First post... I hope to avoid mistakes and look forward to some good answers.
My plan is to replace a very old Wifi router running DD-WRT with a new device and switching to OpenWrt. This router will be used on journeys and needs the following configuration (this is exactly what the old DD-WRT router already does):
Connect to the hotel's (holiday apartment's) Wifi for internet connection
Broadcasting my own fixed Wifi network (let's call it matthies-net).
Running a fixed IP network in this matthies-net (e.g. 192.168.99.0/24, different from the hotel's IP net) and a DHCP-Service giving addresses from 192.168.99.0 to my clients.
My devices (mobile phone, NAS, Sonos, ...) connect to the router via Wifi "matthies-net" or via LAN, get an IP from 192.168.99.0 (fixed reservations for some of the devices like the NAS) and can also connect to the internet by using the router's connection to the hotel's Wifi.
When going on a journey, only 1. needs to be configured individually using the correct WiFi SSID and password for the hotel's WiFi. 2.-4. are fixed (independant from the hotel's Wifi parameters) for ever and never change (assuming that the hotels that I'm visiting don't use IP net 192.168.99.0), so all my devices just work and can be accessed on fixed addresses.
My old DD-WRT router D-Link DIR-615 has exactly the configuration that I have described using the wireless adapter in what DD-WRT calls "Repeater" mode connecting to the hotel's wifi and adding a virtual interface that broadcasts my own wifi "matthies-net".
Why do I tell you this? I have another old router TP-Link TL-WR1043ND that runs exactly the same build of DD-WRT but doesn't offer this mode "Repeater" for the wireless interface and I didn't manage to use this DD-WRT router for my purpose. So I fear that even the hardware may be important for the configuration that I described. At least it seems important for DD-WRT.
I am planing to buy an Asus RT-AX53U.
Would be great If anybody have any advise for me, if this hardware is a good choice and maybe some links to documentation or threads dealing with "Wifi repeater/routing configuration" or however it should be named.
Welcome to OpenWrt. I am a transplant from the DD-WRT/Fresh Tomato world as well.
You're right about the wiki page you were looking at. It is for a client-bridge configuration. Good for a wi-fi extender. You want to use the wi-fi as your WAN. Try:
Also, the page back from that is useful for looking up different topologies:
Your hardware is reasonable, though the SoC is dated. It's esentially a Netgear R6700v2 with the wifi updated to AX. If all you're doing is travel-routing as you describe, then it's a reasonable choice.
I managed to install OpenWrt and build the desired configuration with the help of https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/connect_client_wifi even on my old TP-Link (which is a 4/32 device) as a proof-of-concept. Kills processes sometimes due to low memory but it seems to work somehow.
You do not want anything that is classified as a "wifi repeater" -- you're looking simply for a routed configuration using a wireless uplink (i.e. wireless WAN, or WWAN).
You'll start with a base configuration of OpenWrt and configure your LAN as you desire. Then, connect to the upstream network using the general method linked here: (but there's a better way... described in a moment):
The better way, though, is to use Travelmate to manage your upstream connections. It works really well for this use case.
Are you actually traveling with your NAS? If not, are you expecting to be able to access it while on the go via a remote connection (such as a VPN)?
There are smaller, purpose built travel routers. You might want to consider those. But otherwise, sure, this unit is fine.
