RaspAP WiFi Client AP Mode number of Clients connected

[brandoncheah]

I am working on Raspberry Pi 4B (1 GB RAM), installed RaspAP to configure WiFi AP Client.

Successfully configured WiFi AP client mode, SSID is also broadcasted, tried to connect with my laptop/phone able to establish connection with internet.

However, when i try to connect a second device to the hotspot, it refuses to connect to it. I not sure where to see the logs for this if there is any error.

When I disconnect the first device, and start connecting the second device it is able to establish connection without issue.
Which means that the raspberry pi only can have 1 client connected to it at one time.

However I tried setting up in Raspberry Pi 3B+, it works, I can connect multiple devices to the hotspot.
I've checked dnsmasq.conf, hostapd.conf and dhcpcd.conf files are all the same configuration.

Anybody have any clue that why raspberry pi 4B only accept one client to the hotspot?

[mina]

You seem to suffer a long standing problem with RPi 3B, 3B+ and 4B in AP mode. See: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=241223&start=25#p1479217 (I see you already posted on the related Github issue: https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/3010).

Unfortunately, AP mode doesn't seem to be that important to Raspberry Foundation, since nothing seems to be done about it since a long time

[brandoncheah]

Yeah.. But I saw the comments of other people mentioning that they can at least have a few devices connected at the same time, (3 devices connected to the AP is sufficient for me).

But I can only connect one...which is very weird, So I would hoping if there is any tweaks can be done to achieve at least a few more clients connected to the AP.

I think I will proceed to purchase a 4G USB Wifi Router dongle, and just connect to the modem like a regular wifi...

[mina]

You seem to use RaspAP to configure your AP. This is maybe the cause of your 1 user limit. I can't comment about it, since I don't use it.

Maybe have a try with manual configuration of your AP setup or ask RaspAP maintainer.

[epoch1970]

Pi works fine as an AP for the vast majority of users. There are 2 guides available in the official documentation on how to setup an AP with Raspios.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... /wireless/

Considering how WiFi operates, there is a limit to the number of clients an AP can handle. In general 25 clients is a lot for a consumer-grade AP, and in case of Pi a dozen clients is ok.

If you need more clients you can always bridge more APs operating on a different channel.

[mina]

Pi works fine as an AP for the vast majority of users.

Depends on what means "fine". You state that "a dozen of clients is ok". I beg to differ, since to my knowledge, such a limit is not stated anywhere (but maybe I overlooked it). There's no reason that the chip of the RPi would not support more than 12 clients (following the official guide for AP setup). For me, 30 clients (reliably) would be fine

As @Jamesh stated (here: viewtopic.php?f=63&t=241223&start=25#p1472522): "There could be some sort of limit in the wireless SW somewhere". The fact that RPi 4B seems to accept even less clients than a RPi 3B or 3B+ (with exactly the same system on the same SD card) seems to confirm this.

PS. For some projects, using other hardware than the Pi is a no-go.

[epoch1970]

Please don’t shoot the messenger.

The radio protocol has its limits.The AP hardware has its limits. The AP software has its limits. Pi does not have the performance of a dedicated AP, because it is an all-purpose platform.
That is the way things are.

Plan on one AP for 10 clients and most likely your network will perform fine. Even with a Pi as AP.
Expect more than 20 clients on one AP and you might well be disappointed. Even with a dedicated AP.
Feel entitled to 30 clients on an AP and get vexed.

[mina]

Please don’t shoot the messenger.

It was not my intention. My apologies if you feel shot at (english is my third language).