I bought the JINGDOU Cloud 2.0, which the seller had pre-flashed with Uboot, for a slightly higher price than the original firmware. Before flashing the OpenWRT firmware, I conducted a simple speed test using a Xiaomi 4C at points C and D to compare the results. The original firmware lacks features and wireless settings; it is very basic.
Flashing the firmware is straightforward; just access Uboot and upgrade the firmware directly through the web interface. The firmware I flashed is 20191112-125420-openwrt-ipq40xx-generic-p2w_r619ac-squashfs-nand-factory.ubi.
As shown in the picture below:
After updating the firmware, it automatically restarts to enter OpenWRT:
The functionality is quite rich; the areas marked in red are understood by those who know, while those who don’t are features that are hard to describe.
Place the JINGDOU Cloud 2.0 wireless router in the “WIFI” position shown in the image below. I used the Xiaomi 4C to conduct speed tests at points C and D downstairs. The app used was Speedtest, and I conducted six tests in succession, taking the average value for comparison. In most cases, I observed the strength of the signal by looking at points C and D.
All results are as follows:
2.4G Average Speed Comparison:
Both 2.4G channels are the same, both set to 6. Since the original firmware does not allow any parameters to be adjusted, it automatically selects channel 6, which is confirmed by a WiFi analyzer. However, it is strange that after flashing, the performance at point C worsened, while at point D, both were similar. This situation is unclear; after flashing, I tested point C’s 2.4G several times the next day, and the speed was around 30 Mbps.
5G Average Speed:
From the above image, it is clear that the speed has improved. However, during testing with the original firmware, the channel was set to 149, and after flashing OpenWRT, I also set it to 149, but the speed remained basically the same with no significant improvement. When I changed the 5G channel to 44, the speed was as shown in the image above, especially at point D downstairs, where there was a significant improvement. This improvement is likely due to stronger signals when operating at lower channels, rather than being a result of flashing the firmware. Changes to the region and power settings did not have a noticeable impact on the results.
Overall, flashing the OpenWRT firmware on the JINGDOU Cloud 2.0 can bring about significant changes due to the many features it possesses. However, do not expect to see a major improvement in wireless performance; its wireless capabilities are comparable to those of the Tenda AC23. Nevertheless, not flashing the firmware on such hardware would be a waste, and it can still be used as a primary router.
If you feel that there has been a noticeable improvement in wireless performance, please share your settings, and I will retest to see the results.