• ❌ Use 40 MHz channels on the 2.4 GHz band.
• ❌ Use WPA2/WPA3 mixed mode. Stick to WPA2 only.

• ✅ Stick to channels 1, 6, and 11 (or 13 if permitted in your region).
• ✅ Use a Wi-Fi scanner app on your mobile device to identify less congested channels.
• ✅ Opt for a wired connection whenever possible to improve stability and speed.

To find the signal strength on devices with an Altobeam chipset, use the following command:

$ iwpriv wlan0 common get_rssi

wlan0     common:
rssi=-25

More info:

$ iwpriv wlan0 common get_ap_info

wlan0     common:
ssid=Home
rssi=-25
mac:00:11:22:aa:bb:cc
tx_pkt=38819
tx_suc_pkt=38383
rx_pkt=28000
tx_rate=650
rx_rate=650
idle=1001
throughput=8769635 Byte/s

This will provide important details such as SSID, signal strength, and network activity.

Another method:

$ find /sys/module/ -name 'atbm_cmd' -exec sh -c 'echo ap_info > {}; cat {}' \;

ifname[wlan0] mac[e0:ff:ff:ff:be:ef] ssid[test] ssid_len[11] channel[11] channel_type[0] signal[-53] avg_signal[-53] rxbytes[102899858] txbytes[863243530] toprate[10406312]
ap_info[OK]

This will provide important details such as SSID, signal strength, and network activity.

The Wi-Fi MAC address will never match the one printed on the device. Some vendors generate their own MAC addresses using logic tied to their cloud platform and their own OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier). They don’t program or modify the MAC address burned into the Wi-Fi module (if it’s even programmed, which it sometimes isn’t).

With Thingino, the MAC address is generated based on the serial number programmed into the CPU at the factory during production. This ensures a unique and consistent MAC address for each device. Unlike the vendors, this approach resolves issues where Wi-Fi or Ethernet MAC addresses change after every reboot. Even if you wipe and reinstall Thingino, it will always generate the same fixed MAC addresses.