Questions around adding a mesh network to an existing router

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1
OpenWrt
Model Linksys WRT3200ACM
Architecture ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
Target Platform mvebu/cortexa9
Firmware Version OpenWrt 24.10.2 r28739-d9340319c6 / LuCI openwrt-24.10 branch 25.168.50434~d6b13f6
Kernel Version 6.6.93

My router is on the 1st floor at the front of my brick-built house, as that’s where the fibre comes in and that’s where the modem is. It’s a LinkSys WRT3200ACM (now around end of life, according to Linksys support, but functioning perfectly well). My whole house is cat5e wired, with 4x 16 port GB unmanaged switches but I also need to support a family’s range of wireless devices (phones, tablets, laptops) and a host of Arduino/ESP based home-built IoT devices.

Because it’s at the front of the house, the wireless has always been patchy. I tried using three TP-Link Mains Extenders but that never worked very well, and people had to manually switch APs for a stronger signal as they moved around.

I assume a mesh network would be a better bet (seamless roaming around the house/garden). Because I’ve invested in my OpenWRT config, for VLans and firewall rules/port forwarding, etc, I’m fairly keen to keep that, so I presumed I could buy, say a couple of Velop 7 nodes and bridge one to the existing router.

Questions:

  1. Is this possible (bridging)?
  2. If bridging, do I need a Master & Child node?
    1. Presumably the Master won’t be doing routing - the bridged WRT3200ACM will be doing that
    2. Could it therefore work to have two child nodes and no master.Does master mean more than just routing - such as being intelligent about mesh stuff?
  3. If bridging and mesh capability are possible for this setup, do I need to disable my router’s own wireless?
  4. What’s a reasonable choice for the model eg Velop 7 pro, Velop 7, Velop 6, etc? (do I even need to stick with the Linksys brand?
  5. Is OpenWRT compatible with any of these Velop mesh routers and should I switch to a Mesh Velop system (keeping my wired network, attached to the Velop master, but ditching my old Liniksys router)

Sorry for so many questions. I tried the Linksys support line but they just wanted to sell me a new SPNMX solution

2

1 run iw phy and check “interface combinations” , marvell is not the brightest of radio devices.

2 nope, all equal

1 no idea what you are talking about

2 ditto

3 see (1)

4 no velop supported, see firmware selector or toh https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi

5 no

3 
iw phy

valid interface combinations: 
                \* #{ AP } <= 16, #{ mesh point } <= 1, #{ managed } <= 1, 
                  total <= 16, #channels <= 1, radar detect widths: { 20 MHz (no HT), 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz }
4

Is there a good quality, robust, reliable, router, with 4x1 GB ethernet ports that DOES run OpenWRT and DOES includes mesh wireless and that I can possibly buy as a package of a master node/router and a slave node (or two)?

5

check here https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi
cudy wr3000_ for cheap
glinet gl-mt6000 or openwrt one for maximum specs

anything supported with filogic platform (mt79 in CPU search) runs problem-free, some are very hard to install like soldering, check device pages.
qualcomm ax aka IPQ is 2nd in lineup, needing pproprietary drivers to reach gigabit
ramips mt7621 is the weakest, but does gigabit-speed offload without extra proprietary drivers.

Your router is not broken, it even supports mesh, but only in one channel in most of the world.

1 Like
6

This means you can have one 802.11s mesh vif. This is standard and normal. It would be a very rare edge case to want more than one mesh vif on one radio...

7

Thanks @brada4 . While I was looking at your recommendation for the Flint2, I noticed a Flint3e (also with pre-installed OpenWRT but with WiFi 7) and wondered if that would be a more future-proof purchase?

8

This is not currently supported by mainstream OpenWrt, only Gl-inet's OpenWrt fork using the closed source wireless drivers - it does not support 802.11s vifs as far as I am aware.
So right now it is not a future proof purchase, rather, it would be a useless purchase for your current use case.

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9

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