WDS or media bridge?

[jea101]

I have a RT-1900P and a TM-AC1900.
Currently they are set as WDS only on 5 GHz and AP only on
2.4 GHz with channel width set to 40 MHz. I get less than
30-megabit speed over the bridge. I suspect this is due to
low 5GHz signal levels.
I am going to try switching the bridge to 2.4 GHz (20 MHz
channel width).
However, I am currently using channels 1,6 and 11 and don’t
have another non-overlapping channel for the bridge.
Will using one router in media bridge mode perform as well as
WDS? This would not require a different channel.

 

[MysticGold04]

If it were me, I would use the media bridge over 5ghz. How far apart are the two routers? If you use 2.4 ghz, the signal will be stronger, but less bandwidth.

In my situation, I have my main router downstairs and the router doing the bridging upstairs for my wired PCs. Over 5ghz, I'm able to achieve the same speed as being downstairs, I get close to 70 megabits on speedtest on one of the PCs connected to the bridge.

 

[RMerlin]

Don't use WDS. It's highly insecure, as it relies on WEP.

 

[jea101]

Yesterday I tried a pair of powerline 1200 AV2 adapters (Trendnet TPL-421E).
They perform better than 5 GHz wireless – about 80 megabit). This may be the
best solution than doesn’t involve cutting open walls and repairing.

I failed to get a 2.4 GHz bridge working but I think I know how to make it work.

I see that Ubiquiti make 900 MHz bridges (Loco M900) but they are not really
desktop units. The are also fairly expensive. I don’t know if anyone else
is selling 900 MHz equipment.

The second room doesn’t have a cable coax jack so Moca would also require new wiring.

I truly don’t understand why there is so much 5 GHz signal loss. I believe the house
has drywall and not real plaster on wire mesh.

The current 5GHz link is set to WPA2 and in hybrid mode accepts WPA2 clients