[dkwalton]

I am currently running dd-wrt r52369 on a Linksys WRT1900ACSv2 in Station Bridge (Routed) mode on its 5GHz radio, AC only.

It works fine, but is significantly slower than an ASUS RT-N66U running ASUSwrt-Merlin firmware in "Media Bridge" mode on its 5GHz radio, N only. 170Mbps for the WRT1900ACSv2 vs 220Mbps for the RT-N66U. All things being equal regarding placement and even the exact same 6dbi antennas being used, this seems a bit strange. One would think the WRT1900ACSv2 would be faster, or at least as fast. Any thoughts?

Of the six modes available for the WRT1900ACSv2, no repeater mode is listed. (I find this a bit odd, since the original Linksys firmware does support a repeater mode.)

In any case, I have been thinking of getting a Linksys WRT3200ACM to play with.

Before I buy, can anyone tell me what radio modes under dd-wrt are available to the WRT3200ACM? (I am hoping a repeater mode is included.)

On a side note, I like to play with older routers that I can get on the cheap. Do you have a favorite older router that is 3200AC, MU-MIMO compliant?

[blkt]

Marvell open source mwlwifi never implemented MU-MIMO also missing features like 802.11w, not including bugs.
You are far better with choosing Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac Wave 2 hardware, alone for wireless driver support.

WikiDevi: R7800 (XR450/XR500), R7500v2, EA8500, R9000 (R8900/XR700).
R7800, XR450, XR500, R7500v2, EA8500 (serial flash), x86 (one, two, three).

[egc]

I agree with @blkt

But be warned, wireless bridge modes are a can of worms.

If you have routers with compatible chipsets then WDS or for newer routers 802.11s (mesh) is far superior.

See the introduction paragraph of my notes.

[dkwalton]

Thank you blkt for all the links.

Thank you egc for taking the time to respond and for the document link. Unfortunately WDS is not an option choice in my situation. I did read the caveat mentioned in https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Bridged, but I had to at least try it. So far, it works just fine.

[blkt]

WDS is available on Linksys Marvell WRT series (1200ac 1900ac/acs 3200/32x). IoT (ESP8266) issues are known.
Marvell sold Wi-Fi and Bluetooth assets to NXP in 2019, but development ended 2018. NXP has proven of no help.

[WENED]

Just thought I would jump in here since the topic fits my experiences with the Linksys line of Routers.
As you can see from my profile I depend heavily upon WDS and have had great success with it over the past couple of years.
A couple of points I will make though. Whether you use WDS, Client-Bridged or an actual Repeater, it should be kept in mind that if you follow through with a vap to simulate a repeater or use the repeater to re-broadcast on the same frequency, you will loose considerable band-width as there is only one radio per frequency and it can only communicate with one device at a time.
You will note that in my configuration I do not re-broadcast on my WDS frequencies (All 5Ghz). Any devices that require 5Ghz will only connect to my WDS AP's.
If it is imperative to "Repeat" an AP I would suggest a setup where a separate router hard wired to the WDS Station be used and it broadcasts on an AP.
As an after thought, if you are located in the US, and decide to use 3200's you can setup WDS on 160Mhz Bandwidth

[dkwalton]

[WENED]

To answer your first question, yes the entire WRT line uses the same Wireless options.

As for your second question, as I understand it you want to Ethernet a new router to your existing 1900 and have it operate as a WDS AP. If this is your intent look at my configuration where I have a 1900 wired to my 3200 master and operating in Router mode with a WDS AP linking two 1900's in WDS Station mode. Unless you have ESP8266 devices, I would recommend using 3200's as you would be able to take advantage of the 160 band width mode.

The only other sticky point is which router is your DHCP server. In my case, my modem is in Passthrough mode hard wired to my Master Router (3200).

My suggestion here would be to hardwire a 3200/1900 to the Modem and have it as your primary/Master router. This 3200/1900 could be in WDS AP mode and be able to connect to your existing 1900 which you could put into WDS Station mode.

It has always been recommended to not use ISP Routers/Modems as primary Routers since they don't usually support as an independent Router can and does not have the availability of options that are afforded with DD-WRT.

As for performance of the 5Ghz band, with my 1900 that runs in WDS AP mode along with a number of 2.4Ghz devices on the 2.4 AP I have my heaviest traffic to a 1900 about 500' away through two walls. This is why I am so pleased with the setup. The only fallback with the WRT series is 3200/32X which has problems with numerous devices on the 2.4Ghz band but for using them as links on WDS, they are great and as I said if you are in the US you can utilize the 160 band. I have tested that here in Canada so I know it works but because it is restricted here I only run 80mhz