Replacement for WRT3200ACM

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Since there was no response, I'll happily hi-jack this thread....

Let's say best router in terms of power (AC, AX), at least tri-banded, 4x4 min 8x8 and up preferred. With a chipset that allows for things like WDS, 802.11s, 802.11r for some sort of meshed wireless network.

I'm desperately trying to replace my Linksys WRT3200ACMs because they suck at WDS and I have a lot of square footage to cover. I've got marvel chips in the Linksys routers, and Broadcom in my ASUS RT-AC3200, and they all suck at mesh, WDS, etc. Running cables is not preferred but looking like it may be necessary if I don't replace these routers with something powerful and feature capable.

Every powerhouse router I look at is too new to be supported by OpenWRT. I'm starting to think I'm going to need to figure out how to port OpenWRT to new platforms myself. Which I'm not opposed to, I just imagine it'll be a steep learning curve and I need a more immediate resolution before I can't send back my Linksys routers for refunds any longer.

2

are you sure the problem is the wrt3200 acm and not the other side, the other wds device?
my wrt 3200 acm is doing wds access point and is rock solid.

3

We would love it if you figure out how to port OpenWRT to new platforms. :+1::crossed_fingers::slight_smile: If I am honest with you mate running cables is the way foreword. That is what i ended up doing and am so glad I went to all the trouble. My mane router is a wrt3200acm and I ran a cable to my top level and then set up a wrt1900ac-v2 as a dum AP. I ran cables from the 1900ac to all the bedrooms and it has worked out to be a sound investment. In the past I have ran lots of routers as wifi bridges and all ways had drop outs or slow speeds at times.

4

I have two of Linksys wrt3200acms, so it's the same hardware on both of the sides. My problem is not with the WDS AP which works fine. It's the WDS Client side. Apparently the phy interface doesn't support being a client and an AP. So I'd have to settle for running the AP on the 2.4 antenna and the client on the 5GHz, or vice versa. Neither is agreeable since I'm looking to try to get 866Mbps speeds all over my home and not just in my office near the router. I have a laptop that connects at 1.7Gbps, which is amazing, but again that's right on top of the AP.

Am I doing something wrong because, again, I can't get the WDS client antenna to also host virtual APs on it. Perhaps, it's a user error and not the hardware.

5

We would love it if you figure out how to port OpenWRT to new platforms. :+1::crossed_fingers::slight_smile: If I am honest with you mate running cables is the way foreword. That is what i ended up doing and am so glad I went to all the trouble. My mane router is a wrt3200acm and I ran a cable to my top level and then set up a wrt1900ac-v2 as a dum AP. I ran cables from the 1900ac to all the bedrooms and it has worked out to be a sound investment. In the past I have ran lots of routers as wifi bridges and all ways had drop outs or slow speeds at times.

It's already in the works. I'm knee deep in developer guides and gdb hacking. I don't know how long it takes to get proficient at this stuff, but I'm addicted. Hopefully that goes in my favor.

I even signed up for the Computer Engineering degree track at my local community college. No BS.

I started messing with running ethernet cables today, but my 50ft'ers aren't quite long enough. Looks like I'll need 75-100ft cat6 or cat7 to get the job done. I've been also pricing out Ubiquiti wireless solutions (expensive), new routers that don't run OpenWRT (heartbreaking and not the way I want to go, but maybe I'll get one that eventually is supported), and NetGear R7800's which are Qualcomm Atheros, appear to be decent and do all the things I think I'm looking to do. I just wish one of the big beefy new ASUS, NetGear, Linksys routers with 8x8 and 10Gbps supported OpenWRT. I'd drop the dough in a nanosecond.

I have my ASUS RT-AC3200 that I'm sort of retiring, I'm thinking of using that as my tinkering project to get good at porting to irritating Broadcom chipsets. :slight_smile:

Sorry for the rant. Guess I had a lot of stuff to say on the topic.

6

Spending a thousand (+ time) to save a buck, aren't you?

7

Spending a thousand (+ time) to save a buck, aren't you?

If you mean for the college courses, my motivation isn't to save money. I just love opensource, and I love programming, and hardware. I work in IT as a Solutions Architect, but I've always wanted to do more development. So I see it as pursuing a passion.

3 Likes
8

Cables... and passion. Maybe get yourself some bulk and a connector crimper. Wires are great. I have a dual bonded pair from the router to my desk where i have my workstation, AP, printer, VoIP phone, etc.

And the other end of the office has one to handle dual workstations for the kids...

one of these days I'm going to get one strung to my living room. meantime it gets powerline.

9

Here's an iw list output from the wrt3200acms which seems to indicate that phy0 and phy1 are only capable of doing 1 mesh or managed (client) interface, and up to 16 APs, but not at the same time.

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 }
10

Just ordered a couple 150ft cables...thanks for the advice

1 Like
11

Although mesh is listed as supported, 802.11s does not work.

12

Just one more thing to add to the list. The best I can come up with, other than long cables, is to use radio0 as your backhaul connection, and use radio1 (2.4) and radio2 (5-DFS, which isn't supposed to be used for clients). Radio2 has limitations like it doesn't support 160MHz and technically it's for monitoring DFS channels, not for hosting clients. This design breaks down in my use-case because I'm running multiple SSIDs to separate VLANs on my primary router. I need my WDS/Mesh/Whatever link to be able to handle most of these separate SSIDs/networks, which the Linksys wrt3200acm just cannot do. :frowning:

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