Wi-Fi, modems, and tethering devices
USB Modems
Modems using RNDIS or "virtual Ethernet adapter" are supported.
Suggested models:
- Huawei's Wingle series
- All Huawei model variants updated year 2015+ use RNDIS by default.
MBIM, QMI, and others aren't automatically configured yet, be sure to disable USB interface namer in Speedify setup page before manually configuring a modem interface.
USB WiFi Adapters in Client Mode
Supported models/chipset:
- AR9271, tested models:
- ALFA AWUS036NHA (beware of counterfeits)
Realtek, new Qualcomm Atheros (not to be confused with old Atheros), and Ralink are not reliable on Linux without custom drivers.
Only Atheros ath9k
,ath9k_htc
,ath10k
based AHB/PCI-e/USB are supported.
Relevant details on this topic:
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/wi-fi-alliance-certification
TL;DR: USB Wi-Fi Adapters on Linux are a mess.
As a better alternative, wireless repeaters with an Ethernet socket work as clients in bridge mode, and you can optionally hide the repeater SSID. This solution is a decent alternative for stability, Wi-Fi 6E support, higher speeds and better range.
Setup
- Plug in the dongle to a USB port that will remain fixed, changing ports requires reconfiguration
- Restart/Reboot SmoothWAN
- Configure in Network -> Wireless
- Hit
Scan
and follow through, tickReplace existing configuration
and set firewall to RED zone - Done!