Just upgraded our router from a Linksys wrt45gl with tomato to a TPLink Archer C7 v2 and have installed openwrt on it (I believe it's barrier breaker with the Luci web interface; the file I used to upgrade the firmware is named "openwrt-ar71xx-generic-archer-c7-v2-squashfs-factory.bin")

I have some questions:

In the wireless overview, there are two listings: radio0 and radio1. Do these refer to the dual bands of the router? I've enabled both of them in the hopes that this will take advantage of the dual band function.

How do I set up the wireless encryption? Our needs are very simple (the main reason I opted for openwrt is to be able to use a good QOS package). There are six of us in this house - I'm the only one who has a wired connection and the rest connect through wifi. I just want to use a simple password (same one we used for previous router). But there are all these options that I don't understand - different forms of encryption, different keys, etc. Can anyone guide me here? Or point me towards a guide?

And can I use the same network name and password for both the radio0 and radio1 bands?

If these questions are too basic for this forum, just point me towards a better forum. Thanks!

(Last edited by spacediver on 23 Mar 2015, 06:58)

Hi

Yes, if your router is dual-band, Radio0 and Radio1 would refer to the 2.4 and 5 Ghz radios in your router.  You should enable both, and yes, your idea to give both the same SSID and encryption details to allow your devices to roam between them is sound.

As to your wireless encryption question, that is not specific to OpenWRT and you may do well to read many of the excellent articles available on the web on what the different types of encryption settings do.  For you there is probably only one viable setting, but in the spirit of OpenWRT being to a large extent about learning, I'm going to leave that as "an excercise to the reader."  (Similar options would have been available to you under Tomato or the stock firmware.)

For OpenWRT-specific bits related to wireless settings please see here:  http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/uci/wireless

For generic bits related to wireless encryption - and I'm being honest here - these are some of the best resources:  https://www.google.com/search?q=wireless+encryption

Thanks, I appreciate the guidance. I'll do my homework and report back here if I need further help. For now, one follow up question:

The first link you gave me contains a bunch of variables. I'm assuming this is to do with controlling the router through some sort of command line interface. What's the value of this when Luci allows me to configure the router with a GUI. Is the idea that the command line interface allows finer control over the router than the GUI? Or does the command line interface allow one to develop their own code that interfaces with the router, for example to automate certain things under certain conditions?

My view is it's more a question of "What's the value of having LuCI as an add-on if I can configure everything using a native CLI or API?" :-)

LuCI is convenient and probably covers 90% of what 90% of users would need.  I think I could say without being attacked too much that OpenWRT itself does not have a "GUI".  Running OpenWRT without LuCI is entirely possible and a reality for a number of us, whether because we can't fit it onto available flash, whether we have no need for it, or by personal choice.

With LuCI, the most popular features and settings tend to get exposed in the "GUI", just like happens in other operating systems.  (Try adding a static route or ARP table entry on Windows without opening Command Prompt or PowerShell...)

I don't really know Tomato - which you say you used in the past - but if you compare Tomato to OpenWRT, you may find it is more of a focused solution, whereas OpenWRT is much more of a general purpose OS for embedded devices.  It happens to have a history of - and on-going interest in - consumer wireless routers, but it is by no means limited to that "market."

(Last edited by atom on 23 Mar 2015, 08:37)

Interesting, thanks for the insights. I learned some interesting stuff about wifi encryption - I was always confused about the use of the term "encryption" as I thought the only issue was a password to access the network. But now I understand that the information encoded in the radio waves is itself encrypted.

With Tomato I was using WPA with TKIP, but that was an uninformed choice. I am now going with WPA2.

Installed the LuCi QOS package and it works beautifully.

(Last edited by spacediver on 24 Mar 2015, 01:23)

WPA2 with AES is the best security so far.  It should always be used unless some of your users have very old hardware which does not support it.