WG1608 (16M) and RM520N-GL Performance (T-Mobile)

[egauk]

I have a WG1608 (16M) with RM520N-GL and am seeing far less than expected cellular performance.

I live about 1.5 miles from a T-Mobile UC tower. My SIM in a MR6150 I see ~800Mbps download/20Mbps upload. The same SIM in the WG1608 the most I see is 250Mbps download/30Mbps upload, router load is ~1.1 during the speed test. Speed tests performed hard wired and wireless with the same results. Both using magic from the original Mobile Beacon 5G device on a 5G plan.

The MR6150 is connected to n41 SA, the WG1608 is also connected to n41 SA (100MHz).

• Router Firmware: GoldenOrb_2023-02-24 ( OpenWrt 21.02-SNAPSHOT )

• Modem Firmware: RM520NGLAAR01A06M4G_01.200.01.200

• Modem Protocol: MBIM (I have tried QMI as well but performance is worse ~150Mbps max)

• Firewall: Software/Hardware offloading enabled

• Power: 4A wall power adapter

I wonder if I am missing a performance setting that needs to be in place either on the WG1608 or RM520N-GL. Or maybe the WG1608 just can't handle the load. Hopefully someone has run into a similar issue and can provide some of their experience. Thank you!

[egauk]

Just a quick follow up. Others in the ROOter Whirlpool forums are reporting the same issue but we haven't gotten any traction from the development team yet. I even tested a new ROOter OpenWRT 22 build but the issue still exists. Hard to believe no one in this forum has encountered this issue or maybe they just thought their speeds were carrier capped at 250Mbps? If I obtain helpful information from any other sources I will make sure to share it here.

[bumblebreezy]

Experiencing the same exact issue. RM520N-GL, but with a WS1208V2 router. MT7621 chipset. I'm using Verizon on 100 MHz n77 and getting around ~250-300 while a phone gets 600-700 Mbps. Very odd... keep me updated if you find anything.

[egauk]

In performing a lot of research I've found that something with the way ROOter manages the modem connections or possibly OpenWrt is limiting speeds to ~250Mbps. I've moved on to the InvisaGig which is a fantastic device. You can learn more here: https://invisagig.com/

[AlteredLogic]

In performing a lot of research I've found that something with the way ROOter manages the modem connections or possibly OpenWrt is limiting speeds to ~250Mbps. I've moved on to the InvisaGig which is a fantastic device. You can learn more here: https://invisagig.com/

Hello, I wanted to get some more information about the InvisaGig 5G system, I'm thinking about getting it for gaming purposes. Do you have the system outside or inside? If outside, how did you do it? I would be gaming so I'm also curious about how the system plays with T-Mobile's CGNAT and this devices effect on latency now that you cut out the openwrt router and just have the modem now.

[qy2009]

I thought I was the only one having issues. I have WG1608(16M) and RM520N-GL, which are exactly the same. with T-mobile, I have around 200Mbps download and 100Mbps upload, even though I have a 4x4 MIMO External Antenna from Waveform.

[roddel007]

I ordered WG1608 with RM520ngl. I found out that performance will depend on the antennas. Terminals 0 & 3 (outermost) supports Low Bands (eg band 28), Medium High bands (eg band 1 to band 41) and Ultra High Bands (above band 41) , while terminals 1&2 (innermost) supports Medium High and Ultra High Bands .

If you get it wrong it will give low performance.

I tried connecting my LPDA to terminals 0&3 and 1&2 with 5G antenna it improved im getting 80℅ signal while reversing would give me only 35℅ at 1km distance from tower.

Im am also using custom firmware from ZBT since using ROOter will only run it in 4g mode.

[roddel007]

My speedtest can max only 250 down & 50 down. I want to try updating module firmware as it might improve.

[Tommy_D]

Registered here to join the conversation about this. Have had the same issue for months now and have tried everything to no avail. Still caps at 250. Hopefully this can finally be looked at.

[roddel007]

well i found out that Cioswi firmware is indicating im connected to 5g
but when i checked on socat im only connected to LTE aggregated to 4 bands despite availability of 5g in the area. that's why it can't pass the 250
https://forums.quectel.com/t/request-rm ... ws/24698/3

[Tommy_D]

well i found out that Cioswi firmware is indicating im connected to 5g
but when i checked on socat im only connected to LTE aggregated to 4 bands despite availability of 5g in the area. that's why it can't pass the 250
https://forums.quectel.com/t/request-rm ... ws/24698/3

I have that wg1608 with rm520ngl from cioswi aswell using the default firmware the old LEDE reboot snapshot 17.01 and it says it's connected to 5G SA and caps at 250mbps. Are you saying it's not really 5G? How can I check.

Also my RM520N-GL firmware is: RM520NGLAAR01A06M4G_01.200.01.200

Received the new firmware from Quectel and am waiting for the USB adapter to update it to RM520NGLAAR03A01M4G_01.202.01.202

Hopefully that fixes the 250 cap issue

[roddel007]

Pls send me copy i wish to update as well.
roddel007@gmail.com

To check, run Putty.
Then login to 192.168.1.1 at Putty username: root password: admin.
Type opkg update
After update type opkg install socat
It will install socat to use AT commands
Then type socat - /dev/ttyUSB3,crnl
Type ATI to check if you are connected yo modem.
Type AT+QCAINFO to check whch band you are using

[Tommy_D]

Alright so I managed to upgrade my RM520N-GL using the integrated QFIREHOSE on rooter to the latest using putty and a USB thumb drive. Pretty painless if you follow their guide but it's still getting capped at 250mbps n41 etc on both QMI and MBIM. I don't know what else to do with this. I'm stuck at why it's getting capped.

Here's the firmware. Use at own risk

RM520NGLAAR03A01M4G 01.202.01.202.zip 125.8MB

QFIREHOSE guide for Goldenorb Rooter

Pls send me copy i wish to update as well.
roddel007@gmail.com

To check, run Putty.
Then login to 192.168.1.1 at Putty username: root password: admin.
Type opkg update
After update type opkg install socat
It will install socat to use AT commands
Then type socat - /dev/ttyUSB3,crnl
Type ATI to check if you are connected yo modem.
Type AT+QCAINFO to check whch band you are using

[roddel007]

Gracias. If my doubt is correct, maybe the m.2 slot is only usb 2.0

[Tommy_D]

Gracias. If my doubt is correct, maybe the m.2 slot is only usb 2.0

It uses PCI Express M.2 Specification Rev1.1. Know the speed of that?

[roddel007]

Although the slot is m.2 it is actually working/detected as USB. The version is what im not sure.

Pcie 1.1 is 250 MB/s
Im not sure if it works that way

He gave me a different version ie RM520NGLAAR01A07M4G i will try updating using my adapter

[roddel007]

i finally updated my firmware. sadly i can't connect to 5G bands. apparently, the mobile network is tricking us to believe that we are on 5G but actually it was only on 4G LTE. i tried going as near to the tower using my phone and with netmonster app, it showed that i was connected to 5G but was using LTE bands, it was just marketing as explained by the app. same thing showed on the cioswi firmware.

i am now using new OpenWrt 22.03.5 from Openwrt.org on my WG1608 and WG3526. i love the firmware since it boots and connects quickly and is quite stable compared to Rooter which is using old Openwrt 21 and that firmware takes too long to connect to the net.

[Tommy_D]

i finally updated my firmware. sadly i can't connect to 5G bands. apparently, the mobile network is tricking us to believe that we are on 5G but actually it was only on 4G LTE. i tried going as near to the tower using my phone and with netmonster app, it showed that i was connected to 5G but was using LTE bands, it was just marketing as explained by the app. same thing showed on the cioswi firmware.

i am now using new OpenWrt 22.03.5 from Openwrt.org on my WG1608 and WG3526. i love the firmware since it boots and connects quickly and is quite stable compared to Rooter which is using old Openwrt 21 and that firmware takes too long to connect to the net.

Have you tried switching to NR5G?

I've installed openwrt but couldn't get the modem configured so went back to Rooter. If you have a guide for our WG1608 that would be great.

[bruno01]

I have the same issues with both my WG1608 and ZBT Z2101AX. Speeds were consistently below 200 Mbps with the stock and rooter firmware. For comparison, my T-Mobile KVD21 gateway was getting around 350 Mbps. I decided to order one of these 5G M.2 to 2.5Gbps Ethernet(RJ45) adapter sold by Aliexpress.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/326805527880876.html
Same unit sold here for more.
https://chestertechrepalrs.com/products ... -is-manual

I ordered the version with the fan and DC input for $66.99 plus about $10 shipping. I took out the RM520 modem from my Z2101AX and moved it to the new adapter. Had to peel off the glue from the antenna connections on the modem to get it off. Then I followed the directions here: https://github.com/natecarlson/quectel- ... tion-notes

I'm now getting over 500 Mbps with this adapter. Another nice bonus, I didn't need to make any TTL modifications while on T-Mobile, though there is an option to do that from the instructions linked above. So the issue with the ZBT is either the router hardware or the firmware, and not the RM520 modem or modem's firmware.

[roddel007]

Accordingly software offfloading will increase throughput significantly. Bonus is hardware offloading is also supported by wg1608 with the mt7621 hardware.

From the experiment he is limited to 250Mbps without software offloading.

Im using openwrt so this is helpful to fully utilize the cpu which was bottlenecking if not configured

[MrEdLu]

Not sure if this information is worth anything but I did get over 300Mbps down when using OpenWrt firmware with my WG1608 and RM520N.
https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/zbt/zbt_zbt-wg1608_16m
I flashed the firmware and manually installed LuCI, WWAN components and Modem Manager to get it working. I used it for few weeks before reverting back to GoldenOrb as GoldenOrb was more stable. The OpenWrt snapshot image caused issues with my TPLink Kasa devices to drop off. This messed with my Google Home integration. Now with GoldenOrb, I see averages around 150Mbps and max of 200Mbps.