[GTALUG] (question) TP-Link TL-WR802N 300Mbps Wireless-N Nano Router

[Scott Sullivan]

On 08/12/2016 09:09 AM, James Knott via talk wrote:
> On 08/12/2016 08:17 AM, William Park via talk wrote:
>> I downloaded user's manual for this one also.  It talks about DHCP in
>> "Client Mode", which means it's client NAT, not bridge.
>
> It has multiple modes, including "Wireless Client Mode".  This is the
> Scenario 1 mentioned in another note that is what you said you wanted.
> In this mode, you connect one or more Ethernet devices via WiFi to an
> existing WiFi connection.  The DHCP server is used only in Router Mode.
> The other mode is Access Point, where it's just a plain access point,
> providing WiFi to an existing Ethernet network.  Further, this is
> designed as a portable device and comes with a nice case.  It can be be
> powered either with an AC adapter or USB.

James,

Client Mode is usually Scenario 2, where the portable router box 
(TL-MR3020 or TL-WR802N in these examples), is a client of the WIFI AP, 
and is NATing that connection like a traditional router.

William, is correct in that 'client mode' is not what he's seeking, 
although he's not hit on the correct term yet.


 From what I understand so far, William can correct me, he wants 
Scenario 1, where its a transparent bridge. I've been re-acquainting 
myself with this all morning.

While it can still be called confusingly 'bridged client mode', the 
specific term is a WDS client.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_distribution_system



 From the OpenWRT documentation, this seems to require hardware support.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/bridgedclient
https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/atheroswds


Atheros chip-sets (which the TL-MR3020 and TL-WR802N both are), do seem 
to have that support through the mac80211 drives.

I've pulled out one of my TL-MR3020's running OpenWRT 15.05.1 (the 
latest stable). The LUCI webui does seem to configure it all nicely and 
correctly, when compared to the linked recipe above (second line). That 
said... I've not yet gotten this to work for me, yet. Still playing 
around with it though.

/etc/config/wireless
config wifi-device 'radio0'
         option type 'mac80211'
         option hwmode '11g'
         option path 'platform/ar933x_wmac'
         option htmode 'HT20'
         option disabled '0'
         option txpower '18'
         option country 'US'
         option channel '1'

config wifi-iface
         option device 'radio0'
         option ssid 'Teksavvyc862'
         option mode 'sta'
         option wds '1'
         option network 'lan'
         option key '************'
         option encryption 'psk2'

-- 
Scott Sullivan