Mesh and WDS problem with 5GHz

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi everyone!
I have a Tplink-Archer C7 V5 router with Openwrt 19.07.7 and a Tplink-RE305 repeater with OpenWrt SNAPSHOT r16957-3d026d2425.
With 2,4 GHz Mesh point connection and WDS mode it works like a dream. The mobile devices connect nicely once the signal level drops between -70 and -80dBm.
However, at 5GHz there are several problems.

  1. with mesh point connection the link speed is fast, however the download speed is only 6-Mbit out of 30. Devices will not connect over a weakening signal strength.
  2. In WDS mode, link speed and download speed are good, but devices do not connect through in case of weakening signal strength.
    Anyone have ideas what I can try?
    Could be a problem with two different radios?
    Arcer C7: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9880. and RE305: MediaTek MT76x2E
    When I manually connect to the Archer C7 or RE305, the mobile devices work fine.
    Thanks if you can help!
2

Bingo.

Buy another C7 V5. Meshes run best with the same router (chipset) for all nodes.

Turn the TX power up. Move the router closer to the clients.

WDS mode works best with devices using the same chipset.

https://forum.archive.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=72813

3

Thank you for the information!
I reset the RE305 and reconfigured the WDS, but I only configured it for 5GHz (WDS-Client), and Accespoint 5Ghz/2.4GHz.
I must say that it works fine now. Roaming mobile devices when the signal is weak.

4

If it becomes unstable and requires a reboot regularly you could also cron job that to happen every 24 hours or as needed.

It may also become more reliable with bigger more comprehensive packages:
wpad-basic --> wpad or wpad-openssl
dnsmasq --> dnsmasq-full

Nice.