802.11n Setup Guide

Brief Overview

Since the release of Mikrotik v4.03beta, 802.11n draft wireless cards are now supported. This guide's purpose is to explain to those familiar with the use of regular wireless, exactly how to go about setting up an 802.11n card.

I have also created a page listing all working_802.11n_cards, please feel free to add to this list

Pre-Setup

Equipment

Equipment used on my test bench:

• RB411A x 2
• TP-Link Wireless N MiniPCI Adapter, Atheros, 2T2R, 2.4GHz, 802.11n Draft 2.0, 802.11g/b x 2

Note: I will be doing further testing with the Mikrotik 802.11n cards and adding info when they arrive but at the time of release I already had these cards spare.

Upgrading to v4.03beta

Steps to upgrading your Routerboard or x86 device are located here - Upgrading_RouterOS

The only difference to a normal install is that firstly, you will be installing a developement release of Mikrotik software.

As you can see in this image I have selected the RB400 series to match my boards.

Updating Licence key and unlocking 802.11n

Once you have completed the upgrade to v4.03beta, connect via winbox to your device then:

1. Open the licence page via System -> Licence
2. Click on the "update licence key"

Setup and Testing

This section details how to configure your wireless 802.11n card along with an example at the end of a preconfigured setup you can attempt on your own cards. I will also go into as much detail as possible on the new options provided to the 802.11n cards and what each of these does.

802.11n Configuration options

Winbox changable configuration options

• band (2ghz-b/g/n | 2ghz-onlyn | 5ghz-a/n | 5ghz-onlyn | other-original a/b/g options also available)
• ht-extension-channel (above-control | below-control | disabled)
• ht-rxchains (0,1,2 - any combination of these)
• ht-txchains (0,1,2 - any combination of these)
• ht-ampdu-priorities (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 - any combination of these)
• ht-guard-interval (any | long)

These items can be viewed and changed from in winbox or terminal.

Winbox viewable configuration options

• ht-basic-mcs (mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7,mcs-8,mcs-9,mcs-10,mcs-11,mcs-12,mcs-13,mcs-14,mcs-15 - any combination of these)
• ht-supported-mcs (mcs-0,mcs-1,mcs-2,mcs-3,mcs-4,mcs-5,mcs-6,mcs-7,mcs-8,mcs-9,mcs-10,mcs-11,mcs-12,mcs-13,mcs-14,mcs-15 - any combination of these)

These previous 2 options can be changed only from terminal, but appear in winbox.

Non-Winbox viewable configuration options

• ht-amsdu-limit (0..8192)
• ht-amsdu-threshold (0..8192)

These last two only appear in terminal at this time.