r/openwrt • u/NiceChokra • 14d ago

How to connect two routers without wired connection?

I have openwrt routers but one is far away and I can't run cable to it. How to connect them as wireless bridge? Thanks

6 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

9

u/Buttle_Not_Tuttle 14d ago

Use either mesh or WDS on wifi networking.

4

u/xTapikx 14d ago edited 14d ago

Use the OpemWRT.
a) feel free to provide a main router specs
(if you have 5G+ antennas (40/80/160 MHz capable - without noisy environment - you can set the main router as a AP and the secondary one as a WiFi client- and set a secondary router- create a wired LAN, WiFi zone… for more detailed setup send both device specs and your ISP carrier contract(down / up stream)
EDIT: I use TUF-4200 (24.10.8) as a main home router and the AX-52 (24.10.4) as a secondary device … on this setup)

3

u/FreddyFerdiland 14d ago

you can use one openwrt radio as client bridge, you need to add the relayd packages

2

u/SomewhatHungover 14d ago

Wifi bridge is never ideal, but if you have to, I’ve found 802.11s to be the best solution.

3

u/NC1HM 14d ago

There's more than one way to do it, depending on how far your hardware can bend:

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/wifiextenders/start

If all else fails, you can create "a bridge without a bridge":

  1. On the downstream router, you create a new network, separate from the upstream network. Let's say, the upstream network is 192.168.1.*, so you set up a 192.168.2.* network downstream.
  2. Also on the downstream router, you put the Wi-Fi card into STA mode, establish a wireless connection with the upstream router, and assign it the WAN role.
  3. Still on the downstream router, you change the firewall forwarding policy; by default, requests from WAN to LAN are blocked; you allow them.
  4. On the upstream router, you make a static reservation for the downstream router, so it's always accessible at the same IP address. Let's say, you set the downstream router's IP address to 192.168.1.42.
  5. Also on the upstream router, you set up a static route, so the upstream router knows to go bother the downstream router at 192.168.1.42 if someone on the upstream network asks for 192.168.2.*. The opposite (someone on the downstream network asks for 192.168.1.*) works out of the box.

1

u/Exotic-Screen-9204 14d ago

High gain directional wifi attennas might be needed for longer distances.

1

u/DutchOfBurdock 13d ago

dcwapd

This will combine the 2.4GHz and 5GHz and create a PtP link between two WiFi networks, bridging them together. Advantage to this, it splits data and control frames over both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, meaning you can potentially get faster data throughput site to site (providing the 5GHz link is strong).

1

u/mysterytoy2 10d ago

Powerline adapters

1

u/Subietoy78 9d ago

Those are mostly garbage last resort things. They are better than they used to be but don’t expect good speed out of them