Asus AC66u wireless bridge to rt-n66u???

[Jamster001]

Hi Members.

I am trying to implement the usage of a ac66u main router wirelessly bridged to a rt-n66u secondary router. I have two rooms within our business and we do not have the available ports, nor the cabling ran, in order to hardwire the two routers together. Is there a way to have them wirelessly communicate on either of the two (2.4 and 5Ghz) bands? Also, I would prefer there be only two SSIDs and not four. Is this a possibility? I been looking all over the web trying to get an idea of how to go about this but have came up empty handed.

Also, as I am on a business network with many subnets, how do I go about setting the two routers up to avoid any IP conflicts? I have the ac router with a IP of 192.168.6.5 and the DHCP pool is currently set to automatic. As other devices/servers are also on that subnet, how can I set the pool to use a different subnet; say a 192.168.12.x address? Is this possible?

 

[Ford Prefect]

What you want to do is use the secondary router in Bridge-mode to connect the primary one.

If the range is sufficient I'd use the 5Ghz Band to connect the two.
The setup is fairly simple.
- set the secondary ASUS into WirelessBridge mode
- it will scan for available networks...select the one from your primary ASUS to connect to
- you are basically done (besides setting SSIDs)

- using the same SSID and PWD is IMHO not advisable as it will make fault detection and analysis a pita.
- also if you can afford it, I'd reserve one band for the bridge-connection.
As most likely all of your devices support 2.4GHz, I'd use the 5GHz with a "Bridge-SSID" (if the routers can cover the range) and the 2.4GHz with a "Client-SSID".
If you want your devices to roam silently, set the "client-SSID" to be the same on both routers, but note that not all clients today can actually do that, so think about pros and cons.

- the secondary router will be an AP, connected wirelessly. DHCP in it will be disabled.
Running it on a different subnet won't be possible, AFAIK.

 

[Jamster001]

What you want to do is use the secondary router in Bridge-mode to connect the primary one.

If the range is sufficient I'd use the 5Ghz Band to connect the two.
The setup is fairly simple.
- set the secondary ASUS into WirelessBridge mode
- it will scan for available networks...select the one from your primary ASUS to connect to
- you are basically done (besides setting SSIDs)

- using the same SSID and PWD is IMHO not advisable as it will make fault detection and analysis a pita.
- also if you can afford it, I'd reserve one band for the bridge-connection.
As most likely all of your devices support 2.4GHz, I'd use the 5GHz with a "Bridge-SSID" (if the routers can cover the range) and the 2.4GHz with a "Client-SSID".
If you want your devices to roam silently, set the "client-SSID" to be the same on both routers, but note that not all clients today can actually do that, so think about pros and cons.

- the secondary router will be an AP, connected wirelessly. DHCP in it will be disabled.
Running it on a different subnet won't be possible, AFAIK.

Is the rt-N66u capable of using as a wireless-bridge? Any special firmware needed over the stock Asus firmware?

 

[Ford Prefect]

Yes it is...you can use the stock FW.
You can select the mode from the Quick-Setup menu inside the Web-UI.

Edit: errrhh...wrong: you can change mode from the Administration menu entry..you'll want "repeater-mode".

 

[Jamster001]

Yes it is...you can use the stock FW.
You can select the mode from the Quick-Setup menu inside the Web-UI.

Edit: errrhh...wrong: you can change mode from the Administration menu entry..you'll want "repeater-mode".

I didn't want to use the "repeater-mode" because, from research I've heard, it will result in 50% LESS bandwidth. Why didn't the N66u come featured with a wireless-bridge option? Quite odd.

 

[saguaro]

If you install Merlin's firmware on the n66u there is an option for bridge mode in it. I have this on mine.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Well, when you want/need to connect the two routers with a wireless bridge (this is what you indend to do, don't you?) all traffic will pass that bridge.
This will cut the remaining bandwidth that is available to other wireless clients on that SSID and wifi channel in half....that *is* the nature of a bridge...it is a virtual wireless ethernet segment.

In repeater mode the second router also offers a wifi channel (a different channel, maybe same SSID) ... this is also what you intend to achieve, don't you?

Then repeater mode is for you!

An alternate setup is a client mode. where the wifi link is only used when traffic needs to pass to/from clients on the second router but here the wifi is only used for the link.
In order to offer Wifi to additional clients, you will need to add a third AP to the second routers switch.

Edit: look here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linking_Routers

 

[Jamster001]

If you install Merlin's firmware on the n66u there is an option for bridge mode in it. I have this on mine.

If I may, what version of Merlin's firmware offers the bridge-mode for the n66u?

 

[saguaro]

If I may, what version of Merlin's firmware offers the bridge-mode for the n66u?

You may. ;-) It's his latest version: RT-n66u_3.0.0.4_374.43_0.zip

After you install it, you will find the setting under Administration -> Operation Mode.

You can install this firmware just like a regular ASUS firmware update, but you have to unzip it and then browse to locate the file on your computer.

 

[Ford Prefect]

...that "bridge" mode is what ASUS calls a Media-Bridge.
That name is somewhat misleading as.this is not a wireless bridge between the two routers, this is a client-mode.
No wireless clients can connect to the second router that is operating in Media-Bridge mode.
This is from my AC68 but the FW is all the same, feature wise.

RT-AC68U can be configured in Media bridge mode.The Media Bridge mode provides the fastest 802.11ac Wi-Fi connection for multiple media devices simultaneously.To set up the Media Bridge mode, you need two RT-AC68U: one configured as the Media station and the other as a router.Configure one RT-AC68U as a router and another RT-AC68U as an 802.11ac Media bridge to provide a simultaneous 802.11ac Wi-Fi connection for your media devices such as computer, Smart TV, game console, DVR, or media player via Ethernet cable.Change to Media Bridge mode to provide a simultaneous 802.11ac Wi-Fi connection for your media devices.
In media bridge mode, only wireless devices connect to the P-AP. Client devices need to be connected to the media bridge with a network cable.
In Media bridge mode, the DHCP-assigned IP address changes. Install and use the Device Discovery Utility to get the wireless router's new IP address.

Edit: this is from the repeater-mode setting:

In Repeater mode, RT-AC68U wirelessly connects to an existing wireless network to extend the wireless coverage. In this mode, the firewall, IP sharing, and NAT functions are disabled.
In Repeater mode, the DHCP-assigned IP address changes. Install and use the Device Discovery Utility to get the wireless router's new IP address.

In repeater mode, the wireless link forms a true bridge (thus cutting the bandwidth for clients connected to the primary-AP in the same band in half)
It is like with WDS but you are not limited to WEP security here.
So if "true" clients connect to the 2.4GHz band on either router and the wireless link/brdige is exclusively formed by using the 5GHz band, IMHO there is no drawback in terms of wireless performance for the clients.

 

[jjulez]

So in other word the so call media bridge mode is worthless if i
want wireless devices connecting to it.Mine use to have wifi & work
like a repeater.All change after i upgraded to latest firmware. No wifi
in media bridge mode anymore