drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt7601u · keep-annotate

MediaTek MT7601U 2.4 GHz USB Wi-Fi dongles

A family of inexpensive single-stream 802.11n USB Wi-Fi dongles built around MediaTek's MT7601U chipset, common in low-cost no-name adapters, Raspberry Pi accessory kits, and embedded devices since the mid-2010s. They are 2.4 GHz only and typically rated at 150 Mbps, and are still sold new as budget USB Wi-Fi sticks.

keep-annotate conf=0.78 deploy=low replacement=none subsystem=net category=networking-wireless

78%

recommendation

Worth keeping but documenting as a legacy budget option, since the MT7601U is an aging single-band chipset but cheap dongles based on it are still sold new in 2025 and OpenWrt continues to ship both the kernel module and firmware. Upstream activity in 2025-2026 is routine API and cleanup work rather than any move toward removal, so users plugging in one of these adapters today still get working support.

repository signals

25 files

7,783 source lines

19 commits, 5y

+35 / −23 lines added / removed, 5y

15 authors, 5y

monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 19 total · active in 16/61 months

sources

lore.kernel.org
The driver still receives upstream maintenance in 2026; this patch updates mt7601u/usb.c rather than removing the driver.
lore.kernel.org
The driver was part of a 2025 wireless-next API support series touching mt7601u/main.c, indicating continued integration work.
cateee.net
LKDDb identifies CONFIG_MT7601U as support for MediaTek MT7601U USB wireless dongles and lists recognized device IDs.
openwrt.org
OpenWrt still ships a kmod-mt7601u package for MT7601U-based USB dongles, indicating ongoing downstream deployment relevance.
openwrt.org
OpenWrt still ships mt7601u firmware, reinforcing that the hardware remains supported in embedded/router distributions.
walmart.com
MT7601-based USB Wi-Fi adapters were still being sold as new retail products in recently crawled 2025-era web results.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on mt7601u/main.c and usb.c: sampled activity shows 2025-2026 API/cleanup work, not a removal series. Deployment evidence came from web search results: LKDDb confirmed chipset/device scope; OpenWrt package and firmware pages show current downstream support; Walmart search results show new MT7601 adapters still listed for sale. Conclusion: this is an old, low-end 2.4 GHz USB dongle family with low but nonzero present-day use, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/niche rather than deprecate or remove.