MT6000 / Flint 2 — Firmware 4.8.3 vs Newer Versions (TX Power & WiFi Coverage)

Router VPN, DNS, Leaks
1

Hello everyone,

I want to share some important information for users of the GL.iNet Flint 2 / MT6000 router.

If you want to keep the strongest and most stable WiFi signal with full TX Power, it may be a good idea to stay on firmware version 4.8.3.

Many newer firmware versions are expected to include stricter WiFi TX power limitations and regulatory restrictions, which can reduce coverage and signal strength depending on region and driver changes.

For users who still want newer features like QoS, SQM, LuCI packages, or additional OpenWrt tools, most of them can still be installed manually through SSH without updating to newer restricted firmware versions.

Example SSH commands:

Update package list:

opkg update

Install LuCI:

opkg install luci

Install SQM QoS:

opkg install luci-app-sqm sqm-scripts

Install Adblock:

opkg install luci-app-adblock

Install statistics monitoring:

opkg install luci-app-statistics collectd-mod-wireless

Install advanced reboot scheduler:

opkg install luci-app-attendedsysupgrade

Install nano editor:

opkg install nano

Restart web interface:

/etc/init.d/uhttpd restart

Restart network:

/etc/init.d/network restart

For users who care more about maximum WiFi coverage and stable repeater/extender performance, firmware 4.8.3 currently seems to be one of the best balanced versions.

Especially for:

  • Long distance WiFi links

  • Repeater mode

  • WDS/Bridge setups

  • Thick walls / large houses

  • Stable 5GHz coverage

Of course, everyone should decide based on their own needs and local regulations.

Feel free to share your experience with MT6000 firmware versions and WiFi performance.

2

Unfortunately I don’t think sticking with older firmware will be sustainable, in terms of ensuring future security updates / patches and the newer features (like default IoT within GL.inet GUI in 4.9.0 beta). Considering that trying to get IoT setup and working with segregation on the secondary Flint 2 was a disaster on 4.8.3, I’m hoping to get support to sort this on 4.9.0, as although there was initially a slight improvement on Wi-Fi transmission from the primary Flint 2, it has started falling off, so I will need the nearer secondary Flint 2 for my cameras whilst maintaining segregation of the networks. Made more complicated presently as they use bridging not VLANs for the IoT network.

But thanks for the package info.

3

There are other ways to increase transmission power on newer versions, like choosing Panama country code in Luci; wouldn’t be very legal though.. but staying on the older version to avoid the newer regulation isn’t legal too so you know..