mt76x0u station client low performance (25.12.2)

ID 148f:761a Ralink Technology, Corp. MT7610U ("Archer T2U" 2.4G+5G WLAN Adapter

under OpenWrt 25.12.2, r32802-f505120278 Dave's Guitar scores get very low performance compared to a Void Linux musl-C system on the exact same setup

under OpenWrt 25.12.2 the download speed goes up-to 5Mbit

compared to 41Mbit under Void Linux

I use CESNET speedtest for the tests. the average result out of three times for each setup.

I followed the very detailed & informative morrownr guide: install or upgrade firmware for Mediatek

under the /lib/firmware/mediatek/ I removed the soft-link: mt7610u.bin --> mt7610e.bin

and downloaded mt7610u.bin without any noticeable performance change

this is the OpenWRT driver details:

[   10.023047] mt76x0u 1-1.2:1.0: ASIC revision: 76100002 MAC revision: 76502000
[   11.007052] mt76x0u 1-1.2:1.0: EEPROM ver:02 fae:01
[   11.035764] usbcore: registered new interface driver mt76x0u
[   23.057872] mt76x0u 1-1.2:1.0 phy2-sta0: entered allmulticast mode
[   25.581228] mt76x0u 1-1.2:1.0 phy2-sta0: left allmulticast mode
[   25.657607] mt76x0u 1-1.2:1.0 phy2-sta0: entered allmulticast mode

and the Void Linux same driver details:

[ 8449.288935] mt76x0u 3-3:1.0: ASIC revision: 76100002 MAC revision: 76502000
[ 8450.293758] mt76x0u 3-3:1.0: EEPROM ver:02 fae:01
[ 8450.357798] mt76x0u 3-3:1.0 wlp0s20f0u3: renamed from wlan0

OpenWRT hwinfo

phy2-sta0 ESSID: "dream_world_5G"
         Access Point: 0e:7f:e8:0c:06:7b
         Mode: Client  Channel: 104 (5.520 GHz)  HT Mode: VHT80
         Center Channel 1: 106 2: unknown
         Tx-Power: 20 dBm  Link Quality: 35/70
         Signal: -75 dBm  Noise: -100 dBm
         Bit Rate: 117.0 MBit/s
         Encryption: none
         Type: nl80211  HW Mode(s): 802.11ac/n
         Hardware: nl80211 [Generic MAC80211]
         TX power offset: none
         Channel offset: none
         Supports VAPs: yes  PHY name: phy2

on the exact same OpenWRT setup, plugin-in a AC600 Realtek RTL8811AU, the performance jumps up-to 50Mbit

phy2-sta0 ESSID: "dream_world_5G"
         Access Point: 36:11:34:ea:3f:76
         Mode: Client  Channel: 104 (5.520 GHz)  HT Mode: VHT80
         Center Channel 1: 106 2: unknown
         Tx-Power: 26 dBm  Link Quality: 39/70
         Signal: -71 dBm  Noise: -100 dBm
         Bit Rate: 117.0 MBit/s
         Encryption: none
         Type: nl80211  HW Mode(s): 802.11ac/n
         Hardware: nl80211 [Generic MAC80211]
         TX power offset: none
         Channel offset: none
         Supports VAPs: no  PHY name: phy2

in this case, RTL8811AU offers almost 6db better sensitivity and also provides 6dm more TX power

the above exact differences stand on Void Linux too for the MT7610U & RTL8811AU adapters

MT7610U:

wlp0s20f0u3u2  IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"Tdream_world_5G"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.52 GHz  Access Point: 5C:4D:BF:ww:xy:zz   
          Bit Rate=234 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=35/70  Signal level=-75 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:1  Invalid misc:77   Missed beacon:0

RTL8811AU:

wlp0s20f0u3u2  IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"dream_world_5G"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.52 GHz  Access Point: 5C:4D:BF:ww:xy:zz
          Bit Rate=263.3 Mb/s   Tx-Power=26 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=40/70  Signal level=-70 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:6  Invalid misc:4   Missed beacon:0

although the MT7610U & RTL8811AU differences are consistent between Void Linux & OpenWRT, the performance is not

MT7610U gets 5Mbit on OpenWRT & 40Mbit on Void Linux & that's a bummer

more details about the testing setup here: Quest for stable, performative USB wifi

Start by reproducing the MT7610U throughput difference with the CESNET speed test and compare the OpenWrt and Void Linux mt76x0u logs and interface statistics. Check the firmware used under /lib/firmware/mediatek/, including mt7610u.bin and the mt7610u.bin -> mt7610e.bin link, alongside the reported signal, rate, and retry values. Done means identifying the OpenWrt-specific cause and demonstrating corrected performance.