Low number of Wi-Fi concurrent connected users

Nicolas

A new driver for the Wi-Fi chip of RPi 3B+ and 4B was just released (Beware! It's a pre-release version!): https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=117&t=291609

Maybe this new driver will improve the situation (I've not tested it). Any feedback about it is very welcome.

Ian

Nicolas Hi. Have tried it out. First test has let me connect 7 devices (previously only 5) but 8th could not connect - but did not cause a crash as per previous. So a slight improvement but not enough - with a wifi extender have had up to 12 connected. I will do some more tests though.

Nicolas

Ian Thanks for the feedback.

It seems that using the firmware version here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1768601#p1768601 works better. Give it a try and don't hesitate to come back for comments.

Nicolas

This new firmware is now included in current version of Raspberry Pi OS image, released Dec 4, 2020 (with date 2020-12-02), and will be part of next release of MoodleBox image.

Stay tuned.

EDIT: unfortunately, the new firmware does not solve this.

Nicolas

A potential solution for the problem of the diminution of WiFi connected users is in work. Follow its developement here.

Nicolas

I've just released a development release of MoodleBox image, which solves the small number of clients.

Please test it and report your findings!

-> Download MoodleBox v3.10.0-dev

krause

Nicolas
Hi Nicolas,
I get no wifi from the MoodleBox with the new image.

I installed the new development image on a sd card and started my Raspberry Pi 4B (4GB RAM). The MoodleBox does not send a wifi "MoodleBox". I checked the wifi with some iOS devices, an Android tablet and a Linux notebook, When I call the MoodleBox from the lan connection then I get it. My router dns provides the domain name "moodlebox.home" and a static ip address for the MoodleBox.

Changing back the sd cards to the older image everything works fine.

Ralf

Ratna

krause I plugged in a card with the new v3.10-0-dev in a RPi 3B+ and it kicked the access point 'MoodleBox' immediately. I am writing this connected to its Wi-Fi. Nothing seems to be missing. I can not test the maximum Wi-Fi connections though, way too few wireless devices in my home-office.
;-)

Nicolas

krause Thanks for the feedback. Could you please try to re-image the SD card, and retry, just to be sure?

Nicolas

Ratna Thank you for the feedback.

krause

Nicolas
Hi Nicolas, the image does not work with a Raspberry Pi 4B (4GB RAM). I copied a second sd card but with both cards the wifi does not start. Putting one of the sd cards into a Raspberry Pi 3B+ the MoodleBox wifi is shown. I connected all of my mobile devices to this wifi ... 13 connected devices ... sorry but I can't find more :-)
Ralf

Nicolas

Thanks for the feedback: I could only test with 9 at home 😀 , so 13 devices are already a good indication.

Your problem with a RPi 4B is strange, as I developed and tested the image on a 4B. I'll try to investigate to see where's the problem. On your side, are there some peculiarities in your 4B (eg. hardware attached?) that could explain it?

krause

Hi Nicolas,
I tested the problem with the Raspberry Pi 4B once more. I have two of the RPi 4B. One has an update for the eeprom but not the other. I testet the sd card which worked in the RPi 3B+ with the second RPi 4B ... no reaction with the wifi. I copied a new sd card from the image and put it into the RPi 4B ... the same ... no wifi. I put this new card into the RPi 3B+ and I could connect to the wifi "MoodleBox".
Ralf

Okay, I checked the eeprom versions ... in both RPi 4B I found the same
moodlebox@moodlebox:~ $ vcgencmd bootloader_version Dec 11 2020 11:15:17 version c3f26b6070054bca030366de2550d79ddae1207a (release) timestamp 1607685317

Nicolas

My RPi 4B has

moodlebox@moodlebox:~ $ vcgencmd bootloader_version
Sep  3 2020 13:11:43
version c305221a6d7e532693cc7ff57fddfc8649def167 (release)
timestamp 1599135103

Could this be the issue?

krause

Hi Nicolas,
I can't say anything about this. I wondered that my both RPi 4B have the same bootloader version because I only updated one of them. So I think that the update came automatically with a system update. And now by looking at your version I wonder again because your system version is also updated but not the bootloader.
Ralf

Nicolas

krause I've just opened an issue on Github. Please follow up there.

mgaved

It is fantastic that you have a solution to the low number of concurrent users. We wish to deploy this in a number of schools soon, it is important there that we can allow 10-15 concurrent access if possible.
(a) Do you have an idea of when v.3.10-0-dev will move to being a stable release ?
(b) In the meantime, would using an external USB WiFi dongle and MoodleBox v3.9 solve the problem by handling WiFi traffic on the USB WiFI instead of the internal Raspberry Pi WiFi radio (e.g. TPlink WN725N https://www.tp-link.com/ca/home-networking/adapter/tl-wn725n/ )

Thank you for all your hard work, we have a strong interest from schools.

Nicolas

mgaved first of all: did you test the v3.10.0-dev image? Some feedback would be very valuable.

(a) Do you have an idea of when v.3.10-0-dev will move to being a stable release ?

I've planned to release it in the following weeks.

(b) In the meantime, would using an external USB WiFi dongle and MoodleBox v3.9 solve the problem by handling WiFi traffic on the USB WiFI instead of the internal Raspberry Pi WiFi radio

This could work, but the software installation (driver) could be a nightmare, and some hardware models do not work easily. Eg. the very model you're suggesting (TPlink WN725N) has problems as a AP. That's precisely why I've no solution yet with external hardware.

For another workaround, with an external device, see this discussion.

Nicolas

mgaved (a) Do you have an idea of when v.3.10-0-dev will move to being a stable release ?

Stable release v3.10.0 was published yesterday.

Please help MoodleBox to remain open source by making a donation ❤️.

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