Larger WiFi Card Support

I was wondering if it would be possible to install this card on the Turris:

http://www.524wifi.com/index.php/minipci-pcie-atheros-cards/compex-wle1200v5-22-4x4-802-11ac-minipcie-radio-card.html

Please advise.

A datasheet for the card can be found here:

http://www.compex.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/WLE1200V5-22-v2.1-2.pdf

I noticed this:
Operating Voltage 3.3V DC, 5V (compulsory and external)
You may need an external power source too.

I’m interested in this too.
The problem with WLE900 is that it has a needlessly thick (IMO, I’m not an RF engineer) shield on the bottom of the card, since it puts the actual electronics on the bottom while the top is just RF connectors+heatsink.
The WLE1200 doesn’t have that problem, but it’s so wide it will block all 3 slots. It should “work”, but at the expense of the other 2 slots.
To alleviate spacing issues, you could use a flexible riser/extender for the mPCIe slot, but another thing to consider with these cards is that they require external power. There might be somewhere to grab 5v off the board, but it would have to handle ~2.5A for the WLE1200’s 13W requirement.

I ordered the Turris wifi router today. But i do not understand the concept of wifi cards.
The router transmits wifi signals by itself. So why need wifi cards?

The router essentially is a board that “just” connects various components such as the CPU, memory, WiFi cards etc. So it can’t do any WiFi by itself, that’s why it requires the cards.

The cards are the hardware part for the WiFi stuff :wink:

M4x

Thanks, I understand now.

I guess that choosing the right card will satisfy specific needs of users. For example hotel owners will have different cards than for example a family with about 4 persons.
Maybe one card has a bigger range, or other frequencies than another card?
I guess I learned something new today.

Yes, there are differences between cards, but less with power and frequencies than rather with driver support, throughput etc. A hotel will probably use more than one AP in the first place. :wink:

The used cards are dealing with different WiFi “standards” on different frequencies. But you wouldn’t change them for a family or a hotel environment. Very important are the antennas (regarding range for example)

M4x

deltahotel, thank you for the reply. I am looking forward to april when I receive my Turris router. I will look then further for which wifi card I might buy. One reason for buying this router is because there is a great community behind it.

Hi M4x, thank you for your reply. I thought I knew quite a lot about wifi. But you and deltahotel learned me a lot in a very small period.
Looking forward to getting my Turris router with 2 Gb RAM.

Glad to help! If you’ve any further questions, please go ahead!

M4x

Most routers have all the chipsets (including wifi) soldered directly onto the main board, with this router there are slots for adding in wifi cards. This has the advantage that the router is upgradeable with future wifi versions. For instance, all routers for a time were Wireless-G up to 54mbps. Then came Wireless-N at 150mbps, then upgraded to 300mb and then to 450mb. All these required the purchase of new routers to take advantage of the new speeds. With the Turis Omnia, we will instead only have to purchase a new wifi card and the router will then support the newer, faster speed :smiley:

I know for myself I am personally excited for this since I will use it now to support standard features like any other router, but in the next year or two I will be upgrading the router with a WiGig card to support the 60GHz band at 7gbps. This will greatly improve the speed for the room the router is located in. And since my router is located in the great room of my house, that means the main living area will get 7gbps wifi once I upgrade it.

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Actually, it’s not uncommon for high-end routers, especially when the standard is new to have WiFi cards in mini-PCIe (or, on older devices, mini-PCI) slots. Sometimes the original router version uses a slotted card, and later revisions move it directly to the PCB.

Well - you just have to wait for 44 mu-mimo + beamforming (and, of course, the capable opensource driver for it) then we are settled - perhaps there might be other standards that support lower frequencies, but higher frequencies won’t get much benefit if your setting up a normal wifi (wigig: below one meter range…).
But for a 4
4 mu-mimo we would need a new case or at least to cut a whole - what will become difficult using a metal case :confused:

Why shouldn’t you be able to drill/cut holes in metal?

M4x

Edit: typo

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Well, shure you are - but not every household owns the necessary tools for that. Plastic ist more easy to edit :wink:
But you don’t only have to drill/cut one, but 4 holes, to be able to arrange the antennas in a reasonable symmetry.