Openwrt Router Firmware

[newfrog]

Maybe you want to refer to the latest wiki here to see if there are any differences in the latest guide.
I am relatively new to openwrt myself and I have never used guest wifi myself (only tired to set up in router, AP and repeater mode).

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/guestwifi/start

Thanks for that. Will read up. I just had a "doh" moment - the router I am configuring is a cascaded router and not the main one connected to ONT. Perhaps there's a problem with addressing somewhere. I will investigate. Am learning lots on openwrt the hard way. I find it more reliable than dd-wrt which was easier to use but its more haphazardly updated

 

[xiaofan]

https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128?dataflt[WLAN+5.0GHz*~]=ax

Right now none of the AX routers are really supported.

Still now there are snapshot release for MTK7621/MTK7622 based routers, including Linksys E8450 AX3200 (MTK7622BV, 1.4GHz dual core, 128MB NAND Flash, 512MB RAM), Unifi 6 Lite AP (MTK7621, 880MHz dual core, 32MB Flash, 512MB RAM) and Unifi 6 LR AP(MTK7622, 1.4GHz dual core, 64MB Flash, 512MB RAM).

Linksys E8450, dual band AX3200 (800Mbps + 2400 Mbps), around S$158
https://www.hachi.tech/biz-solution...i-6-dual-band-router-easy-mesh--0745883809646

 

[newfrog]

https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128?dataflt[WLAN+5.0GHz*~]=ax

Right now none of the AX routers are really supported.

I m not sure if my logic is correct but I prefer to use a fast 2nd hand router with Openwrt, wireless disabled, and then use one of the newer AX router as AP. That way, I don't mess with unsupported firmware possibly spoiling my new AX routers. And AX router benefit is in Wifi6 but most budget models have underpowered cpu.

Best of both world or am I missing something?

I finally got VLANs to work in openwrt, mapping 3 of router lan ports to separate VLAN id.

 

[xiaofan]

I m not sure if my logic is correct but I prefer to use a fast 2nd hand router with Openwrt, wireless disabled, and then use one of the newer AX router as AP. That way, I don't mess with unsupported firmware possibly spoiling my new AX routers. And AX router benefit is in Wifi6 but most budget models have underpowered cpu.

Best of both world or am I missing something?

I finally got VLANs to work in openwrt, mapping 3 of router lan ports to separate VLAN id.

I agree that AX routers will take time to be supported. And it is a good strategy to use the Openwrt as a wired router but then use an AX AP. In fact that seems to be a trend to use powerful x86/ARM boards running openwrt (or other router OS) as the wired router and then pair with good APs (be it AC or AX).

But the CPUs in the low end AX routers (eg: BCM6750 tri core Cortex A7 1.5GHz and BCM6755 ) are not really that underpowered, at least they are faster than the MTK7621 (880MHz dual core MIPS64 CPU) used in many openwrt supported models. The problem is with Broadcomm not opening up to the open source community.

That being said, I think it will still be hopeful that Qualcomm IPQ8000/6000/5000 series will eventually be supported (eg: Xiaomi AX3600 with IPQ8071A, which runs a customized version of openwrt). And MTK AX routers will probably supported earlier than the Qualcomm ones.

 

[xiaofan]

Another popular ISP router M1 RT-AC2600 also can run OpenWRT snapshot.

From M1 RT-AC2600 thread.

So, I refused to believe that ASUS made such bespoke hardware for M1 that no custom firmware will run it... and I actually managed to find that OpenWRT can be run on it!

Now I have an RT-AC2600 that is configured to be constantly on VPN. Unfortunately compared to Asuswrt-Merlin, this isn't really for the faint-hearted. On the plus side, the sky's the limit on OpenWRT if you're willing to venture into configs and scripts and networking.

The RT-AC2600 is an alternate version of RT-AC85P, so from the site below, you can follow the instructions to install the snapshot builds for OpenWRT (for ease of reference, the file name I had was openwrt-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ac85p-squashfs-factory.bin).

https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/asus_rt-ac85p

Hope this helps anyone whose router is currently stuck in the store room

Nice one. RT-AC2600 is basically the same as RT-AC85U/RT-AC85P/RT-AC85MR AC2600 router but double the RAM from 128MB to 256MB RAM.

Good that you can run OpenWRT on it.

 

[newfrog]

Thanks for that. Will read up. I just had a "doh" moment - the router I am configuring is a cascaded router and not the main one connected to ONT. Perhaps there's a problem with addressing somewhere. I will investigate. Am learning lots on openwrt the hard way. I find it more reliable than dd-wrt which was easier to use but its more haphazardly updated

Using Luci GUI, I am still having problems with Vlans not being to access internet. I can create vlans correctly under Switch setting and also create Interfaces for the vlans. I can forward each vlan zone into wan but it's the firewall traffic rules that got me stumped. so a few noob questions below:

1. Just creating vlans and interfaces means those vlan are not getting DHCP and DNS to connect to internet. Am I missing something here?
2. there is internet connection if I bridge the vlans to lan together but it defeats the purpose of separate vlan as each pc on the vlan can access another another vlan. eg. pc on vlan 192.168.20.1 can still open the main router at 192.168.1.1
3. If i set up traffic rules to create "allow-guest-dhcp" and "allow-guest-dns", these 2 rule using port 53, 67-68 gets internet connection. But I don't understand if linking all vlan together under 1 firewall zone weakens the security or vlan separation. eg. Guest zone cover networks vlan10,vlan20, vlan30 so does that mean any intrusion via port 53,67,68 would be able to get into the 3 vlans?

I am going around in circles so would appreciate any pointers. TIA

 

[hwzlite]

Using Luci GUI, I am still having problems with Vlans not being to access internet. I can create vlans correctly under Switch setting and also create Interfaces for the vlans. I can forward each vlan zone into wan but it's the firewall traffic rules that got me stumped. so a few noob questions below:

1. Just creating vlans and interfaces means those vlan are not getting DHCP and DNS to connect to internet. Am I missing something here?
2. there is internet connection if I bridge the vlans to lan together but it defeats the purpose of separate vlan as each pc on the vlan can access another another vlan. eg. pc on vlan 192.168.20.1 can still open the main router at 192.168.1.1
3. If i set up traffic rules to create "allow-guest-dhcp" and "allow-guest-dns", these 2 rule using port 53, 67-68 gets internet connection. But I don't understand if linking all vlan together under 1 firewall zone weakens the security or vlan separation. eg. Guest zone cover networks vlan10,vlan20, vlan30 so does that mean any intrusion via port 53,67,68 would be able to get into the 3 vlans?

I am going around in circles so would appreciate any pointers. TIA

Check this video speaks a x10000 words, especially on IPTables

 

[newfrog]

Check this video speaks a x10000 words, especially on IPTables

Tks. This is a very instructive video. I finally learned how to set vlan and guests wifi correctly. My setup is working now so I will play with it for a while. I still have some questions unresolved with multiple vlans but that can wait.

 

[commandowolf]

Hiya, seems that OpenWRT 21.02.0-rc includes support for both EA7500v2 and EA8100 with better wifi performance.

https://wiki.codepowered.com/xwiki/bin/view/Linksys EA8100/Openwrt for Linksys EA8100/

21.02.x
Thanks to this patch, EA8100 is now supported from openwrt 21.02. The 21.02 release is currently at RC3. You can get it from openwrt firmware selector page. Both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi are working fine.


https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/commit/97df795b78dc572ea2ec105ccbf8af27cc4b4d8e

https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=21.02.0-rc3&target=ramips/mt7621&id=linksys_ea8100-v1

Another person has tested and says the following:

Hi, i am new on openwrt forum, but i have successfully install openwrt for linksys ea8100 AH v1 The firmware based on openwrt 21.02.0 rc3 stable. Looks like the developer update new driver for MT7615E wireless and the wifi performance much stable than previous firmware based on openwrt 19.07.7 You can download the squashfs factory and install from Linksys OEM GUI The firmware can be downloaded on Official Openwrt Firmware Selector

https://forum.openwrt.org/t/openwrt-support-for-linksys-ea8100-ah/52887/24

 

[commandowolf]

Anyone with EA8100 can help to test for performance and stability? This might just be the solution to all the starhub issues the EA8100 is facing. My cousin using the EA8100 which is supposedly running the "latest firmware" by starhub/linksys which is supposed to solve the issues, but still keep having internet dropout etc.

I already prepare my extra EA7500v2 with modified firmware to replace their EA8100. But if the EA8100 is stable with OpenWRT, that would mean all the $20 EA8100 on carousell suddenly become damn good option.

 

[justforabot]

Anyone with EA8100 can help to test for performance and stability? This might just be the solution to all the starhub issues the EA8100 is facing. My cousin using the EA8100 which is supposedly running the "latest firmware" by starhub/linksys which is supposed to solve the issues, but still keep having internet dropout etc.

I already prepare my extra EA7500v2 with modified firmware to replace their EA8100. But if the EA8100 is stable with OpenWRT, that would mean all the $20 EA8100 on carousell suddenly become damn good option.

I haven't tried, just lazy and waiting for stability / performance reports

 

[justforabot]

I haven't tried, just lazy and waiting for stability / performance reports

Ok, bit the bullet and tried it. Has been running for a few hours and looks stable.
The wifi strength is a bit lower than the default firmware in spite of setting to the highest power and setting the country to SG - perhaps some other setting I am missing out?

I get close to >400 Mbps in my living room on a 500 Mbps connection.

 

[seansin]

Has anyone try X-Wrt firmware for EA7500v2?

Not sure if it has English GUI.

https://x-wrt.com/
X-WRT ROM download
https://downloads.x-wrt.com/rom/

 

[ww2039]

Anyone tried using linksys EA8100 with openwrt 21.02 release with M1 fiber internet? So far tried, don't seems to be able to get a public IP from the provider.

 

[xiaofan]

Anyone tried using linksys EA8100 with openwrt 21.02 release with M1 fiber internet? So far tried, don't seems to be able to get a public IP from the provider.

When you change router for M1, you have to call M1 to release the binding to the older router Mac address. That is unique to M1.

 

[hk7310]

Anyone tried using linksys EA8100 with openwrt 21.02 release with M1 fiber internet? So far tried, don't seems to be able to get a public IP from the provider.

Provided by M1:-
After you have setup the new router, you need to call 1627 (with the following option) to assist you with reset of connection in order to use the new router:

1. Press 2 for M1 broadband Services
2. Press 2 for Technical Assistance
3. Press 5 If you are not able to connect using your M1 Fibre broadband
4. To proceed Press 1
5. Enter M1 Fiber billing account number (9 digit)
6. Please input a valid mobile number

A SMS will be send to the your mobile number upon successful release session done.

 

[ww2039]

Thanks for the instruction, will test it out this evening, wifi for linksys ea8100 loaded with openwrt is quite stable and still able to connect with wireless AC even when signal coverage is weak and better then linksys wrt32x loaded with openwrt.

 

[ww2039]

The steps to reset M1 works. WAN setting for openwrt remain the default settings and after M1 result able to get public ip. Thanks everyone for the help. Linksys EA8100 with openwrt perform much better on both networking and wifi.

 

[hk7310]

The steps to reset M1 works. WAN setting for openwrt remain the default settings and after M1 result able to get public ip. Thanks everyone for the help. Linksys EA8100 with openwrt perform much better on both networking and wifi.

What are your speed improvement before and after. Can share?

 

[ww2039]

Have not test done a speed test, but wifi on 5ghz is real good. At my furthest end of my place, I am still able to connect at over 200 Mbps.