TP-Link WA850RE as extender - choosing correct SSID

[RealGandy]

Hi

I have a pair of TPLink WA850RE used as extenders and have just come across Gargoyle which will hopefully fare much better than the dreadful stock firmware.

Anyway - when selecting the SSID to join is there any way of also ensuring it uses the correct AP, i.e. my router, to associate with as opposed to the other WA850RE running elsewhere? The stock firmware on the device had this option in the GUI so I'm assuming this is something worth doing.

Cheers

[Lantis]

That's an interesting problem. I've never really thought of multiple repeaters.
The answer is, no, not using the GUI.
We can probably work something out using the command line though.

But first you'll need to know the BSSID of the one you want to connect to.
if you're on 2.4ghz, at the command line type
"iw wlan0 scan" (it might be phy0 instead of wlan0 I can't recall)

You should be able to find the BSSID of your main network. Probably easiest to turn repeaters off while doing this to make it easier.

Once you find it, come back to me and we will go from there.

[RealGandy]

Thanks.

Well that gives a lot of output!

It's clear which section is the router access point, has a MAC Address and a load of other info:

BSS 38:2c:4a:ca:6f:20(on wlan0) -- associated
TSF: 261489487139 usec (3d, 00:38:09)
freq: 2442
beacon interval: 100 TUs
capability: ESS (0x1411)
signal: -61.00 dBm
last seen: 10 ms ago
Information elements from Probe Response frame:
SSID: inabox
RSN: * Version: 1
* Group cipher: CCMP
* Pairwise ciphers: CCMP
* Authentication suites: PSK
* Capabilities: 16-PTKSA-RC 1-GTKSA-RC (0x000c)


Etc.....

What next?
Thanks

[Lantis]

At /etc/config/wireless, find the entry for your "wifi-iface".
Under the entry for "option ssid 'yourssid'" and another entry
"option bssid 'abef:12:34'"
Where you get the ID from the first line of what you posted there.

Then type "wifi" at the command line to restart the wifi.
This will instruct the router to first look for anything with the right SSID, and then check the BSSID next (which should be unique).

This should achieve what you are after.

[RealGandy]

This has been actioned on the first one and all is well, I need to get the other flashed with Gargoyle and configured and will report back with findings.


Thanks for your help, appreciated.

[RealGandy]

Apologies for delay.

Both extenders are now running gargoyle and successfully connecting to the router AP.

Thqnks

[Lantis]

No problem glad that is working for you

[ispyisail]

https://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/do ... _same_ssid

[d3fz]

Thank you for another well documented tutorial. I use the same repeater as well, and that's a useful tip to know about.

A little offtopic, but...

I wonder if it's a good idea to update the "Screenshots" section also ? The current screenshots are quite old, and don't reflect the actual build we have now.

It would help new users to catch a glimpse of what the new version of Gargoyle (1.9.2 onwards) looks like.

[ispyisail]

@lantis

What is the best way to connect to your router in repeater/bridge mode?

I manually fix my PC IP to the same subnet as router Bridge IP.

LAN to LAN via Ethernet

But for some reason I have to reboot the router for a connection.

Is there a better way?