RPi 3B+ Wifi AC

[Andyman09]

Hi. Starting off, I am rather new to the Rasperry Pi world so please be kind I have a brand new RPi 3B+ with the latest version of Raspian Stretch with desktop (November 2018) and I am having difficulties connecting to my router on the 5 gHz band. My router is broadcasting on 802.11ac only (for 5 gHz) The RPi can see the SSID associated with the 5 gHz band, but won't connect. When I change the broadcast to mixed mode (n/ac) it connects, but only at wireless n speed. The specifications that I read state 802.11b/g/n/ac. My question is this: Has anyone succeeded in connecting this device on 5 gHz 802.11ac (ac only)?

Thanks in advance

[Andyman09]

Wow, no one? How dissapointing.

[echmain]

I’m far from an expert on network stuff, but have you set the WiFi Country Code on the Pi?

There have been a lot of threads about networking problems, and country code often turns out to be the problem.

I had the problem myself when setting up a 3A+.

[Andyman09]

Yes, the country is correct. Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. I have read many of the threads you are referring to as well. I am able to connect on 2.4gHz no problem. I can connect to the 5gHz but only if my router is broadcasting mixed mode n/ac. When it is broadcasting ac only, the onboard wifi sees the SSID, but won't associate no matter what channel I have set. I am able to connect 5gHz ac with a USB wifi dongle no problem. I was hoping to find a way to get the onboard wifi connected at ac speeds. Ah well... Thanks for responding.

Cheers

[HawaiianPi]

Since you didn't give any specific details of your router settings, it's hard to say.

• What is your 5GHz channel bandwidth set to?
• Have you restricted the DHCP address range or enabled MAC address filtering?

Have you edited or changed anything network related in Raspbian (static IP, network/interfaces, dhcpcd.conf)?

[Andyman09]

Hi HawaiianPi,

Thanks for responding, much appreciated. I have been somewhat remiss with details, apologies.

I am using a d-link DIR-842

broadcasting 802.11ac only on the 5gHz

Channel 157 auto 20/40/80 mHz I tried setting the channel to auto, 149, 153, 161, 165 (all the choices the router would allow) From 36, 40, 44, 48, only 36 would associate intermittently and only with 802.11n/ac broadcasting which gave me wireless n speed (when it would stay connected) with the Pi 3 feet away from the router.

This router is pretty basic and doesn't allow for DHCP ranges or MAC address filtering

And last of all, no changes whatsoever in Raspbian. I am using the latest version of Stretch with desktop. I am really mystified, the vendor sent me a replacement board and I had exactly the same issue. I even downloaded and flashed Stretch again to start from scratch with both boards, same results.

I think I mentioned that I was able to connect on 5gHz ac with a USB wifi dongle (BrosTrend AC1L) with the router settings unchanged. I had assumed that this was indicative of an onboard wifi problem as opposed to a router isssue. I may have to take my Pi to someone else's router just to eliminate that possibility....

Note, all of the above router settings were tried with both Raspberry Pi 3B+ boards.

Anyways, if you could help with this issue, that would be great.

Thanks for your time.

[HawaiianPi]

... and only with 802.11n/ac broadcasting which gave me wireless n speed

How are you measuring wireless network speed?

[neilgl]

What happens if you log in to the router as admin and disable the wireless "Smart Connect" and the 2.4GHz, leaving only the 5GHz running?
And what do you get from

Code: Select all

sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | egrep "Cell|ESSID|Signal|Channel|Rates"

[Andyman09]

Hi HawaiianPi,

I am using speedtest.net ans selecting the same host server for each test.
This gives me consistent numbers even though they might not be totally accurate.

Ethernet gives me 53 Mbps
2.4 gHz (onboard wifi) gives me 25-27 Mbps
802.11 n/ac with onboard wifi connected to 5gHz gives me 30 Mbps (when it stays connected)
802.11 ac only with USB dongle on 5gHz gives me 52 Mbps

I ran all of these test with both boards that I have and got pretty much the same results.


Thanks for your time guys, much appreciated.

[Andyman09]

What happens if you log in to the router as admin and disable the wireless "Smart Connect" and the 2.4GHz, leaving only the 5GHz running?
And what do you get from

Code: Select all

sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | egrep "Cell|ESSID|Signal|Channel|Rates"

Hi neilgl,

I'm new at this and answered your question at the same time as I answered HawaiianPi. Sorry about that. It occurred to me that you wouldn't be notified because I didn't answer you specifically.

Thanks for responding, much appreciated. I was unable to find a setting for Smart Connect with this router. I did disable the Wifi Protected Setup options as well as the 2.4 gHz broadcast leaving only the 5 gHz band running on 802.11ac only. I entered the command as you requested and it returned the following:

Cell 04 - Address: 48:EE:0C:F0:E1:52
Channel:157
Frequency:5.785 GHz (Channel 157)
Quality=69/70 Signal level=-41 dBm
ESSID:"1"
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s

Of course, it returned all of the SSIDs in the area as well, but this one is mine. The onboard wifi sees it, but doesn't seem inclined towards associating with it...

Thanks for your time guys, much appreciated.

[Andyman09]

... and only with 802.11n/ac broadcasting which gave me wireless n speed

How are you measuring wireless network speed?

Hi HawaiianPi,

I am using speedtest.net ans selecting the same host server for each test.
This gives me consistent numbers even though they might not be totally accurate.

Ethernet gives me 53 Mbps
2.4 gHz (onboard wifi) gives me 25-27 Mbps
802.11 n/ac with onboard wifi connected to 5gHz gives me 30 Mbps (when it stays connected)
802.11 ac only with USB dongle on 5gHz gives me 52 Mbps

I ran all of these test with both boards that I have and got pretty much the same results.


Thanks for your time guys, much appreciated.

[HawaiianPi]

Internet speed tests are a terrible way to judge network performance. There are too many variables that are out of your control. And even the slower 150 Mbps speed of wireless N is faster than most people's Internet connection. So unless you have a gigabit pipe to the Internet you won't see much improvement in speed with wireless AC. Network speed tests should be conducted on your local network.

In addition, if you want to test Internet performance, then using the browser based test on speedtest.net will produce slow results on a Raspberry Pi. Just watch your CPU utilization during the test. Too much overhead for the little Pi to handle. Try the CLI version.

Code: Select all

sudo apt install speedtest-cli

speedtest-cli

Example results on a 100/100 Mbps fiber connection with Ethernet from ONT to my ASUS RT-AC68U (AC1900) router.

My gaming laptop (Win10, Chrome browser).


My Pi 3B+ (Raspbian Stretch, Chromium browser).


Same Pi 3B+ using speedtest-cli

Code: Select all

~ $ speedtest-cli --share
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration...
Testing from Frontier Communications (...)...
Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Fibersphere Communications (Portland, OR) [14.45 km]: 21.199 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 96.99 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed....................................................................................................
Upload: 86.63 Mbit/s
Share results: http://www.speedtest.net/result/7956354249.png

Router is in another room at the end off the hallway, and both computers are on my desk.

[bensimmo]

Annoyingly 150 is now slower than my (and most in this city and surrounding) connection in the UK.
I have 250Mbps and that probably standard now (they now call it 200Mbps) and 500(now 400)/1000(now 900) are there for pretty much every household.

A unique city in the UK mind you, I assume.

(They 'now xxx' is they have to use a made up average speed, though claimed over 80% should get over it at peak times even if the speed is quoted for 50% should get it. Joys of rules for ADSL and FTTC and everyone almost having FTTH here).

Either way my WiFi and phones are too slow to take full use of much of it*. Only the power lines and Ethernet can use it up.

30Mbps up down is about typical for the slower single connect connections.

Anyway, doesn't solve the problems here, though I use 'smart/band steering' so it sorts it out for me.

I did use to have some tablets (now 5years old ?) That had .AC but wouldn't stay connected in 5GHz mode to my routers that where not proper .ac
Only with my new router do they have no problems.

Maybe a similar thing is happening with the Pi and that router.
Just a thought.

Anyways, the faster internet speeds are only going to become more common so the WiFi will be the restriction at some point is all I was going to say.


* Which is a good thing, it leaves room for other devices..

Rambled a bit there, sorry.

[bensimmo]

That D-Link 842 can use 3rd party firmware I think, maybe worth a go for more control
Read up on it first.

Can you test on other routers?

(it was D-Link I had problems with iirc, but an older one)

[Andyman09]

Internet speed tests are a terrible way to judge network performance.

Excellent, thanks for the input, I'll give it a go.

[Andyman09]

That D-Link 842 can use 3rd party firmware I think, maybe worth a go for more control
Read up on it first.

Can you test on other routers?

(it was D-Link I had problems with iirc, but an older one)

Thanks for the input bensimmo, much appreciated. I will find someone with an ac router and give it a try.

Cheers

[HawaiianPi]

Excellent, thanks for the input, I'll give it a go.

Just curious if you retested with speedtest-cli and what were your results?

My result above really shows the limitations of trying to use a Pi as a general purpose computer for web browsing. The browser based test chokes on the Pi and yields benchmark results that are almost half of what the CLI test finds.

I forgot to mention that my router is set to N/AC mixed mode and 20/40/80 channel bandwidth.

routersettings.gif (14.08 KiB) Viewed 18387 times

[Andyman09]

Excellent, thanks for the input, I'll give it a go.

Just curious if you retested with speedtest-cli and what were your results?

Hi HawaiianPi,

Sorry for the late response, I have been away and not had access to my Pi. I did some testing today. You mention that your router settings are n/ac mixed mode. I was wondering if you had tried broadcasting 802.11 ac only, and if so, were you able to associate using onboard wifi?

Here are my results using cli:

Ethernet Gigabit: 133.07 Mbps down, 22.83 up
5.0 gHz (n/ac): 88.59 Mbps down, 22.77 up
2.4 gHz: 35.51 Mbps down, 22.05 up

Using BrosTrend AC1L
5.0 gHz (ac only) 129.05 Mbps down, 21.63 up
2.4 gHz 74.24 Mbps down, 20.59 up (wow, that's a surprise...)

All wireless testing was performed with Pi ~ 4 feet from the router. So, it appears that I can get very near ethernet speed from my BrosTrend adapter and I cannot use the onboard wifi to associate with my SSIDat 5 gHz when broadcasting ac only. Obviously, I have found a workaround with the adapter, but if the onboard wifi doesn't actually work with an ac broadcast they ought not to be advertising that it does 802.11ac. If there is a way, I haven't found it. Ah well, not a big deal but the added expense is bothersome. As well, the fact that it doesn't work hits me right in my OCD spot... Lol

Thanks for your input and interest, much appreciated.

Cheers

[cgodoy]

I'm also unable to connect my raspberry pi 3 b+ to an AP that only broadcast 802.11ac. Based on my tests, the raspberry is not sending the VHT (very high throughput) capabilities in the association request message, so the AP says is not 802.11ac capable. My raspberry is using "Raspbian Stretch Lite" released on "November 2018".
Here are the steps I've followed to came to the previous conclusion.
(1) First, the "iw list" commands returns this:

Code: Select all

Wiphy phy0
[...]
	Band 2:
		Capabilities: 0x1062
			HT20/HT40
			Static SM Power Save
			RX HT20 SGI
			RX HT40 SGI
			No RX STBC
			Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
			DSSS/CCK HT40
		Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
		Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
		HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
		VHT Capabilities (0x00001020):
			Max MPDU length: 3895
			Supported Channel Width: neither 160 nor 80+80
			short GI (80 MHz)
			SU Beamformee
		VHT RX MCS set:
			1 streams: MCS 0-9
			2 streams: not supported
			3 streams: not supported
			4 streams: not supported
			5 streams: not supported
			6 streams: not supported
			7 streams: not supported
			8 streams: not supported
		VHT RX highest supported: 0 Mbps
		VHT TX MCS set:
			1 streams: MCS 0-9
			2 streams: not supported
			3 streams: not supported
			4 streams: not supported
			5 streams: not supported
			6 streams: not supported
			7 streams: not supported
			8 streams: not supported
		VHT TX highest supported: 0 Mbps
		Bitrates (non-HT):
			* 6.0 Mbps
			* 9.0 Mbps
			* 12.0 Mbps
			* 18.0 Mbps
			* 24.0 Mbps
			* 36.0 Mbps
			* 48.0 Mbps
			* 54.0 Mbps
		Frequencies:
			* 5170 MHz [34] (disabled)
			* 5180 MHz [36] (20.0 dBm)
			* 5190 MHz [38] (disabled)
			* 5200 MHz [40] (20.0 dBm)
			* 5210 MHz [42] (disabled)
			* 5220 MHz [44] (20.0 dBm)
			* 5230 MHz [46] (disabled)
			* 5240 MHz [48] (20.0 dBm)
			* 5260 MHz [52] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5280 MHz [56] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5300 MHz [60] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5320 MHz [64] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5500 MHz [100] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5520 MHz [104] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5540 MHz [108] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5560 MHz [112] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5580 MHz [116] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5600 MHz [120] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5620 MHz [124] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5640 MHz [128] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5660 MHz [132] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5680 MHz [136] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5700 MHz [140] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
			* 5720 MHz [144] (disabled)
			* 5745 MHz [149] (disabled)
			* 5765 MHz [153] (disabled)
			* 5785 MHz [157] (disabled)
			* 5805 MHz [161] (disabled)
			* 5825 MHz [165] (disabled)
[...]

Which means is 802.11ac capable since it supports the VHT capabilities (this is the expected of course).
(2) I configured my AP in 802.11ac "pure" mode
I've tested that I'm able to connect to this device using my phone without troubles. My AP is an enterprise, Atheros based, AP.
(3) The AP returns "deny assoc request, no vht caps in pure 802.11ac mode" when the raspberry tries to connect
This means that the AP reject the raspberry since the association request doesn't have the expected VHT capability. I also double checked this using wireshark and the VHT is, in fact, not present.

I'm totally lost now because I don't know how to solve this. It could be that something is missing in the "wpa_supplicant" configuration or that I should update the firmware of the raspberry. I've updated/upgraded the device (including "rpi-update") without any luck so any feedback would be really appreciated.

[Andyman09]

Hi cgodoy,

Thanks for your input, very insightful. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer either. I updated / upgraded as well with no better results than you got. My workaround was the USB dongle; not entirely satisfactory, but... It works.

Thanks again.

[cgodoy]

Hi Andyman09,

I decided to try another OS to see if there was any different so I downloaded the latest version of OSMC and, this time, I was successfully able to connect to the AP in 802.11ac mode. Here is the output of my AP.

Code: Select all

ADDR               AID CHAN TXRATE RXRATE RSSI MINRSSI MAXRSSI IDLE  TXSEQ  RXSEQ  CAPS        ACAPS     ERP    STATE MAXRATE(DOT11) HTCAPS ASSOCTIME    IEs   MODE                   PSMODE RXNSS TXNSS
b8:27:eb:XX:XX:XX    1  100 433M    390M   54      51      56   15      0   65535    EP         0          b              0            AWQS 00:03:28  RSN WME IEEE80211_MODE_11AC_VHT80   0        1     1

Note that mode is 'IEEE80211_MODE_11AC_VHT80'.
This is quite surprising I must say. I supposed Raspbian was the official/better supported OS for this device but doesn't seem the case for the WLAN. The problem of OSMC is that is a media center and not what I need for device so I think I'm going to try ArchLinux and see if this OS works.

[Lmarloe]

So at this moment Raspbian version April 2019 with last updates still unable to connect Wifi 5GHz AC. As I switch router to AC only mode raspberry loses connection. Is there a way to send a bug report about it?

[klricks]

So at this moment Raspbian version April 2019 with last updates still unable to connect Wifi 5GHz AC. As I switch router to AC only mode raspberry loses connection. Is there a way to send a bug report about it?

I have no problem connecting my RPi3B+ to 5GHz AC only. As far as I remember AC mode always worked for me.

[Lmarloe]

I found out the reason. It was country code. It seems if it set to any European country then unable to connect 'AC only' mode. When I set country=US, after reboot I was able to successfully connect AC, but channels 12 and 13 at 2.4GHz are gone. Setting country code to BO (Bolivia) gave me the same 32 channels as EU region plus possibility to connect AC only. Hope it helps someone

[Briain]

Hi

I've been looking into this as my Pi3+, which has a minimalist build comprising a network install plus Pixel, was showing up on my Ubiquiti WAP stats (UniFi) as being '11na' (so 802.11n in the 5 GHz band). Nice piece of investigating regarding the GB country code discovery and I happen to know (from previous experiments) that the Australian regulations are similar to the UK ones, but there are still differences (and of course, it is against the Ofcom regulations to use the incorrect country code, so one should take great care when selecting one).

Using the iw phy command shows the currently set capabilities, so below shows the key ones for the country of GB, then below that shows the key settings for the country code of AU (scroll down to the end of both the below code boxes and you'll see the channel allocation differences between the two regions):

GB

Code: Select all

Wiphy phy0
        max # scan SSIDs: 10
        max scan IEs length: 2048 bytes
        max # sched scan SSIDs: 16
        max # match sets: 16
        max # scan plans: 1
        max scan plan interval: 508
        max scan plan iterations: 0
        Retry short limit: 7
        Retry long limit: 4
        Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
        Device supports roaming.
        Device supports T-DLS.
        Supported Ciphers:
                * WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
                * WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
                * TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
                * CCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:4)
                * CMAC (00-0f-ac:6)
        Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
        Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * P2P-client
                 * P2P-GO
                 * P2P-device
        Band 1:
                Capabilities: 0x1062
                        HT20/HT40
                        Static SM Power Save
                        RX HT20 SGI
                        RX HT40 SGI
                        No RX STBC
                        Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
                        DSSS/CCK HT40
                Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
                Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
                HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
                Bitrates (non-HT):
                        * 1.0 Mbps
                        * 2.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 5.5 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 11.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 6.0 Mbps
                        * 9.0 Mbps
                        * 12.0 Mbps
                        * 18.0 Mbps
                        * 24.0 Mbps
                        * 36.0 Mbps
                        * 48.0 Mbps
                        * 54.0 Mbps
                Frequencies:
                        * 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2467 MHz [12] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2472 MHz [13] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)
        Band 2:
                Capabilities: 0x1062
                        HT20/HT40
                        Static SM Power Save
                        RX HT20 SGI
                        RX HT40 SGI
                        No RX STBC
                        Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
                        DSSS/CCK HT40
                Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
                Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
                HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
                VHT Capabilities (0x00001020):
                        Max MPDU length: 3895
                        Supported Channel Width: neither 160 nor 80+80
                        short GI (80 MHz)
                        SU Beamformee
                VHT RX MCS set:
                        1 streams: MCS 0-9
                        2 streams: not supported
                        3 streams: not supported
                        4 streams: not supported
                        5 streams: not supported
                        6 streams: not supported
                        7 streams: not supported
                        8 streams: not supported
                VHT RX highest supported: 0 Mbps
                VHT TX MCS set:
                        1 streams: MCS 0-9
                        2 streams: not supported
                        3 streams: not supported
                        4 streams: not supported
                        5 streams: not supported
                        6 streams: not supported
                        7 streams: not supported
                        8 streams: not supported
                VHT TX highest supported: 0 Mbps
                Bitrates (non-HT):
                        * 6.0 Mbps
                        * 9.0 Mbps
                        * 12.0 Mbps
                        * 18.0 Mbps
                        * 24.0 Mbps
                        * 36.0 Mbps
                        * 48.0 Mbps
                        * 54.0 Mbps
                Frequencies:
                        * 5170 MHz [34] (disabled)
                        * 5180 MHz [36] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5190 MHz [38] (disabled)
                        * 5200 MHz [40] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5210 MHz [42] (disabled)
                        * 5220 MHz [44] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5230 MHz [46] (disabled)
                        * 5240 MHz [48] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5260 MHz [52] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5280 MHz [56] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5300 MHz [60] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5320 MHz [64] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5500 MHz [100] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5520 MHz [104] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5540 MHz [108] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5560 MHz [112] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5580 MHz [116] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5600 MHz [120] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5620 MHz [124] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5640 MHz [128] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5660 MHz [132] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5680 MHz [136] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5700 MHz [140] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5720 MHz [144] (disabled)
                        * 5745 MHz [149] (disabled)
                        * 5765 MHz [153] (disabled)
                        * 5785 MHz [157] (disabled)
                        * 5805 MHz [161] (disabled)
                        * 5825 MHz [165] (disabled)

AU

Code: Select all

Wiphy phy0
        max # scan SSIDs: 10
        max scan IEs length: 2048 bytes
        max # sched scan SSIDs: 16
        max # match sets: 16
        max # scan plans: 1
        max scan plan interval: 508
        max scan plan iterations: 0
        Retry short limit: 7
        Retry long limit: 4
        Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
        Device supports roaming.
        Device supports T-DLS.
        Supported Ciphers:
                * WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
                * WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
                * TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
                * CCMP-128 (00-0f-ac:4)
                * CMAC (00-0f-ac:6)
        Available Antennas: TX 0 RX 0
        Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * P2P-client
                 * P2P-GO
                 * P2P-device
        Band 1:
                Capabilities: 0x1062
                        HT20/HT40
                        Static SM Power Save
                        RX HT20 SGI
                        RX HT40 SGI
                        No RX STBC
                        Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
                        DSSS/CCK HT40
                Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
                Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
                HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
                Bitrates (non-HT):
                        * 1.0 Mbps
                        * 2.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 5.5 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 11.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
                        * 6.0 Mbps
                        * 9.0 Mbps
                        * 12.0 Mbps
                        * 18.0 Mbps
                        * 24.0 Mbps
                        * 36.0 Mbps
                        * 48.0 Mbps
                        * 54.0 Mbps
                Frequencies:
                        * 2412 MHz [1] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2417 MHz [2] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2422 MHz [3] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2427 MHz [4] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2432 MHz [5] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2437 MHz [6] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2442 MHz [7] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2447 MHz [8] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2452 MHz [9] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2457 MHz [10] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2462 MHz [11] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2467 MHz [12] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2472 MHz [13] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 2484 MHz [14] (disabled)
        Band 2:
                Capabilities: 0x1062
                        HT20/HT40
                        Static SM Power Save
                        RX HT20 SGI
                        RX HT40 SGI
                        No RX STBC
                        Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
                        DSSS/CCK HT40
                Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
                Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 16 usec (0x07)
                HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
                VHT Capabilities (0x00001020):
                        Max MPDU length: 3895
                        Supported Channel Width: neither 160 nor 80+80
                        short GI (80 MHz)
                        SU Beamformee
                VHT RX MCS set:
                        1 streams: MCS 0-9
                        2 streams: not supported
                        3 streams: not supported
                        4 streams: not supported
                        5 streams: not supported
                        6 streams: not supported
                        7 streams: not supported
                        8 streams: not supported
                VHT RX highest supported: 0 Mbps
                VHT TX MCS set:
                        1 streams: MCS 0-9
                        2 streams: not supported
                        3 streams: not supported
                        4 streams: not supported
                        5 streams: not supported
                        6 streams: not supported
                        7 streams: not supported
                        8 streams: not supported
                VHT TX highest supported: 0 Mbps
                Bitrates (non-HT):
                        * 6.0 Mbps
                        * 9.0 Mbps
                        * 12.0 Mbps
                        * 18.0 Mbps
                        * 24.0 Mbps
                        * 36.0 Mbps
                        * 48.0 Mbps
                        * 54.0 Mbps
                Frequencies:
                        * 5170 MHz [34] (disabled)
                        * 5180 MHz [36] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5190 MHz [38] (disabled)
                        * 5200 MHz [40] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5210 MHz [42] (disabled)
                        * 5220 MHz [44] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5230 MHz [46] (disabled)
                        * 5240 MHz [48] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5260 MHz [52] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5280 MHz [56] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5300 MHz [60] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5320 MHz [64] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5500 MHz [100] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5520 MHz [104] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5540 MHz [108] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5560 MHz [112] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5580 MHz [116] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5600 MHz [120] (disabled)
                        * 5620 MHz [124] (disabled)
                        * 5640 MHz [128] (disabled)
                        * 5660 MHz [132] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5680 MHz [136] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5700 MHz [140] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5720 MHz [144] (20.0 dBm) (no IR, radar detection)
                        * 5745 MHz [149] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5765 MHz [153] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5785 MHz [157] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5805 MHz [161] (20.0 dBm)
                        * 5825 MHz [165] (20.0 dBm)

As you can see, the AU is identical to the GB until you scroll down to the 5 GHz frequencies, then you can see that channels 120, 124 and 128 are disabled from the AU set (so for these three, there's no potential problem in setting AU in the GB zone) but it is worth being aware that setting it to AU also enables channels 144 to 165 and these are not permitted for use in the UK. Of course, under normal circumstances that wont matter as your 5 GHz WAP will be set to a legal channel and the Pi will simply associate to it, so no harm should ever be done by having these channels being set as available in the Pi as you'll never end up using them (though if you set two Pi's as AU and did ad-hoc networking between them, you would have to avoid selecting these channels) but it is worth taking time to consider what you are doing before changing the country code and if you really must - as in this case - then I would suggest that it is prudent to pick one that is as close as possible to your local regulations.

As a footnote, the Pi is of limited RF output - so this next part doesn't apply to the Pi - but please do be aware that some country codes permit setting far higher transmit powers than the local regulations permit, so it's important not to set an internationally available WAP with a different country code and leave its power set to 'maximum' (for example, if I set my Ubiquiti WAP to some country codes, it would permit transmitting at +24 dBm on UHF and +22 dBm on 5 GHz, but there are far more extreme examples than that one) and of course, if you do change the country code then there's also the potential danger of selecting a channel that isn't permitted (and particularly so if the WAP is set to automatically pick one, perhaps based on clear channel assessment measurements) so it is worth mentioning these potential consequences as part of any discussion relating to changing a country code setting for wireless networking equipment.

I hope that these tips are of some use to somebody, but it would be a lot better if someone could fix this GB country code issue as what we are having to do is actually breeching the UK regulations.

Briain

PS I should of course add that changing the code from GB to AU resulted in my WAP reporting the client as '11ac' and that the reported connection rate increased from 150 MHz to 433 MHz, so yes, the AU one does work.