Downloading this and copying it to /lib/firmware was sufficient to make the dongle work:

Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6252.956083] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.140236] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0846, idProduct=9001
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.140249] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=16, Product=32, SerialNumber=48
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.140259] usb 1-1: Product: USB2.0 WLAN
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.140266] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: ATHER
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.140273] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 12345
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.140537] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Dec 25 21:29:42 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6253.256083] usb 1-1: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8
Dec 25 21:29:44 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6254.428076] usb 1-1: firmware: requesting ar9170.fw
Dec 25 21:29:44 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6254.819839] Registered led device: ar9170-phy4::tx
Dec 25 21:29:44 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6254.819974] Registered led device: ar9170-phy4::assoc
Dec 25 21:29:44 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6254.819983] usb 1-1: Atheros AR9170 is registered as 'phy4'
Dec 25 21:29:45 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6256.211193] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
Dec 25 21:29:48 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 6259.227200] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready

There is also an open source version of the firmware, provided by The Community. I haven't tried this and will post an update once I have exercised it.

TP-Link TL-WN821N

Installing this in the laptop, it appeared to work "Out of the box", but this was probably because the firmware had already been installed, although the dongle seemed to be using either US or China frequencies.

Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.384083] usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.564192] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0cf3, idProduct=1002
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.564220] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=16, Product=32, SerialNumber=48
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.564230] usb 1-2: Product: USB2.0 WLAN
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.564236] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: ATHER
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.564243] usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 12345
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.564504] usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686660] cfg80211: Using static regulatory domain info
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686663] cfg80211: Regulatory domain: US
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686665]     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686669]     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2700 mBm)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686671]     (5170000 KHz - 5190000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686674]     (5190000 KHz - 5210000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686677]     (5210000 KHz - 5230000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686680]     (5230000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686683]     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 3000 mBm)
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2187.686971] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
Dec 25 22:26:43 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2188.053204] usb 1-2: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
Dec 25 22:26:44 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2189.224069] usb 1-2: firmware: requesting ar9170.fw
Dec 25 22:26:45 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2189.687604] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: CN
Dec 25 22:26:45 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2189.692176] Registered led device: ar9170-phy0::tx
Dec 25 22:26:45 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2189.692224] Registered led device: ar9170-phy0::assoc
Dec 25 22:26:45 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2189.692227] usb 1-2: Atheros AR9170 is registered as 'phy0'
Dec 25 22:26:45 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2189.692254] usbcore: registered new interface driver ar9170usb
Dec 25 22:26:46 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2191.019120] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Dec 25 22:26:49 lwok006dtp kernel: [ 2194.007224] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
 

richard@lwok006dtp ~/Downloads $ sudo iw reg get
[sudo] password for richard:
country US:
    (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (6, 27)
    (5170 - 5190 @ 40), (6, 23)
    (5190 - 5210 @ 40), (6, 23)
    (5210 - 5230 @ 40), (6, 23)
    (5230 - 5330 @ 40), (6, 23)
    (5735 - 5835 @ 40), (6, 30)

 In any case the connection to the router was stable.