Setting Up Router as Wireless 'Adapter'

[huilun02]

Hello, I just bought a TP-LINK Archer C7 Dual Band AC Router. And I intend to use it to grant one of my computers internet access by establishing wifi connection with my current internet router. Kind of like using it as a wifi adapter.

However I'm having problems setting up the connection. I have WDS bridging enabled so that it may connect to an existing network. It is able to detect my internet router SSID and obtain the MAC address. I click the 'connect' but it doesn't seem to do anything. There is no indication that it's connected to the internet router, and the computer has no internet access.

I'm a noob at networking so please give me detailed instructions. It would be good if you can link me to a guide of how to do it. I know of dd-wrt and openwrt custom firmware that can get the router to work as a simple adapter, but I know my router has a wireless bridge function that can suit my needs and I can't find a custom firmware for it anyway.

 

[bill001g]

You have found the only screen you can set things on for this router. It is the standard dumb things down for the users who don't want to learn anything.
The main problem is there is no such thing as WDS it is not a standard so there are major issues when the brands of routers do not match. Many routers your can set all the bridging option manually and it will work. Some of the ones with WDS you are forced to hope for some magic to occur.

It will likely work with WEP or no security since those seem to be more standard for WDS....not sure since those are very bad options.

All you can do is try to set all the parameters you can manually and see if it works. If it still refuses to connect you are going to be stuck going to third party firmware.

 

[huilun02]

Thanks Bill. I can't find third party firmware for my router though. I heard ac is not standardized yet which is why there are no dd-wrt/openwrt firmware for such routers.

It managed to get into the network, and internet is at full speed over wifi.

With WDS bridging I manually set the same properties of the internet router, like encryption type and network password.

The internet router was by default on 'auto' for the operating wifi channel. It seems I had to force it into a fixed channel for the Archer to get a lock on.

One thing I'm still worried about, is that I had to set the Archer's LAN IP to 192.168.1.1. The internet router's DHCP address was a range from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.253, and IP is 192.168.254. The Archer would not accept anything beyond 254 as a valid new IP. The internet router took up the entire subdomain and the Archer's IP is overlapped at the beginning.

Is this normal for bridging? Or should it narrow the internet router's DHCP range and set the Archer's IP outside the range?

 

[bill001g]

That is a normal subnet mask restriction not a DHCP thing. You are only allowed to use ip 1-253 in a standard /24 subnet. narrowing the DHCP scope is your best option

 

[huilun02]

Thanks. So do I narrow the DHCP scope and set the Archer's LAN IP outside the scope, or still inside?

 

[bill001g]

Outside the scope. In most cases since DHCP servers start at the bottom to give out IP addresses you can normally just use a high one and unless you have lots of devices on your network it will never even use more that 10-20....one per unique mac address at the very most.

 

[huilun02]

Ah I see what the DHCP scope is for now. But if I set one outside the scope, won't the internet router refuse to connect?

 

[bill001g]

You have to remember you don't need DHCP at all you can set everything static. The traffic uses only the IP addresses and the subnet mask to determine the path. DHCP is only done in the very beginning.

 

[huilun02]

I need the internet router to use DHCP because the rest if my family also use wireless devices to connect for internet.

But in my case since it already knows my Archer is using 192.168.1.1, the connection is established and I can leave it as it is right?

 

[bill001g]

If it all works then leave it alone. It is strange it has the 1.1 address. Normally the main router has that address and it is your gateway but as long as all the machines know where the real gateway is and it works all is good.

 

[huilun02]

My gateway router is the internet router, and its IP is set after the last DHCP range, at 192.168.1.254.

Thank you for all the help! I now know how to handle DHCP and IP allocation for my wireless devices.