Archer C7 v5 - openwrt 18.06.1 - extend wifi network

Hello everybody. I should take the wifi signal to a part of the house not reached by the wired network. I have a FritzBox modem / router (IP 192.168.178.1) with firmware stock with some computers and NAS connected via cable and active wifi network. is it possible to use the Archer C7 v5 router with openwrt to extend the wifi signal with the same subnet as the AP so that all computers, printers and NAS can be seen? How to do?

I have a similar situation and I think you can try only.

Read https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/atheroswds

The Access Point

For the wireless access point, just set the wireless mode to “Access Point (WDS)” (screenshot)

So the problem with the Fritzbox is, that you cannot assign an AP-WDS. I tried a "normal" AP with a Netgear R7800 and stock-fw (has an Atheros chip as the C7, while the FB doesn't) and I could setup a wireless bridge, but it didn't work in all directions and the speed changed a lot between very poor to more than excellent.

I connect a R7800 via cable to the FB, and the R7800 builds a wireless bridge to an Archer C7. I recommend you to buy a 2nd C7 or another router with Atheros chip. The C7 is the cheapest solution probably. For new routers there are only a few possible. Search for problems for wireless bridges with other chipsets. Often 5GHz doesn't work, I tried the GL-B1300 too, It has no external antennas and is more expensive.

https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864?dataflt[Device+Type*~]=Router&dataflt[WLAN+5.0GHz*~]=ac&dataflt[WLAN+Hardware*~]=Atheros&dataflt[Ethernet+GBit+ports_*~]=5
Note the Gbit-ports in my selection.

Yes, set the second unit up as a "dumb AP" and bridge the "LAN" subnet (or subnets) across to is. In order of preference for speed, reliability, and simplicity, that bridging can be done with

  • Ethernet cable
  • Power-line modems
  • WDS (wireless)
  • Various wireless mesh techniques

Note that the wireless approaches may not be possible with the FritzBox and its stock firmware as the wireless bridging techniques are not standardized. As @linuxuser points out, the Fritzbox firmware doesn't seem to support WDS. I recall another thread where a user of Orange-supplied equipment in France being unable to interoperate with OpenWrt over WDS.

I personally can't recommend the relayd approach that is sometimes mentioned.

Thanks for the answers. It seems like a complicated thing to manage. The C7 archer must replace a Syslink with dd-wrt that connected in repeater bridge mode on the same subnet with the FB and was a very simple configuration. Unfortunately, dd-wrt is not compatible with Archer C7 v5

it is not so difficult, when you know what you are doing;-) But there are rumours, the C7 v5 behave differently.

Maybe this helps: Flashing a TP-Link Archer C7 V5.0 in detail

Don't forget in my link, after everything with luci is finished to read the last lines of the manual configuration. Everything takes about 10 minutes when you know what you have to do, until this it took me over a week of reading.

I recommend to read No internet connection from the router via ssh from time to time Looks like https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/atheroswds could be not optimal. I think I got it work now as it should.

thanks again for the interest. I tried in every way to set up openwrt on archer c7 so that it worked as it was for me without succeeding. I returned the router to Amazon and switched to a mesh network to solve all my problems without wasting any more time

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