WRT1900AC v2 as a wireless access point?

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

Hello,

I currently have a Netgear Orbi system in place in my main house, which reaches the garage, but not further. I have no way of connecting the garage with a cable in order to use my extra WRT1900 AC v2 as a cabled access point however I used a very old and cheap Netgear router which extended the wireless signal beyond the garage before it gave up.

I have an WRT1900AC lying around and want to use it instead of buying a new router but cannot find how to configure it for this task. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thx!

2

This is not hardware specific, but generic to (almost) all devices running OpenWrt, https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/wifiextenders/bridgedap (just keep in mind that mwlwifi in Linksys' wrtxxxx range of devices is picky and 'not great').

2 Likes
3

Namely do not enable 5GHz wifi before 2.4 is running.

4

Thank you for the info!
I must be dumb but I followed that exact guide, mainly the " Configuration via LuCI" part, but got stuck at the last part with "Use an Ethernet cable to connect one of the LAN ports on your main router to one of the LAN ports".

I don't see any way in the config to choose which wireless network the WRT1900AC should connect to and extend?

5

Probably not possible with proprietary mesh and "not great" type of other device.

6

WDS/ 4addr would be the approach to do that, but:

  • it requires the uplink router to also run OpenWrt
  • it probably won't work with mwlwifi, check iw list for the valid interface combinations
  • …and hope that mwlwifi largely behaves
7

Sorry I meant my old Asus N56U router could do it, as seen on this screenshot.
So I'm looking for something similar on the WRT1900AC as I assume it is a much better router all around?

Using the guide I got it working with cable, but need it to work wirelessly...

asus

8

In openwrt terms that is called relayd or luci-proto-relay.
Your newer device has less functional wifi than old with proprietary driver.

9

oh ok, sorry, not that technical more than following instructions. Does this mean that the WRT1900AC can't act as a wireless bridge or similar?

10

You have to try, with 2.4GHz first, 5GHz on the device for example cannot use DFS, ie most of channels in most of the world.

11

The valid interface combinations from iw list will give you a first approximation of an answer (a clear 'no', if so - if it says yes, you will still need to test if that claim of the driver is correct and how well/ badly it works in practice; mwlwifi is 'not a great driver', relatively limited and quite picky).

13

Thank you all for your feedback!

It seems the best option is just to get a used Asus N56U router and use it in bridge mode as that worked for years with high speed :slight_smile:

Will have to find another use for this WRT1900AC.

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14

You have to try:
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/relay_configuration
Due to limitations of 5GHz radio new router is nearly same as your old N56U

15

This device should be able to act as an AP, and can certainly be configured as such. If you cannot configure this one, why will you be able to configure a new one in the same fashion. The only issue might be the distance to the outbuilding, but I used to use a mwlwifi within different floors of a house without issue.

And, I just got to say there sure is a lot of misinformation in this thread about this particular device... As to the iw list output there is one lie, mwlwifi does NOT support mesh contrary to output.

Edit: regarding distance, them there aerial bits can be replaced.

1 Like
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As per @anomeome, there apparently seems to be a number of inaccuracies in this thread based on my current experience.

Yes, wireless was problematic on these devices, and a couple of years ago I opted to add a Unifi AP to that purpose.

Recently my Unifi AP bit the bullet with full radio failure and I put one of my 1900ACS into service as a replacement AP using the most recent firmware updates to mwlwifi and ordered a Zyxel NWA50AX Pro.

Long story short (and not scientific), I took a wander around my residence this evening after reading this thread, surveying when I lost signal on both 2.4/5Ghz for Zyxel and 1900ACS devices. On both, I was able to find acceptable signal at about 90’ on 5Ghz and 120’ at 2.4Ghz.

You don’t indicate distance from AP to your garage, but I would urge that you follow the link @slh indicated in post #2 before abandoning the WRT1900AC device.

17

Thank you all!

It seemed to be a misunderstanding from my part as I was looking for Bridge, but openwrt calls it relay. I was simply also looking for some settings on this as that was what I was used to from Asus. But what solved it was the link from @brada4 https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/relay_configuration
This was what I needed, wirelessly connect the access point and not with a cable. Tried it this morning and worked as expected, great, thx all!

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