First Sighting: mt7925 m.2 card (WiFi 7) (be careful with mt7927)

[morrownr]

There may be other cards with the mt7925 chipsets but this is the first one I have seen for sale:

https://zfishtek.com/index.php/product/mt7925-wireless-lan-card/

This is NOT a recommendation for the above product. What this message is about is to point out that the mt7925 chipsets are flowing to product makers. Cards almost always come to market before USB adapters. That is just the way it is so now that we see cards on the market, it probably means that adapters will be available soon. It is hard to say how soon but sometime this year is a reasonable expectation.

The driver for the mt7925 chipset has been in the Linux kernel since kernel 6.7.

Edit: Warning: Cards with the mt7927 chip are available as well but driver support for the mt7927 chip is not in the kernel yet.

If anyone gets a card with a mt7925 chipset, please give us a report.

@morrownr

[ilikenwf]

I found a few on aliexpress and have one coming to play with.

[morrownr]

Hi @ilikenwf

I found a few on aliexpress and have one coming to play with.

I am looking forward to your report. None of us out here in the real world know what kind of shape the mt7925 driver is in so any word would be appreciated.

Thanks

[ilikenwf]

I'm just taking a $30 risk because my QCNFA765 keeps having persistent bugs even despite the fixes and I'm kinda tired of it...I'll take dysfunctional wifi 7 with functional 6E over dysfunctional 6E...

[ilikenwf]

...and I'm sure once this chip is perfected the price will 2x-4x.

[morrownr]

FYI: A user report indicates the mt7925 driver does not support the mt7927 chip that you may see. It would be wise to get cards with the mt7925 chip and not the mt7927 until we can sort this out.

[ilikenwf]

If that's the case I can attempt to help sort it or otherwise wait til it is - the linux wireless wiki suggests this chip is supported since kernel 6.7 though? I run Arch...so that's not an issue.

Come to think of it I'm not sure if this really counts as USB or not unless it's using the USB (saying bus here after feels redundant) through the E key slot on my board.

[ilikenwf]

Here is the one I have coming:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806768193339.html

Appears to be the 7925 so I spoke too soon. Haven't had my coffee yet.

[morrownr]

Haven't had my coffee yet.

I am working on my coffee. This is a coffee kind of day.

I am finding more info...see next msg.

[morrownr]

MT7925

Wi-Fi 7, WPA3, 2.4/5/6GHz, 4.5Gbps,
DBDC, BW 160MHz, 4K QAM, MLO,
BT 5.3 LE, MRC, MRU, HDT, 6 nm
FCC ID: RAS-MT7925B22M

MT7927

Wi-Fi 7, WPA3, 2.4/5/6GHz, 6.5Gbps,
DBDC, BW 320MHz, 4K QAM, MLO,
BT 5.3 LE, MRC, MRU, HDT, 6 nm
FCC ID: RAS-MT7927 • AMD RZ738

It appears that the only difference between the chips is that the mt7925 supports 160 Mhz channel width and the mt7927 supports 320 MHz channel width.

Indications are that the driver for the mt7927 chip has not been added to the kernel yet.

[ilikenwf]

I have not seen any mt7927s in my travels so far.

[morrownr]

I have not seen any mt7827s in my travels so far.

mt7927

https://zfishtek.com/index.php/product/mediatek-mt7927-wireless-lan-card/

mt7925

https://zfishtek.com/index.php/product/mt7925-wireless-lan-card/

[ilikenwf]

1b:00.0 Network controller: MEDIATEK Corp. Device 0717
	Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e106
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 236
	Memory at bfc00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
	Memory at bfe00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
	Capabilities: [80] Express Endpoint, IntMsgNum 0
	Capabilities: [e0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/32 Maskable+ 64bit+
	Capabilities: [f8] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1556 Rev=1 Len=008 <?>
	Capabilities: [108] Latency Tolerance Reporting
	Capabilities: [110] L1 PM Substates
	Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
	Kernel driver in use: mt7925e
	Kernel modules: mt7925e

So far it just works...I don't have a 7 AP, though.

[morrownr]

Three words I like to hear... "it just works".

[ilikenwf]

There may be occasional issues with the buffer but that could also be openwrt or interference, or my router, so I have to narrow that down.

At times, if I have issues, I have to restart NetworkManager too, though - it doesn't like being shut off and then immediately back on.

[morrownr]

I have noticed a couple of mt7925 M.2 cards on Amazon US this week so I may grab one soon so I can test along with you.

We are talking about a new driver that includes code for a new generation of wireless so it will have bugs. I have been noticing patches going in. It isn't just the Mediatek WiFi 7 drivers but Intel, Qualcomm and Realtek as well. I still have no idea what Realtek's USB strategy is for WiFi 7. Since this site is primarily about USB WiFi, I watch it more closely and I can usually pick up some hints prior to product introduction but not with Realtek this time. Mediatek's driver support plan is well known as USB and PCIe support for WiFi 7 is in the mt7925u and mt7925e drivers that have been in the kernel since 6.7. I expect mt7927 support soon.

Keep us posted as you continue testing.

[patrakov]

So far it just works...

Please provide a definition of "works", i.e., what exactly has been tested. Client mode, or AP mode? Does WDS work? Can more than one SSID be created? Is the advertisement of the DBDC capability true?

[ilikenwf]

Well, I'm using it on a client device and so I haven't tried setting up a network on it, though if it weren't for my openwrt devices that would be a killer idea if it were slightly more reliable.

Right now, on kernel 6.9, I find that after running for 12-24 hours I eventually need to reboot to get it running properly. I'm assuming some kernel module issue or perhaps a buffer issue somewhere, but things get slow and then eventually despite having a valid IP, the connection becomes useless - not sure if due to latency/speed or if something else is happening. While I can restart the networking service or reset the card, only a real reboot seems to fix it.

I'm running Arch so sometime I could setup a test network, perhaps, and connect some random devices to it if I need to...I also should have thought to capture a dmesg log before my last reboot, but I'm still drinking my coffee...