Multiple OpenWrt AP

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

Hi all, I'm thinking to move from my current setup: OpnSense + 3 unifi AP same ssid to OpnSense + 3 openwrt AP to get a cheaper way into wifi6. Does anyone have experience with multiple openwrt AP's ? Unifi has band steering to prefer wifi5/6 for clients that support it, fast roaming and rsii. Docs show that most is supported by openwrt, but would be great to hear any first-hand experience.

I have a fairly large 2-storey house with brick walls ( even internals). While i can cover it with 1 powerful AP the speed gets terrible.

Thanks in advance.

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most unifi can run OpenWRT then usteer (no-parameter setup) or dawn (more sophisticated) covers the roaming part.
General setup is called Wireless bridge or dumb AP (seek wiki)
If you mix 2 kinds of device firmware - it will work bridging same wifi name to same DHCP subnet, but unifi will not consider OpenWRT access points as available roaming targets, and vice versa.

3

Thanks for the reply.
To clarify, I'm planning to remove any unifi and go with openwrt (e.g. Xiami/TP-Link routers).
So its not about reuse but more about features and multiple AP's working together

4

You can identify dark spots with unifi wifiman and reuse some unifi to cover those later.

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@pest85, I'm just curious why you want to switch to OpenWRT on your Unifi APs?

OpenWRT sure gives you tons of customization options but IMO it's also way more complicated to manage compared to the automation Ubiquiti offers which is their major strength when it comes to WiFi management.

6

The main reason is price.
I'm currently running 3 AP AC (WIFI4&5). Unifi is great but I want to move to wifi6 as having more client devices that can support it.
Openwrt AP can be found for $60-120 AUD each (Xiaomi 3000t or ax6000). Unifi U6 plus or similar is around $200, U6 pro is almost $300. I need 3 of those which makes unifi $250-450-750 more expensive for the whole system.
Another reason is - I want to play with something new. While I agree that it's pretty easy to manage multiple APs via unifi network app, I've found that I rarely touch it once happy with the configuration.

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7

Yes got 3 x Zyxel WSM20 running at my parents house covering it fully in WiFi.

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8

all configured as AP?
Is anything specific for the band steering and fast roaming configured? anything else?

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All configured as Dumb AP, it's up to you what you want to use as the band steering, there's DAWN and Usteer, there's BATMAN and WDS.

There's more details from other WSM20 owners over here:

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