Click here [dd-wrt.com] for a guide on installing DD-WRT
Download the latest DD-WRT builds from here [dd-wrt.com]
If you are not interested in using custom firmware yet, these routers support mesh with the stock firmware, but the USB port is disabled.
The stock firmware is relatively new, but is speculated to not receive many, if any, updates, so it may be best to wait until custom firmware support is merged and more mature before messing with installing custom firmware.
How to enable mesh:
- Setup your Main router completely.
- Plug your child node using the wan port to the main router lan port, wait for a solid purple light on the child node before proceeding.
- Log into your main router web admin.
- Click on CA at the bottom right.
- Click on Connectivity and CA Router setup.
- Click on both Add Wired and Add Wireless nodes buttons. Wait for the Add wireless button to re-enable.
- Click Done adding Child Nodes and then Apply.
- Now the child node light should start flashing purple and turn into a mesh mode when it turns blue.
- Disconnect Ethernet and wait for blue light again.
- Move node to desired location.
How to set up as access point:
- Disable DHCP (optional).
- Set the device to Bridge Mode under Connectivity tab.
- Connect cable from your router to a LAN port.
- Get some nail polish and a round sticker to cover the annoying flashing right light.
- Click the 'CA' at the bottom of the page to see the detailed configurations of wifi.
to unbrick and flash new firmware
run flashimg
run flashimg2
rename stock firmware to tortuga.img
Top Comments
Mind you that I only have 100Mbps Spectrum internet but I do stream/direct play 4k videos from a Plex media server to several Amazon Firestick 4k devices without issue. Overall IMO you would be hard pressed to find such relatively decent hardware for so cheap; especially a Mesh network.
It wasn't all smooth at first mind you. I kept getting disconnects; especially with the streaming IP cameras. But I discovered by disabling Express Forwarding all my streaming issues went away. (CA>Connectivity>Administration>Express Forwarding)
I'm guessing that Cisco's/Linksys' proprietary Express Forwarding routing protocol was causing havoc with the IP cams streaming capabilities. Also, disabling Node Steering seemed to make things more stable as well; mesh nodes no longer disconnect from the router when Node Steering is disabled. (CA>Wi-Fi Settings>Advanced>Node Steering)
Of course, user experience can vary so feel free to experiment. if the routers are giving you problems, try turning these features off and see if it works
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Mesh is meh. without band steering and fast roaming it kinda sucks. Yes its true mesh, as in its self healing and can use a wired backhaul or wireless with little effort.
But...
Say you name all the ssids the same, or have your phone/car to auto connect to the 2.4ghz ssid and the 5ghz ssid. While you are driving into the driveway its going to connect to the 2.4ghz (50-100mbs) and stay there forever. While you are walking around the house your phone is going to hold onto that node for bloody life till you lose connection and it connects to the next nearest node.
I have come to the conclusion that unless i can get fast roaming to work, im better off with just 3 APs with a wired backhaul and the wifi tweaked so that things dont connect to them till they are well within range, and the APs boot them off as soon as bandwidth gets even a little iffy. And i can easily do that with dd-wrt.
On stock, with three mesh nodes, I switch between nodes pretty seamlessly as I walk around. Every once in a while I've noticed that it will hang onto an old node and not switch to the new one, but not enough that speed was affected (as in, I only noticed it by watching the Wifiman app).
I setup wireless mesh on a parent + 2 nodes and the throughput is almost perfect in my use case. Check the speed test results as I am more than happy. This test was from a desktop that is hooked to a WIRELESS NODE, which is roughly 60 feet away with walls in between, and get almost the full throughput.
Stock, although good, lacks several features compared to OpenWRT, to say the least. I enabled DoH (secure DNS) using Stubby + you can pick the channel for wireless backhaul + SQM QoS, etc. And, the interface is nice and day and you can save config, tweak it and can get it back and running in no time!
Overall, it's a no brainer to buy this device at $20. Hands down, this is the best deal out there, imho!
a) do you take subset of the directories from export archive ,do manual modifications, zip them up and import to another instance? what are those files/directories that needs to go together for a dumbAP config. thanks
a) do you take subset of the directories from export archive ,do manual modifications, zip them up and import to another instance? what are those files/directories that needs to go together for a dumbAP config. thanks
For new device install, I reuse /etc/config/dhcp and /etc/config/wireless as that's where the majority of my changes are. Remaining changes in /etc/config/network and /etc/config/system go into a separate script (uci set/commit/service restart) that is common to all devices, like time zone, ntp, etc. and run it.
Overall, it will take about less than 10 minutes to do the whole install/configure on a new wireless node and about 15 minutes on the main one if I have to start from scratch.
For new device install, I reuse /etc/config/dhcp and /etc/config/wireless as that's where the majority of my changes are. Remaining changes in /etc/config/network and /etc/config/system go into a separate script (uci set/commit/service restart) that is common to all devices, like time zone, ntp, etc. and run it.
Overall, it will take about less than 10 minutes to do the whole install/configure on a new wireless node and about 15 minutes on the main one if I have to start from scratch.
Gonna need a heatsink upgrade as you just increase the power usage by 75%
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Gonna need a heatsink upgrade as you just increase the power usage by 75%
Honestly I really don't see the benefit for me in wifi 6e or wifi 7 at least at this point in time. The one thing holding me back is that this only has 1gbps ports. Ideally I would like a way to utilize my soon to be 2gbps internet on my work computer that's hardwired in to the router. Even that is really overkill as I'm happy with 1gbps internet but since they are upgrading my plan it's always nice to use the upgraded speed.
Honestly I really don't see the benefit for me in wifi 6e or wifi 7 at least at this point in time. The one thing holding me back is that this only has 1gbps ports. Ideally I would like a way to utilize my soon to be 2gbps internet on my work computer that's hardwired in to the router. Even that is really overkill as I'm happy with 1gbps internet but since they are upgrading my plan it's always nice to use the upgraded speed.
For new device install, I reuse /etc/config/dhcp and /etc/config/wireless as that's where the majority of my changes are. Remaining changes in /etc/config/network and /etc/config/system go into a separate script (uci set/commit/service restart) that is common to all devices, like time zone, ntp, etc. and run it.
Overall, it will take about less than 10 minutes to do the whole install/configure on a new wireless node and about 15 minutes on the main one if I have to start from scratch.
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