What is the Best WiFi Card Adapter to get Full Access Point (AP) Mode with FreeBSD ?

bsdunixrock

bsdunixrock

Hello I look for a good stable fast WiFi Card to get Full "Access Point" (AP) Mode for Router/Firewall.

What WiFi Chipset drivers are currently supported to get Full AP Mode?

I look for the latest technology if possible.

I prefer M.2 but I can also use M.2 to mini-pcie adapter....

So what M.2 or Mini-PCIE WiFi Card is the best to get Full AP with FreeBSD / OPNsense / pfSense ???

Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
Phishfry said:
Atheros B222 -- QCNFA222
M.2 or Half Mini PCIe
Only 80211ABGN and speed is pathetic at 8MB/sec
techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com

Qualcomm Atheros QCNFA222 - TechInfoDepot

"NFA222", "250-02471-020", "E85792" and "1432-01" (08/2014)
techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com

I see FreeBSD 15 added support for mediatek MT76 but I don't know if it has hostap mode. I use MT79 on OpenWRT and it is pretty much front line.
Click to expand...
I recently bought the latest AsiaRF AW7991-AE2 Wi-Fi7 BE5000 module with MediaTek MT7991 chipset that has official Full AP Hardware Support but the drivers aren't supported yet by FreeBSD and are under development, but only supported in Linux for now.

Yes I prefer M.2 WiFi Card (Half or Full) for Mini-PC Router/Firewall.

Thanks I'll definitely checkout "Atheros B222 -- QCNFA222".

Have anyone else more suggestions, advice or tips?
 
Phishfry said:
Atheros B222 -- QCNFA222
M.2 or Half Mini PCIe
Only 80211ABGN and speed is pathetic at 8MB/sec
techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com

Qualcomm Atheros QCNFA222 - TechInfoDepot

"NFA222", "250-02471-020", "E85792" and "1432-01" (08/2014)
techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com

I see FreeBSD 15 added support for mediatek MT76 but I don't know if it has hostap mode. I use MT79 on OpenWRT and it is pretty much front line.
Click to expand...
What driver is Atheros B222 -- QCNFA222 using in FreeBSD?
 
Phishfry said:
Atheros B222 -- QCNFA222
M.2 or Half Mini PCIe
Only 80211ABGN and speed is pathetic at 8MB/sec
techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com

Qualcomm Atheros QCNFA222 - TechInfoDepot

"NFA222", "250-02471-020", "E85792" and "1432-01" (08/2014)
techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com

I see FreeBSD 15 added support for mediatek MT76 but I don't know if it has hostap mode. I use MT79 on OpenWRT and it is pretty much front line.
Click to expand...

What about Lite-On WCBN802A and Azurewave AW-NB182NF AR9565 (QCNFA335) because they both have M.2? Do they have Full AP / Master Mode support?
 
bsdunixrock said:
What about
Click to expand...
Yes I feel that will work. Anything ath9k linux will work and have hostap. I have not tested that particular model. I think I have used that chipset though.
QCA-AR95xx. Maybe a compex module or ubiquity.

Some of the FreeBSD USB Wifi Chipsets have support for hostap mode.
run and ran are 80211G but have hostap.

run(4)

man.freebsd.org man.freebsd.org
 
How naive I was.
Phishfry said:
I decrease rekey rate(in seconds) from the default of 3600. Would need a very stout computer to crack that fast.
Click to expand...
Flipper Zero can crack anything on password lists in enough time to defeat even this.

So never use anything remotely close to plain words for wifi passwords. Mix well with many other characters.
 
Phishfry said:
Yes I feel that will work. Anything ath9k linux will work and have hostap. I have not tested that particular model. I think I have used that chipset though.
QCA-AR95xx. Maybe a compex module or ubiquity.

Some of the FreeBSD USB Wifi Chipsets have support for hostap mode.
run and ran are 80211G but have hostap.

run(4)

man.freebsd.org man.freebsd.org
Click to expand...
What about Qualcomm QCNCM865 which supports WiFi 7 and have M.2 (NGFF) interface and driver is ath12k
 
No we have preliminary work on ath10k and some sort of wifi vm crutching called wifibox.
There are other drivers with hostap.

Calling ath the best is just my opinion.
 
There's still a lot of work do be done before you'll have "decent wifi", we don't have WPA3 support yet which you like want in 2026.
If you want the easy route grab a Cudy WR3000/WR3000* (~35 EUR), install OpenWrt on it, configure it as a "Dumb AP" and you have a very good and cheap AP that does 11ax with reasonable recent hardware without breaking the bank.
 
diizzy said:
There's still a lot of work do be done before you'll have "decent wifi", we don't have WPA3 support yet which you like want in 2026.
If you want the easy route grab a Cudy WR3000/WR3000* (~35 EUR), install OpenWrt on it, configure it as a "Dumb AP" and you have a very good and cheap AP that does 11ax with reasonable recent hardware without breaking the bank.
Click to expand...
I already bought AsiaRF AW7991-AE2 Wi-Fi7 BE5000 module with MediaTek MT7991 chipset and is supported by OpenWRT for AP/Master Mode
 
11n is fast enough for now if stable. I only want to run in FULL AP / MASTER MODE. I only want to use my own hardware and use very power efficient mini-pc and that device only support M.2 wifi module. But can also use M.2 to Mini-PCIE Adapter.
 
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