Flashing custom DD-WRT firmware and configure wireless bridge repeater
- Do you currently experiencing poor wireless connection due to your wireless router is placed far away and getting slow signal at your dedicated end point?
- Dislike pulling long network cable from your router to your PC, laptop or your entertainment media and messing your home?
- Or lastly your router did not have any network cable to plug into?
My story is that when I was about to move into my new home located in a new area and this new area still did not receive any fixed telephone line from Telekom Malaysia (or known as TM) yet.
Some of my neighbourhood have gone to ask TM pertaining to this issue and they have just given a really simple answer "We will provide if there is demand..."
So am I gonna live in my new house without any internet connection since nowadays this kind of facility is really common in this new era?
Without any hesitation I head on to find a wireless internet service provider or mobile network company and subscribe to a wireless broadband package to feed me data by the time I switch to my new home.
Obviously, there is plenty of service provider to choose from in which Digi and U mobile coverage is not up to par as I have been using it before and now.
While Celcom and YES are not in my mind after such package offered by them is not attractive and only left me Maxis with their good coverage but slightly expensive broadband package.
At the end I was no choice but to take up Maxis 4G LTE wireless broadband of 12GB peak/36GB off peak quota subscription and pay them at RM158/month (excluding GST).
Sadly to say that their service provided is actually very good but some compliant had also been made to them at the very beginning of my usage due to connection frequently went disconnected during my 2 and over years of using their service.
After that TM have come to provide their own Unifi fiber broadband after about 2 years I had lived here but still I stick to this Maxis broadband due to I need to have some back house renovation later on to avoid disturbing the fiber cable before switching to Unifi.
Well, that is my own story and now we shall proceed to link or extend the wireless connection from my main modem router to another bridge router as repeater and finally to my end receiving device located mostly in my living room including a laptop, TV and some tab and handphone where me and my wife were always be at.
Below are the items that you required
1. Source modem
2. Router for repeater bridge
3. Flashed with custom DD-WRT firmware
4. Access to both of your modem and router
5. Time and effort
When I subscribe to the Maxis 4G LTE broadband package it will come with a free Mobile WiFi modem (simply called MiFi) device but bonded with 2 years contract.
This little MiFi device is actually a ZTE made model MF93D and the bridge router I will be using is a Linksys E1000 which I bought more than 5 years ago.
But first thing to get this going is no other than flashing my router to a custom DD-WRT firmware because it allows the use of wireless repeater bridge function and fully utilise the capabilities of this router processor which the basic firmware in this Linksys E1000 did not provide in the first place.
I have find every section inside this Linksys E1000 basic firmware and could not locate any wireless repeater bridge function that I am eager to use to extend my MiFi connection that spent me a couple of month to explore and understand the true power of DD-WRT firmware and what it can do.
"Trust me coz it is not easy for a noob like me"
Next I will go for it to download the DD-WRT firmware and flash it into my router and then configured it into a repeater bridge. (Please search and understand which DD-WRT firmware is suitable to your own router first)
Find the right DD-WRT firmware and download it. This would require to spend ample time to get the correct DD-WRT firmware to your own router model.
Before flashing the router please perform a 30/30/30 hard reset by pushing the reset button on the router for 30 seconds before turning off the main power supply.
While turning off the power supply I still need to hold the reset button for another 30 seconds and turn back on the power with reset button still holding for the last 30 minutes.
Release the button will see the router start initializing and everything will be revert back to default factory setting including the "admin" password and its IP address.
Connect the router by using a network cable and access it by navigate to "192.168.1.1" as this is the main and basic IP address route to get into any modem.
Log on into the router and start flash the custom DD-WRT firmware by uploading the downloaded file under "Firmware Upgrade" tab at "Administration" page.
The router will reboot and wait for the router to become online and then perform the last 30/30/30 hard reset.
I have successfully flash it at my first attempt to a custom DD-WRT firmware.
Here is my router flashed with DD-WRT firmware and turned on with repeater bridge function linking all my device to the main modem.
Now, I will go on to show the method on how to configure the router as a repeater bridge using DD-WRT firmware on my Linksys E1000 router.
I have spent a few months collecting information regarding wirelesss network bridge and searching for the right firmware for my Linksys E1000.
Enduring the hard time trying to understand networking without any help from friends is simply frustrating because neither of my friends have knowledge nor any experience about this.
Configuring a router to be a wireless repeater bridge is not as simple as conventional wired repeater bridge where you can just select bridge mode and plug in the LAN cable while the router will do the rest.
This type of setup requires lots of understanding and effort as well as time spent to be able to done it successfully, at least for me.
At last all of my hard work paid off peacefully and I have downloaded the correct firmware "DD-WRT v24-sp2 (3/25/13) mini" and subsequently flashed it to my router.
After successfully flashed the router to custom DD-WRT firmware and perform a 30/30/30 hard reset I will proceed to access the router again by navigate to "192.168.1.1".
At first it will prompt a page requesting to change the password of the router with a new DD-WRT based UI after accessing the router and the old UI from Linksys will no longer be displayed here.
First, log in to the modem which is the source of the wireless connection by navigate to IP address "192.168.1.1" (in my case my MiFi is 192.168.0.1) and acquire few details as below.
Go to "Wireless" tab and click "Basic Settings" submenu and then change the following.
When completed then click "Save"
At the same submenu also under "Virtual Interfaces" click "Add" and then change the following.
When completed then click "Save"
Still at the same "Wireless" tab and click "Wireless Security" submenu and change the following.
Below items will drop down and then change the following.
Once hit "Apply Settings" will get the router to reboot and after reboot shall be getting the router to be working as wireless repeater bridge.
Lastly, try again to access to the router by navigate to the new IP address that has been assigned to it (in my case it will be 192.168.0.2) and it should be showing the DD-WRT based UI with the new IP address appeared on it.
By this time it should be fine to disconnect the network cable from the LAN port and use the wireless access by searching the new router name entered and key in the same pass phrase previously.
My laptop wifi shows connected to DD-WRT but actual source of the signal is from the MiFi.
From now on I have no problem connecting all my device to the internet with stable and fast connection from anywhere in my house as I place the router right at the centre of my house.
Thank you for reading :) and if you have anything to say kindly leave it down in the comment section below.
(credit to DD-WRT forum page)
I have spent a few months collecting information regarding wirelesss network bridge and searching for the right firmware for my Linksys E1000.
Enduring the hard time trying to understand networking without any help from friends is simply frustrating because neither of my friends have knowledge nor any experience about this.
Configuring a router to be a wireless repeater bridge is not as simple as conventional wired repeater bridge where you can just select bridge mode and plug in the LAN cable while the router will do the rest.
This type of setup requires lots of understanding and effort as well as time spent to be able to done it successfully, at least for me.
At last all of my hard work paid off peacefully and I have downloaded the correct firmware "DD-WRT v24-sp2 (3/25/13) mini" and subsequently flashed it to my router.
After successfully flashed the router to custom DD-WRT firmware and perform a 30/30/30 hard reset I will proceed to access the router again by navigate to "192.168.1.1".
At first it will prompt a page requesting to change the password of the router with a new DD-WRT based UI after accessing the router and the old UI from Linksys will no longer be displayed here.
From here we can start to set the configuration for wireless repeater bridge and kindly be remind that all of the setup here SHOULD BE done by connecting the router using a network cable to the LAN port and NOT by WiFi connection.
First, log in to the modem which is the source of the wireless connection by navigate to IP address "192.168.1.1" (in my case my MiFi is 192.168.0.1) and acquire few details as below.
- Modem's IP address
- Modem's subnet mask
- Modem's DHCP server (Enabled)
- Modem's security mode (WPA2)
- Modem's network mode (802.11 b/g/n)
- Modem's band selection (2.4/5GHz)
- Modem's network name SSID (must be spelled correctly)
- Modem's pass phrase (must be spelled correctly)
Next, log in to the router which is about to configured by navigate also to the same IP address "192.168.1.1" (under normal circumstances all modem/router shall be using the same IP address)
Go to "Wireless" tab and click "Basic Settings" submenu and then change the following.
- Wireless Mode - Repeater Bridge
- Wireless Network Mode - **must be same as the modem** (in my case I use "Mixed")
- Wireless Network Name (SSID) - **must be same as the modem including the exact case*
- Wireless Channel - default is "6-2.437GHz"
- Wireless SSID Broadcast - select "Enable"
- Network Configuration - select "Bridged"
When completed then click "Save"
At the same submenu also under "Virtual Interfaces" click "Add" and then change the following.
- Wireless Network name - **different from modem** (in my case I use "DD-WRT")
- Wireless SSID Broadcast - select "Enable"
- AP Isolation - select "Disable"
- Network Configuration - select "Bridged"
When completed then click "Save"
Still at the same "Wireless" tab and click "Wireless Security" submenu and change the following.
- Security Mode - **must be same as the modem** (in my case I use "WPA2 personal") under the "Physical Interface" section.
Below items will drop down and then change the following.
- WPA Algorithms - **must be same as the modem** (in my case I use "AES")
- WPA Shared keys - "key in your modem pass phrase here" **must be same as the modem including the exact case*
- Security Mode - **must be same as the modem** (in my case I use "WPA2 personal") under the "Virtual Interfaces" section.
Again, another items will drop down and then change the following.
- WPA Algorithms - **must be same as the modem** (in my case I use "AES")
- WPA Shared keys - "key in your modem pass phrase here" **must be same as the modem including the exact case*
When completed then click "Save"
Go to "Setup" tab and click "Basic Setup" submenu and then change the following.
- Connection Type - should be "Disabled"
- Local IP Address - **must be different from the modem IP address** (in my case I use 192.168.0.2 since my MiFi is 192.168.0.1)
- Subnet Mask - **must be same as modem** (in my case I use 255.255.255.0)
- Gateway - **must be same as modem IP address** (in my case I use 192.168.0.1)
- Local DNS Server- **must be same as modem IP address** (in my case I use 192.168.0.1)
- Assign WAN Port to Switch - tick
When completed then click "Save"
Still at the same "Setup" tab and click "Advanced Routing" submenu and change the following.
- Operating Mode - "Router"
When completed then click "Save"
Go to "Services" tab and click "Services" submenu and then change the following.
- DNSMasq - select "Disable"
When completed then click "Save"
Go to "Security" tab and click "Firewall" submenu and then change the following.
- Untick all boxes except for "Filter Multicast"
- SPI Firewall - select "Disable"
After completed then click "Apply Settings"
Once hit "Apply Settings" will get the router to reboot and after reboot shall be getting the router to be working as wireless repeater bridge.
Lastly, try again to access to the router by navigate to the new IP address that has been assigned to it (in my case it will be 192.168.0.2) and it should be showing the DD-WRT based UI with the new IP address appeared on it.
By this time it should be fine to disconnect the network cable from the LAN port and use the wireless access by searching the new router name entered and key in the same pass phrase previously.
My laptop wifi shows connected to DD-WRT but actual source of the signal is from the MiFi.
Finally, really worth the work? :D
From now on I have no problem connecting all my device to the internet with stable and fast connection from anywhere in my house as I place the router right at the centre of my house.
Thank you for reading :) and if you have anything to say kindly leave it down in the comment section below.
(credit to DD-WRT forum page)
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