[Request] improvement to wireless AP+Client mode

[larcy]

Something that would be useful would be to allow a router that is configured as AP+Client to allow wifi connections even if the client/WAN part is not connected. Currently, if the router does not connect as a client (perhaps weak signal, password changes, or any other reason), then it does not enable the AP, so that you can't even see the router SSID to connect to. The only way to connect to the router to see what is going on and perhaps change the settings is to plug in a ethernet cable to it. This might be fine when setting up the router, but in a production environment the router is often going to be hidden away, perhaps high up on a wall, meaning running a cable to it may not be that easy. It would be much better if the AP part still worked, enabling you to connect via wireless to it, even if you can then only get as far as the router and not the wider internet beyond

[Lantis]

Under what version? I don't see this behaviour.

[ektus]

I've seen this with 1.5.10 on a TL-WR941ND V5 running as WR841ND V8. It was used as wireless bridge/repeater with different SSIDs for host and client side. Once I replaced the Wifi uplink with a LAN cable (connecting the LAN ports of the upstream router and the WR941) and disabled Wifi on the upstream router in order to avoid a loop, Wifi on the WR941 vanished. It was running fine as a switch for wired clients behind it, but I wasn't able to get it to work in AP mode.

Regards
Ektus.

[Lantis]

All of those scenarios work fine for me under 1.9.X.

[larcy]

Under what version? I don't see this behaviour.

All versions I've ever used. From memory, 1.4.7, 1.5.10, 1.9.0, and some in between that I can't remember. Agree it is fine with a cable, but in many situations running a cable isn't possible

[larcy]

I've seen this with 1.5.10 on a TL-WR941ND V5 running as WR841ND V8. It was used as wireless bridge/repeater with different SSIDs for host and client side. Once I replaced the Wifi uplink with a LAN cable (connecting the LAN ports of the upstream router and the WR941) and disabled Wifi on the upstream router in order to avoid a loop, Wifi on the WR941 vanished. It was running fine as a switch for wired clients behind it, but I wasn't able to get it to work in AP mode.

Regards
Ektus.

That is indeed a similar problem, but in mine it works fine if the downstream router has successfully connected to the upstream router, but the moment that connection isn't working, then the downstream routers stops working in AP mode

Did you ever find a resolution to the problem you describe, it might work with me?

[Lantis]

Does the AP go down or does the AP just not serve IP addresses?

The second behaviour is completely expected.
I'm not sure about the first. It sounds right though.
It's just how bridging networks work.

[larcy]

Does the AP go down or does the AP just not serve IP addresses?

The second behaviour is completely expected.
I'm not sure about the first. It sounds right though.
It's just how bridging networks work.

Not sure, the router remains up and working, but it stops broadcasting the SSID so whether that means the AP is down or just not serving IP addresses I can't tell

If it is how bridging networks work, then thats why I put it as a nice to have, i.e. it would be nice feature if the AP stayed up so that in the event of the downstream router losing connection to the upstream router for any reason then it would be good to be able to still connect to the downstream router via wireless instead of having to run a cable to it

[ektus]

That is indeed a similar problem, but in mine it works fine if the downstream router has successfully connected to the upstream router, but the moment that connection isn't working, then the downstream routers stops working in AP mode

Did you ever find a resolution to the problem you describe, it might work with me?

No, I haven't done more investigating there. Perhaps I'll sometime update the router to 1.6.2 or 1.8 and try again, but that's low priority as I currently don't need that router in my setup.


Regards
Ektus.

[larcy]

Does anyone know of any other way to achieve this with Gargoyle, I think it may be possible with openwrt and if it is there must be someway to make it happen with gargoyle

Just to be clear, this is about ensuring that an AP remains up, broadcasting a SSID and allowing clients to connect, regardless of the state/existence of any upstream connections that router may have