So after some research I decided to purchase an ASUS RT-AC66U. This router is a beast and works wonderfully, and it's nice to finally have local gigabit ports. The firmware comes with a lot of features and it's also on the DD-WRT list, which is nice.
So I actually had two of the WRT54G routers available. I gave one to a friend and decided to use the other one as a wireless repeater bridge, which is what this post is about.
So what is a wireless repeater bridge? It's a wireless access point that connects to another access point to get its internet connection.
So in my case I have 2 routers.
The ASUS RT-AC66U is connected to the internet and serves as a wireless B/G/N/AC access point (AP) on 2.4 and 5Ghz (two different wifi APs).
The WRT54G is simply placed elsewhere in the house. It gets to the internet wirelessly through the ASUS router and acts as another AP.
The benefit for me is range extension. I have several wireless security cameras over 3 floors and a large backyard that needs coverage. So I put this second router wherever I want and it is a valid 802.11G access point. On the other hand, it also allows wired connections to the routers 5 ethernet ports, so that could be useful in the event there is a non-wireless device that needs access.
The ASUS is running its latest ASUS firmware and the WRT54G is running DD-WRT v24-sp2.
Setup:
I used the wiki instructions at dd-wrt.com (DD-WRT Repeater Bridge). I see reason to repeat their article here.
Their wiki article is a little old but the basics are still there.
The idea is that your main router stays the same and the bridge router gets put into router mode (instead of gateway) with its wireless in "repeater bridge" mode. Its main wireless connection mirrors the connection of the main wireless router so that they communicate. The DHCP and DNS all happens on the main router and the bridge router has a virtual AP that simply passes the traffic to the main router.
The DD-WRT graphic is right on the money for those who need it.
After some initial setup described in the DD-WRT wiki, I setup the bridge router to match the main router.
For router #2 (repeater bridge) the following wireless settings must match exactly: SSID
Security mode (I used WPA2-Personal with AES)
Channel (I used Auto on the main router because the DD-WRT does not have a channel selection in repeater bridge mode.)
Once the setup was complete I have my main SSID as well as the new virtual AP SSID broadcasting. I can trace or ping to any IP within the network whether it's connect to the main AP or the repeater AP. The time returned on pings to the new repeater router have an occasional blip up to 20ms instead of the normal 1-2ms, but that's no big deal. The repeater router is actually handling two wireless streams, one to the main router and the other is to whichever devices connect to the AP. I tested both the wired and wireless connection on the repeater and they work fine.
To sum it up, I've been using DD-WRT for years and they are worth your donation. A lot of people contribute to the effort that puts features into devices left behind by the manufacturers. For someone like me who has been in IT for many years, I appreciate the ability to use old hardware instead of throwing it away.
Cheers!
