There are two primary methods. I recommend Method A (Factory recovery) as it is reversible.
# Check NSS status
cat /sys/kernel/debug/qca-nss-drv/stats
# CPU temperature
sensors
# Wi-Fi station info
iw dev wlan0 station dump
Once OpenWrt is running, you will likely want to perform a "Sysupgrade" to ensure you are on the latest stable release (e.g., OpenWrt 23.05). w1700k openwrt
The Wifi Drivers: The WRT series uses Marvell wireless chips (mwlwifi). While the drivers are open-source, they can sometimes be quirky compared to Atheros/Qualcomm chips. There are two primary methods
Storage Exploitation: This router has 256MB of flash. The default OpenWrt overlay leaves a lot of unused space. You can format the unused partition and use it to install heavy software like Docker or Pi-hole directly on the router, which is rare for consumer devices. Once OpenWrt is running, you will likely want
The MT7981B has a hardware packet processor (HQoS). Without offloading, the CPU will max out at 300Mbps. With offloading, you'll route 940Mbps+ on Gigabit LAN.