Raspberry Pi 3B+ 802.11ac support in 8.2.4

1st Official Post

    Can anyone confirm that LibreElec 8.2.4 connects using 802.11ac on the 3B+? When I set my router to only accept 802.11ac connections, I am unable to connect. When set to 802.11n/ac mode, I am able to connect.

    I have a Generic Intel/Nvidia LibreElec setup right next to this Pi that streams perfectly using 802.11ac. This Pi using what I'm guessing is 802.11n buffers constantly. A wired connection to the 3B+ does not buffer.

    Update:

    The 8.2.5 release appears to have fixed this issue. There was an error message while connecting but the result was a connected and working 802.11ac connection.


    The Wifi is smoothly streaming from LAN file sources as well as and HD PVR server.

    Edited once, last by TDown (April 15, 2018 at 4:40 PM).

    • Official Post

    Sometimes it's possible that a wifi connection gets worse if devices are too close to one another... And if you do have the choice, a wired connection is always preferable. IMO, even on a RPi3B+.

    I cannot confirm/deny the AC-wifi mode, unfortunately my router is not that modern.

    Unfortunately, wired isn't an option in the intended location. This looks to be a driver problem in 8.2.4 if the 3B+ is meant to support 802.11ac.

    I think I'm hitting the same issue. connman sees my 5ghz network on a scan, but fails to connect. According to journalctl, this error seems relevant:

    "wpa_supplicant[523]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT status_code=16"

    I am yet to try enabling n/ac mode on the router, will report back once I do.

    Update: I am seeing the same as TDown, with ac/n mixed mode I can connect. With AC only I cannot. In both cases WPA2-PSK with AES is enabled. I tried setting the security settings to "auto" but leaving it as AC only and that did not work. I have also tried setting the 802.11 regulatory domain via a file in modprobe.d

    Edited once, last by mattyv (April 3, 2018 at 9:34 AM).

    Thank you for the report.

    Hopefully more people can test and chime in to get this looked at. I have not posted on the RPi forums as their product page lists 802.11ac support.

    The 8.2.5 release appears to have fixed this issue. There was an error message while connecting but the result was a connected and working 802.11ac connection.

    The Wifi is smoothly streaming from LAN file sources as well as and HD PVR server.

    Seems fine here too after switching the network back to AC only. Looks like there were some firmware updates for Pi3+ hardware. Can't find the specific fix but I'll take it.