I have OpenWrt running on a Linksys WRT1900ACS for quite a while now (currently on 19.07.2 ) and am planning to replace my other Wifi units (AVM FritzBoxes and Linksys E1700 (unfortunately unusable with OpenWrt) with more OpenWrt-capable hardware.
I've ordered a TP-Link Archer C7 v5 (AC1750) some days ago, installed OpenWrt and tried a lot to get it running smoothly. I am trying to set up 802.11s ("mesh") when getting 2 more devices, but currently I am struggeling with setting up the first one correct. It even fails to work properly itself, something I did not experience with the Linksys device.
Problem on TP-Link Archer C7 v5:opkg update fails with Failed to establish connection Failed to download the package list from http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.3/targets/ath79/generic/packages/Packages.gz regardless if it is connected via WAN or one of the LAN ports. If it is connected to the WAN port, I do not have internet access on my connected notebook (also LAN), but https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-quick-start/troubleshooting_internetconnectivity states that the WAN port should be used.
Because I want to set up mesh / 802.11s later (based on this guide (German)) I have removed the 2. VLAN, WAN & WAN6 interface. I have also installed ath10k-firmware-qca988x kmod-ath10k wpad, according to OpenWrt 19.07.2 service release.
Currently I am trying to understand what I misconfigured, so e.g. opkg is unable to connect, the next step would be setting up 802.11s...
To connect to the Internet as a LAN device you need to set option gateway and option dns in the LAN configuration. Gateway is your main router's IP (192.168.27.1 ?) and usually it works to also DNS through the main router.
So I had to set up the second VLAN again, otherwise opkg would fail again after reboot. When adding WAN and WAN6 as interfaces, nothing worked anymore. I have to use one of the LAN ports again, which is not really a problem.
So now I can start again to set up mesh. Thanks!
Is this mesh already?
Note: I know, it's just one node yet, I have to set up all the others to really have a mesh network, but I just want to know if my configuration is already correct.
What I do not understand: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/80211s says "Access by client devices is achieved by bridging the 'ap' and the 'mesh' interfaces." So should I change mesh1 from option network 'lan' to somethin else and if yes: to what?
Shouldn't I see and connect to MYMESHID from my mobile device? Both default_radio1 and mesh1 are enable, but only default_radio1 => MYSSID is visible. Isn't it still just dumb_ap?