Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2022 2:56 Post subject: Mesh VAP
I could do that I guess, but it doubles the number of routers in use, from 10 to 20 because each router would need a wired AP next to it to broadcast a 2.4GHz network in my case. I probably have enough routers but that is a lot of waste for something that should be able to be done on one router. _________________ Before asking a question on the forums, update dd-wrt: Where do I download firmware? I suggest reading it all.
QCA Best WiFi Settings
Some dd-wrt wiki pages are up to date, others are not. PM me if you find an old one.
Atheros:
Netgear R7800 x3 - WDS AP / station, gateway, QoS
TP-Link Archer C7 v2 x2 - WDS Station
TP-Link TL-WDR3600 v1 - WDS Station
TP-Link 841nd v8 - NU
D-Link 615 C1/E3/I1 x 7 - 1 WDS station
D-Link 825 B1 - NU
D-Link 862L A1 x2 - WDS Station
Netgear WNDR3700v2 - NU
UBNT loco M2 x2 - airOS
Broadcom
Linksys EA6400 - Gateway, QoS
Asus N66U - AP
Netgear WNDR3700v3 - not used
MediaTek
UBNT EdgeRouter X - switch
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 13:31 Post subject: Re: Mesh VAP
ian5142 wrote:
Yes, that is what I am experiencing on r50671. Mesh seems to require a dedicated radio. This makes it unusable in my case due to distances. I can't use a 5GHz backhaul... because the distances are too great. Some of my clients on my network are 2.4GHz only. Therefore, WDS is the only option in my case.
Has this been resolved or do i still have to dedicate a radio to 802.11s. And, based on what I am reading, am I to assume regular clients cannot connect to that AP, even a VAP on the same radio?
802.11s is attractive because it doesn't seem hardware-dependent like WDS. This was one of the most recent threads on 802.11s so I picked it up. I also have hardware well-supported by OpenWrt, which has 802.11s support. I would be good to re-use broadcom/dd-wrt routers with Openwrt routers in a mesh setup, utilizing an existing box of random routers. _________________ various hw
Joined: 18 Mar 2014 Posts: 12917 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 14:01 Post subject: Re: Mesh VAP
hoot_spoot wrote:
ian5142 wrote:
Yes, that is what I am experiencing on r50671. Mesh seems to require a dedicated radio. This makes it unusable in my case due to distances. I can't use a 5GHz backhaul... because the distances are too great. Some of my clients on my network are 2.4GHz only. Therefore, WDS is the only option in my case.
Has this been resolved or do i still have to dedicate a radio to 802.11s. And, based on what I am reading, am I to assume regular clients cannot connect to that AP, even a VAP on the same radio?
802.11s is attractive because it doesn't seem hardware-dependent like WDS. This was one of the most recent threads on 802.11s so I picked it up. I also have hardware well-supported by OpenWrt, which has 802.11s support. I would be good to re-use broadcom/dd-wrt routers with Openwrt routers in a mesh setup, utilizing an existing box of random routers.
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 14:20 Post subject: Re: Mesh VAP
egc wrote:
This is the Atheros forum.
Yep. Am aware. I have a mix of equipment.
Quote:
Broadcom drivers are closed source and only for older kernels not much (read zero) chance it will get support for 802.11s.
Ah. I read somewhere that Brainslayer had an NDA with Broadcom to use their drivers. And that's the reason why Openwrt doesn't have hardly any support for Broadcom.
I guess broadcom are garbage. Mediatek seem to be the thing. The R6350's I have deployed use those with OW, and blow the ASUS broadcom (ac6x) out of the water. I don't keep tabs on what's the better chipsets/routers. What's a good budget AC atheros router? _________________ various hw
Joined: 18 Mar 2014 Posts: 12917 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 14:48 Post subject: Re: Mesh VAP
hoot_spoot wrote:
egc wrote:
This is the Atheros forum.
Yep. Am aware. I have a mix of equipment.
Quote:
Broadcom drivers are closed source and only for older kernels not much (read zero) chance it will get support for 802.11s.
Ah. I read somewhere that Brainslayer had an NDA with Broadcom to use their drivers. And that's the reason why Openwrt doesn't have hardly any support for Broadcom.
I guess broadcom are garbage. Mediatek seem to be the thing. The R6350's I have deployed use those with OW, and blow the ASUS broadcom (ac6x) out of the water. I don't keep tabs on what's the better chipsets/routers. What's a good budget AC atheros router?
The reason OWRT does not have good Broadcom support is that they will never use closed source.
I would not classify Broadcom as Garbage my R7000/EA6900/R6400/AsusAC68U which I administer for friends/family/neighbours are still humming along and with CTF&FA they will provide gigabit throughput.
It is rumoured that BS has an NDA which gave DDWRT the ability to update the closed source drivers to work with Kernel 4.4 which in turn got us native WireGuard and which is still supported as a SLTS release.
So Broadcom (Northstar) on DDWRT is still alive and kicking although in this day and age I would not buy another of those routers.
A good supported AC router is a used R7800 if you can find one cheap, also very well supported by OWRT.
Joined: 19 Nov 2008 Posts: 274 Location: Madison, CT, US
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 17:00 Post subject:
Best news I heard about AX will come to ddwrt in the NEAR future. My clients are moving to AX hardware so my AC router in WDS mode is slowing everything down. WDS lost more than half their speed in the station access point. _________________ Netgear R7800(2), R7500v2(2) WDS, Asus RT-AC68R (2)
