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Media Bridge - is it possible to bridge and have wireless clients at the same time?

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wirelasso

New Around Here
I have bought an ASUS RT-AC66U recently.

I've tried the stock firmware (after a firmware upgrade) as well as asuswrt-merlin.
I've read at some places, e.g. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1960218/media-bridge-question-asus-ac66r.html that the router supports getting a 5GHz Signal from a different router, and then transmit a 2.4 GHz WiFi signal.

What I'm trying to do is the following. I have an ASUS RT-N16 as my router connected to the internet.
I want to connect to this router to have an extended range.
In "Repeater Mode" this worked - I could connect to the 2.4 GHz signal with my AC66U and create 2 new SSIDs for 2.4/5GHz (even with different names, or the same names). The problem with Repater Mode is: I can't connect my PC to the AC66U via ethernet port. It can't even ping RT-N16.

Now in Media Bridge mode, my PC can ping the RT-N16 with no issues. BUT: the 5GHz WiFi of the AC66U is completely turned off (no LED) and the 2.4GHz WiFi is only used for the connection to the RT-N16. It does not offer a separate SSID or extend the range in any way.

My question: Is something broken with my software, with NVRAM etc.? Or does asuswrt-merlin not support acting as a repeater bridge, that is: connect clients via ethernet port AND act as 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi access point AND get the main internet connection via 2.4 or 5 GHz uplink?
 
I found the following from http://www.snbforums.com/threads/how-to-setup-2-rt-ac66u-routers.10384/#post-158096

"Not to dredge up an old thread, but in order to provide an update and clarify for anyone looking to use two AC66U's, the RT-AC66 does now allow "Repeater" mode, and both the router and repeater can take advantage of fully secured (WPA-AES, TPK, etc.) passwords for each SSID, so the issue of using "Bridge" mode and having to run as an "open" (i.e., unsecured) SSID has been resolved.

I'm using one RT66 as a router, and the other (set to 5ghz, 80mhz on channel 161) as the repeater. You can use all 4 LAN ports on the repeater with virtually no signal drop (this is the functional equivalent of using a wireless bridge), and you can also use the 2.4ghz and 5ghz radios on the repeater as well to reach areas that your router can't reach. This is most useful with 5ghz, but also extends the 2.4ghz signal as well to areas where you can't run a wired AP."

So what I'm trying to do seems to work with other people's routers?
 

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