Mesh with 2 different router brands?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi!

I'm looking to setup 2 AP in my home so that 2nd floor is well covered and devices (mobile phones mainly) could roam without interruptions.

Now I have D-Link DIR-878 A1 (should be supported by OpenWrt), and I was thinking on buying another cheap second hand router to setup as 2nd AP.
Questions:

  • will such "mesh" installed on 2 routers from different brands (2nd one would be supposedly TP-Link Archer A6) work at all? :slight_smile:
    I've read https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/mesh/80211s so indeed as long as devices can seamlessly roam (i.e. reconnect automatically to the closest AP with the best signal) then I'm fine and don't care how it is called :wink:

  • I can have cable between the devices, will it be supported?
    (Although will see where best to put 2nd router)

New to OpenWrt, sorry if this is a newbie question :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance!

2

No you haven't.

If you had you will have read the following:

If you are looking for a solution to enable your user devices to seamlessly roam from one access point to another in your home, YOU ARE NOT LOOKING FOR A MESH.

2 Likes
3

Sorry, just the word "mesh" is sort of synonym to "seamless roaming".
But getting back to the original question: will 2 OpenWrt router of different brands allow such seamless roaming?
Are these models good for the task?

4

The radios matter, so ideally pick another router with MT7615 radios, like in the DIR-878.

1 Like
5

On a sidenote: the (out of the box) Non-FT roaming is already quite fast - FT roaming might only benefit you when using 802.1X/EAP / during gaming / during Zoom/Teams while moving through your house.
See also https://forum.openwrt.org/t/fast-seamless-roaming-through-ethernet-with-openwrt/

1 Like
6

Well, Zoom/Teams and such is exactly what I need...

7

Sorry, no it is not. A mesh network has nothing whatsoever to do with roaming.

Mesh networking is covered by the 802.11s standard.

Fast transition wireless roaming is covered by the 802.11r standard.

2 Likes
8

I would slightly rephrase this good advice as mt7615 or better, though. mt7915 (even in DBDC configuration) beats mt7615 in most aspects, while not necessarily being more expensive (e.g. dap-x1860, covr-x1860, wsm20, …), just avoid the older ones (mt7602e/ mt7603e, mt7612, mt7613ben) if you have a choice (QCA 802.11ac/wave2 and 802.11ax devices should also work).

2 Likes
9

BTW, the "radio matters" is about performance (i.e. speed) or compatibility (in a sense whether it would work at all)?

10

Well, the performance is kind of fixed, based on the hardware capabilities (ax is roughly twice as fast ac) of the slowest participant in the chain, but that doesn't mean one should necessarily keep buying 802.11ac stuff if 802.11ax devices are available.

In general, all ath9k (>>ar9160), ath10k (at least wave2, wave1 has some footnotes), ath11k, mt76 devices are supposed to work, also in a mesh setup - including interoperability between them. But mt76 has made rather significant improvements since mt7615, both the hardware and the driver support. mt7602e/ mt7603e don't like interference too much, mt7613BEN doesn't support DFS and has other restrictions beyond that; mt7612 is probably the best among those. Personally my experiences (AP/ non-mesh!) with mt76 on mt7915 in a DBDC setup (mt7621a SOC) have been pretty good, as have been my experiences with mt7921, mt7921k and mt7921au (linux, but in STA mode); I have no hands-on experience with mt7615 and earlier. brcmfmac does not support concurrent AP/ STA operations, mwlwifi is better best forgotten, ath5k 'should' work, but I doubt anyone has tested that in anger in quite a while.

The radio matters, as it also implies the used driver - and with that the reliability and features of that mix.

…and a wired backhaul is always to be preferred, if possible.

1 Like
11

This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.