Wireless Bridge mode

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi, I'm a bit confused about the WLAN bridge mode of an old router I have.
From the user manual...

Mode: It refers to the WLAN accessing mode. The device can work in two modes, as shown in the following table. The default value is Access Point.
Wireless Bridge - It is used to connect two or more access points.
Access Point - The access points meeting the IEEE 802.11b/g standard or the wireless terminals can connect the wireless device.

I know how to connect two routers via LAN, giving different IP's and disabling DHCP on the second one. But how exactly works this WLAN bridge mode?
Thanks!

2

Do you have a link for this?
Whatever you are quoting does not look familiar....

3

Wireless bridge mode bridges LAN cable to wifi radio (it is in the name)
Disable -B if possible, it leaks to nearby channels.

5

It comes from the manual I found online
Manuale Huawei B970 (48 pagine) (manualeduso.it)
pag. 31

6

What does that link have to do with Openwrt?
Are you even running Openwrt?

7

I said I was quoting from the router's manual. You asked the source. Obviously it has nothing to do with Openwrt, directly. I tried to install Openwrt but only an old and patched version works, only with CLI. My intention was to make this device a WiFi repeater and now I'm back to the stock firmware. If my question is inappropriate I apologise and the forum administrator can delete it. Thanks anyway.

8

It appears you are using firmware that is not from the official OpenWrt project.

When using forks/offshoots/vendor-specific builds that are "based on OpenWrt", there may be many differences compared to the official versions (hosted by OpenWrt.org). Some of these customizations may fundamentally change the way that OpenWrt works. You might need help from people with specific/specialized knowledge about the firmware you are using, so it is possible that advice you get here may not be useful.

You may find that the best options are:

  1. Install an official version of OpenWrt, if your device is supported (see https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org).
  2. Ask for help from the maintainer(s) or user community of the specific firmware that you are using.
  3. Provide the source code for the firmware so that users on this forum can understand how your firmware works (OpenWrt forum users are volunteers, so somebody might look at the code if they have time and are interested in your issue).

If you believe that this specific issue is common to generic/official OpenWrt and/or the maintainers of your build have indicated as such, please feel free to clarify.

9

Thank you for the answer and indications about my case.
I started from the device page [OpenWrt Wiki] Huawei E970 / T-Mobile web'n'walk Box IV where this router seemed to be supported. But then I realized that it is not. Because of its limited memory and a kind of locked CFE, any attempt to flash a firmware fails (via CFE upgrade web page or serial connection).
So I found an old topic about a patched image of Openwrt that actually works, but it's very limited [OpenWrt-Devel] [PATCHv2] Add support for Huawei E970 (narkive.com)
Not able to do much with command lines I returned to the original firmware, that's all.
I hope someone can realize a better working image with a web interface and update the device page.

10

Won't happen, 4/32 devices were dropped 5 years ago.

1 Like
11

Back to the original question, these Broadcom b/g chips and their closed source driver offered a proprietary bridging mode. It was never supported by OpenWrt open source firmware. If you had two of these boxes with factory firmware they could bridge using the proprietary mode. The Broadcom bridging option does not interconnect with other brands of chips.