How to use RaspberryPi 4B as a router relay

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

I am currently dealing with a weak Wi-Fi signal in a specific area and would like to use my Raspberry Pi 4B as a signal booster or relay. My plan is to have the Raspberry Pi connect to the primary router via 5GHz Wi-Fi, then connect its Ethernet port to a switch. Other devices in this area would then connect directly to the switch via Ethernet cables.

Is this "wireless-in, wired-out" configuration feasible for a sub-router/bypass router setup? If so, what are the recommended steps to configure the routing and network sharing?

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2

The Pi's wifi is quite poor and it is not recommended for most use cases.

However, the key issue is that the wifi standards don't actually have a 'proper' mechanism for using a wireless uplink and a wired downlink. There are workarounds for this, though, although they're really hacks.

  • If the main router is running OpenWrt, you can use WDS or 802.11s/mesh.
  • If the main router is not using OpenWrt, you would use relayd, but with the wifi only in STA mode (not simultaneous STA + AP mode).
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