In this tutorial, I will guide you step-by-step on how to create a WiFi mesh network using old routers
Mesh networks are a great way to extend your WiFi coverage and eliminate dead zones in your home or office
I will cover topics such as configuring the primary router, connecting the secondary routers
Here I have two used routers and I marked them as router 1 and router 2
For router 1 you connect one of its LAN ports to your computer
This is the NETGEAR R6220 router
To use routers as mesh network nodes you use Firmware called OpenWRT
You can install OpenWRT on different routers
And you turn old routers into OpenWRT routers with the same operating system
OpenWRT helps you connect routers together to create a mesh wifi network
Here are the steps to install OpenWRT on NETGEAR router
You download the two files above to your computer
After downloading the necessary files, connect your computer to the NETGEAR router and access the router management page
Next you upgrade the Firmware for it
You browse to the file called factory and upload it to your router
For each type of router, there is a different way to install OpenWRT
My router 2 is a tp link router and the way to install OpenWRT on it will be different
You just need to follow the instructions on the OpenWRT homepage and you will be successful
The default ip address is 192.168.1.1
By default, the login password is blank
Next you upgrade the Firmware for it
You browse to the file called factory and upload it to your router
#Add a few minutes of waiting to complete the upgrade
Then you connect router 1 to the internet using the WAN port
By default, OpenWRT does not have a package available that allows you to configure a wifi mesh network
So you add the mesh package
You open the Software menu from the drop-down list
Among the packages that are installed by default is a package called wpad basic
Next you search for packages named wpad
In the list that appears, install the package called wpad mesh openssl
This is a package that helps you set up a wifi mesh network
wpad mesh openssl is installed
Next, I show you how to create a new mesh node with router 1
You access the Wireless menu from the drop-down list
Router 1 has two bands, I use N band to connect mesh nodes
You set up mesh nodes to have the same channel together
In this case I use channel 1 to connect mesh nodes
Next, you set up the node mesh as follows
In the drop-down list, select 802.11s
Then you set the mesh ID, here I set it as my mesh
In a mesh network, nodes have the same mesh id setting
You apply the changes and enable it
So I have completed creating a new node mesh
I recommend that you write down the mesh node configuration information on router 1 such as channel, mesh id, mode
Because you configured the same on router 2
The next steps are to install OpenWRT on router 2 and configure node mesh on it
My Router 2 is TP-Link Archer C7, I searched OpenWRT Firmware for it
Just like router 1 I downloaded two files to turn router 2 into an OpenWRT router
Here are the steps to install OpenWRT on TP-Link C7 router
You can refer to how to install on your router on the OpenWRT home page
For the TP-Link C7 router, you use file transfer software called tftpd
You copy the two files you just downloaded to a folder named tftpd
For the file named factory, rename it to ArcherC7v2 tp recovery
Depending on the version you are using, change the name accordingly
For TP-Link Archer C7 router, there are 6 different versions
Next you set up a static IP address for your computer
You set the ip address 192.168.0.66 for your computer
Next, use a network cable to connect the computer to one of the LAN ports of router 2
Then you run the software called tftpd and make sure to allow it through your computer's firewall
On the router there is a button called Reset
Press and hold the Reset button, and turn on the power to router 2
Router 2 will boot into recovery mode
The OpenWRT Firmware file will be uploaded to your router
After a few minutes of waiting, the NETGEAR router has become an OpenWRT router
You look at the log on the tftpd software to make sure the Firmware file has been successfully uploaded to router 2
Now I set the ip address on my computer in dynamic mode to get the ip address from router 2
After completing the Firmware upgrade on router 2, it will assign an address to my computer via the LAN port
And this is the TP-Link Archer C7 router after completing the OpenWRT installation
Just like router 1, I upgraded the OpenWRT Firmware using a file called sysupgrade
By default, the LAN IP addresses of both routers are the same, so they will conflict
So I will change the LAN ip address of router 2
I set router 2's LAN ip address to 192.168.10.1
LAN ip address has been changed to 192.168.10.1
By default, the OpenWRT login password is blank
You use a network cable to connect from the LAN port of router 1 to the WAN port of router 2
The LAN addresses of the two routers are different
Router 1's LAN address is 192.168.1.1
Router 2's LAN address is 192.168.10.1
So you will not have an IP address conflict
This is router 2, it is connected to the internet
Next I introduce how to configure node mesh on router 2
You access the Software menu from the drop-down list
You remove the package named wpad basic
Then you search for the package named wpad mesh openssl and install it
I recommend that you restart the router if the installation fails
wpad mesh openssl has been installed on router 2 just like on router 1
In the following steps, I will guide you to create a second mesh node on router 2
You access Wireless from the drop-down menu
As you know, on router 1 I created a mesh node on band N, so on router 2 I created a mesh node on band N.
You enable it
You set up the band and channel the same as on router 1
Here I set up channel 1 on router 2 the same as the setup on router 1
In the Mode settings list, select 802.11s
Then you set up the Mesh ID to be the same as router 1
In this case I use Mesh ID as my mesh for both routers
On router 2, I created a new SSID on the AC band
I enabled an SSID called OpenWRT
The two routers are connected to each other using mesh
I enabled an SSID called OpenWRT
As you can see, the mesh network has been established between the two routers
The two routers are connected to each other using mesh
Because the two routers connect to each other using mesh, to avoid DHCP server conflicts, disable it on router 2.
Devices connected to the wifi network will be assigned IP addresses from router 1
If you want to access router 2, set a static IP address for your computer according to the IP address range 192.168.10
Please note that the two routers are connecting to each other using a LAN cable
Because the mesh network has been successfully set up, remove the LAN cable between the two routers
Now two routers connect to each other without cables, they use a mesh network
This is router 2, you see that there are no network cables connected to it
But when I use a smartphone connected to it
On smartphones there is still an internet connection
That's great, because router 2 is connected to router 1 using mesh
This is router 1, I will set up the WiFi network the same as on router 2
I recommend you set it up like this for uninterrupted connectivity across devices
Mesh networks provide a great experience when connecting to WiFi but there is one thing you need to pay attention to
That is, not all routers support mesh
To check if the hardware supports mesh or not, access your router using ssh
Then use the iw list command, if you see mesh points in the list of supported hardware, congratulations
Your router supports mesh
Above is a list of some routers that support mesh for your reference
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Good luck