expired Posted by xlnc • Sep 3, 2024
Sep 3, 2024 11:10 PM
Item 1 of 1
expired Posted by xlnc • Sep 3, 2024
Sep 3, 2024 11:10 PM
Linksys LN1301 Tri-Band AX4200 WiFi 6 Wireless Router
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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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I have a couple TP-Link Archer C7 routers and they connected as WDS Stations to the MX4300 WDS AP no problem. Easy-peasy, everything just worked like it should. Based on this, I am certain I had the configuration correct, so the issue was either with the MX4300 hardware or the DD-WRT firmware version (the Archer units were running older firmware).
From what I can gather from reading online, other people have had great success in running these in WDS mode. My issue could just be a fluke.
What did work for WDS was using different makes and models of routers using different versions of DD-WRT firmware. The WDS AP was an MX4300 running the latest DD-WRT firmware and the WDS Stations were Archer C7's, each running a different versions of DD-WRT from each other, but both a couple years old. That setup was a breeze and worked without a problem.
Edit: The Archer C7 uses a Qualcomm Atheros chip, like the MX4300.
Edit2: Added note that my config is wired-to-wireless-to-wired connections using WDS as wireless bridge which is probably not the main use case.
What did work for WDS was using different makes and models of routers using different versions of DD-WRT firmware. The WDS AP was an MX4300 and the WDS Stations were Archer C7's, each running a different versions of DD-WRT from each other, but both a couple years old. That setup was a breeze and worked with a problem.
What did work for WDS was using different makes and models of routers using different versions of DD-WRT firmware. The WDS AP was an MX4300 running the latest DD-WRT firmware and the WDS Stations were Archer C7's, each running a different versions of DD-WRT from each other, but both a couple years old. That setup was a breeze and worked without a problem.
Edit: The Archer C7 uses a Qualcomm Atheros chip, like the MX4300.
Edit2: Added note that my config is wired-to-wireless-to-wired connections using WDS as wireless bridge which is probably not the main use case.
Also just curious have you ever tried setting up Station-mode(client-mode) on the MX4300 (client will be on separate subnet)??
It's not clear if you can preset a static ip in child nodes before adding them to the primary node .
the thread instructions say that you should first setup your primary node and you must set a Static ip before changing to bridge mode so the static ip stays. Then it says after your primary node is good just follow normal instructions for adding children nodes.
So How would you control the child node ips if you don't preset up the child node ip before trying to add it from parent node?
Would this work to just preset child node ip just like primary before adding the child so I have control over assigned child node ip?
Also just curious have you ever tried setting up Station-mode(client-mode) on the MX4300 (client will be on separate subnet)??
I've got 3 VLANs going, too: one for guests, one for IoT, and one that's permanently running OpenVPN (via NordVPN) so I can simply connect to it from any device and be on the VPN. And I've got WireGuard running so I can connect to the network remotely.
I wish I could get SmartDNS and ad-blocking working well, but something about my configuration just won't take. I'll work on it again one day.
It's not clear if you can preset a static ip in child nodes before adding them to the primary node .
the thread instructions say that you should first setup your primary node and you must set a Static ip before changing to bridge mode so the static ip stays. Then it says after your primary node is good just follow normal instructions for adding children nodes.
So How would you control the child node ips if you don't preset up the child node ip before trying to add it from parent node?
Would this work to just preset child node ip just like primary before adding the child so I have control over assigned child node ip?
I can understand why you're confused, though. While I have a great appreciation for the folks over on the DD-WRT forum, they can be a prickly bunch. They have been doing this so long that their "guides" seem to skip over parts or fail to make it explicitly clear where and how settings should be applied. Furthermore, the regulars frequently respond with "just search for it" as if there isn't a decade and a half of outdated information floating around that forum. I get it: they get asked a lot of the same questions over and over again, and they don't remember what it was like to be new to this, so they can be a little less than helpful at times.
Does wired backhaul works on Dd-wrt?
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So far on the wireless mesh (stock firmware), I only get ~500 Mbps on the 2nd router. That's even when my PC is connected to 2nd router through 1Gbps ethernet. My internet is 1Gbps and I get ~950 Mbps at modem/main-router. I connected the two routers using ethernet cable and got 850+Mps on client side. So, it seems the wireless backhaul is the bottleneck.
Does wired backhaul works on Dd-wrt?
The stock firmware is about as barebones as you can get. I did use it for several months waiting for the open source crew to work out the big bugs - and it's definitely fine for the average user - but you're already more advanced than I feel that firmware was designed for. Even though I didn't do wired backhaul on DD-WRT, I can say with certainty that it works fine. It's such a basic and simple configuration.
So far on the wireless mesh (stock firmware), I only get ~500 Mbps on the 2nd router. That's even when my PC is connected to 2nd router through 1Gbps ethernet. My internet is 1Gbps and I get ~950 Mbps at modem/main-router. I connected the two routers using ethernet cable and got 850+Mps on client side. So, it seems the wireless backhaul is the bottleneck.
It's all a rule of averages, though. Your situation might show the lower bands to be crowded and/or the Linksys firmware might have selected an especially crowded band. Use a WiFi analyzer app on your phone (disable "Wi-Fi scan throttling" in dev options if using Android, there's probably a similar setting with iOS devices) to see what your personal situation is; if the lack of configuration options in the Linksys stock firmware are really killing your wireless backhaul, you may want to consider going to DD-WRT or OpenWRT sooner than later.
And speaking of the those two firmware options, I'd consider them both pretty stable, with a slight edge to DD-WRT at the moment. I have a preference for OpenWRT overall; there's really only one dev for DD-WRT (brainslayer), whereas OpenWRT has a much larger and active developer / support base. People complain that DD-WRT is only good for "old" routers and that it uses outdated kernels, but that's not actually the case for the MX4300 / LN1301. Furthermore, people tout the barebones nature of OpenWRT and its extensibility, but minimalism is only a feature if you need it and we don't because our routers have plenty of storage and RAM. DD-WRT also includes the proprietary NSS code by default, whereas mainline OpenWRT will never include them and you have to rely on other devs to merge the code (or do it yourself, which is whole different level of work to put into your router).
I'm using DD-WRT right now and I haven't experienced any instability once it was established. DD-WRT is finicky about the Save / Save & Apply / Reboot sequence for some settings, and I had to physically turn off/on the unit quite a bit (something I didn't have to do with OpenWRT)...but once it was configured, it was stable.
I didn't realize ddwrt can do intelligent true wifi mesh. Ie fast handoffs between access points without disconnects or intelligent decisions to move to closer access points with better signal. I just assumed you needed a proprietary system to achieve this.
I know with ddwrt I could just setup two wired access points in different locations of house with be same ssid but that's not the same as intelligent wireless mesh?
I know with ddwrt I could just setup two wired access points in different locations of house with be same ssid but that's not the same as intelligent wireless mesh?
I will try those suggestions and see.
Also, do you know if the suggestions about OpenWRT/DD-WRT wireless and connectivity performance being typically (slightly) lower than stock firmware true for this router? Have you tested the speeds between stock and other firmware?
Just want to know if there is any appreciable difference in performance.
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Would this be considered an upgrade? I'm only getting about half the speed on WiFi right now, paying for 1g and getting less than 500mps. Would this help me get more speed? I don't have any WiFi 6 devices.
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I did populate the "NAS Identifier" field in roaming - I think it's supposed to be the MAC address of the interface/radio minus the colons - but I'm not sure that's necessary (at least, OpenWRT worked fine in mesh mode without it).
Set your parent node (192.168.1.1) as the DHCP Resolver and your child nodes (192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, etc) as DHCP Forwarders with your parent node IP as the address. Also specify your parent node IP as the Gateway on your child nodes.
I will try those suggestions and see.
Also, do you know if the suggestions about OpenWRT/DD-WRT wireless and connectivity performance being typically (slightly) lower than stock firmware true for this router? Have you tested the speeds between stock and other firmware?
Just want to know if there is any appreciable difference in performance.
All in all, I don't notice any significant difference in network performance between stock and DD-WRT. My clients aren't doing any online gaming or anything, though, so YMMV.
Whether with the old Asus RT-AC68U or this Linksys, I've always gotten better performance out of the high-band 5Ghz in multiple different homes. I had read long ago that's because in the US, the high-band has higher power limit than the low-band. Not sure if that's still the case.