FireWRT is an OpenWRT 802.11ac Board Powered by Mediatek MT7621A Processor

There are plenty of low cost 802.11n routers or boards supporting OpenWRT, even starting at $10 or less such as A5-V11 mini router, but if you’re looking for something a bit more powerful with 802.11ac connectivity, options are much more limited, especially if you need something at a lower cost. One option is Xiaomi MiWiFi router based on Mediatek MT7620A with 64MB RAM, and T-Firefly team is now working on FireWRT board based on the more powerful MT7621A processor coupled with 512 MB RAM, and 16 MB SPI flash.

FireWRTFireWRT specifications:

  • Wi-Fi SoC – Mediatek MT7621A dual core MIPS 1004Kc processor @ 880MHz
  • System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 (Beta version: 256 MB)
  • Storage – 16 MB SPI flash memory, 2x SATA 3.0 ports, micro SD card slot
  • Wi-Fi
    • 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4GHz up to 300Mbps
    • 802.11 a/n/ac @ 5 GHz, up to 867Mbps (AC1200 class router)
    • External High-Gain Antennas – 2x for 2.4GHz, 2x for 5GHz
  • Ethernet – 2x LAN (Gigabit Ethernet), 1x WAN (Gigabit Ethernet)
  • USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 1x USB 3.0 port
  • Expansion
    • mini PCIe slot (multiplexed with SATA), on the back of the board
    • 2x 32-pin headers with GPIO, I2C, I2S, UART, NFC, JTAG, RGMII, 12V, 5V, 3.3V, GND
  • Misc – Power, WPS and reset keys. LEDs for Ethernet, WiFi, SATA, and power
  • Power – 12V/2A
  • Dimensions – 125 x 93.5 mm

OpenWRT_SATA_USB_3_PCIeThe boar runs OpenWRT, and the company has already released binary images, source code (U-boot, OpenWRT SDK), schematics (PDF), and mechanical files on the project’s download page, as well as some WIP documentation on the Wiki.

You can’t purchase the board directly on Aliexpress yet, but the company launched a beta program to allow developers to purchase a $69 kit including FireWRT board, a 12V/2A power adapter, an acrylic enclosure, a SATA cable, an heatsink, and a USB TO TTL UART Module. Please note that this beta board only has 256 MB RAM instead of 512 MB for the final version.

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17 Replies to “FireWRT is an OpenWRT 802.11ac Board Powered by Mediatek MT7621A Processor”

  1. Which linespeeds can it achieve? 400/400 Mbps? Because that is what I need on my FttH.

    My TP-link with TP-link-firmware could achieve that, thanks to NAT hardware acceleration.
    However, the same TP-link with Openwrt only achieves 120 Mbps.

  2. As far as I can tell the MT7621A contain WiFi so what chip are they using for the WiFi. Their website doesn’t mention what the WiFi chip is. Wikidevi lists 4 systems that use the MT7621A(T) all of which use the MT7612E or MT7612EN and either the MT7602 or MT7603.

  3. Found the schematics on their website. MT7612E and MT7602E are used for WiFi. Looks like a ASMedia ASM1061 for the SATA, IC+ IP1001 for the Gigabit Phy and an MT6605 NFC chip.

  4. @zoobab

    Yes, I have seen that thread before. Disappointing, but hey … that’s the world of closed specs. That’s why I try to only buy hardware that is open specced and fully supported by open source hardware. That’s why I asked about this FireWRT-platform … 🙂

  5. almost no mention of this hardware on openwrt.org – just a thread with 3 posts (1 of mine)

  6. Anyone know of other boards with 802.11AC (>750mbps is good enough for me) and gigabit nics? it can be in a AP or full fledged router form factor.
    <$50 but if it is as feature rich as this then around $75 is fine.

  7. @poningru

    Same, I’d love to know of 802.11ac with Gigabit NICs that supports open-source. Closest thing I’ve picked up so far is Xiaomi MiWiFi which is 802.11ac but with 10/100 ports, the nice thing is its only $27

  8. @e97
    Closest thing I’ve seen is this: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wireless-Router-1200Mbps-dual-band-AC-Router-Support-a-SIM-card-for-3-g-4-g/32382460744.html

    2 orders (100% Reviews)

    Specs:

    New dual-core MT7621 chipset 880MHz
    128 Mb DDR3 (Max 512 Mb)
    16 Mb SPI Flash (Max 16 Mb)
    4x 1000 LAN
    1x 1000 WAN
    Wireless Router 1200Mbps dual-band AC Router
    Support 3G/4G/USB3.0/ MT7621A+MT7602E+MT7612E (PCBA /OEM/ODM)

    Seems pretty good since its 802.11ac, Gigabit, USB3.0, SATA3, AND 3G.. if OpenWRT support is good this might be worth while..

  9. bascially im interested in driver development (sniffer) Whether this board allow me to flash my driver code and test against a host?

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