Convert a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND into a Wireless Repeater
I realized the other day that my basement has rather poor Wi-Fi reception and decided to look into fixing this problem. I started by seeing how feasible it would be to simply move the main router, although due to the weird wiring in the house and the fact that my router was a modem router combo that required being near a cable outlet, it proved to be a bigger hassle than it was worth. I then remembered I had an old router I wasn’t using that I could possibly setup as a wireless repeater.
I explored using the stock firmware, which I quickly found won’t work in my setup because my main base router which was provided from the cable company does not support WDS bridging. The lack of features on the main router due to it having a fairly stripped down firmware left me with few options, so I decided to give DD-WRT a try and see how easy it was to implement a Client-Bridge function in that firmware.
I must say that my first several attempts proved to be quite frustrating. For beginners, the firmware that was recommended via the router database on the main DD-WRT site was out of date and worked poorly at best. When I tried using the latest version of the firmware I ran into even more problems getting a reliable connection. After far too much trouble setting this up I found several pieces of advice from various parts of the DD-WRT forums to make a reliable stable Wi-Fi repeater.
I decided to post my configuration here to make it easy to find for anyone else with the same issue. The steps to copy my setup are as follows:
a.) Primary Wireless Router:
IP Address = 192.168.0.1
SSID = SSID1
b.) Secondary Wireless Router:
Make and Model = TP-Link WR1043ND
IP Address = 192.168.0.2
SSID = SSID2
Router Name = Bridge
Username = admin
Password = password
1. Download and install a recommended build for your router. If your router is the TP-Link TL-WR1043ND the version you want to use is: http://downloads.dd-wrt.com/routerdb/de/download/TP-Link/TL-WR1043ND/1.1%20/%201.4/factory-to-ddwrt.bin/3290
2. Do a HARD reset on your router.
3. Connect a cable from your computer to the LAN port on your router.
4. Set your browser to 192.168.1.1 and open the dd-wrt Web GUI.
5. You should be asked to change your password and username. Carefully type these in. If you aren’t asked for a password and username, do a hard reset, this time doing it properly! Hit change password.
6. Go FIRST to “Wireless” => “Wireless Security” and enter the security type and key that matches your primary router. (You must use WEP, WPA2-AES, or WPA-TKIP to have DD-WRT work reliably. (I had issues choosing TKIP+AES)
7. Hit SAVE, (or APPLY if you wish to)
9. Go to the “Wireless” => “Basic Settings” page and set the following settings:
“Wireless Mode” = “Client Bridge”
“Wireless Network Name (SSID)” = “SSID1”
“Wireless SSID Broadcast” = “Enabled”
“Advanced” => “Regulatory Domain” = “YOUR COUNTRY”
10. Your wireless network mode should be set to the same as the primary router. I set mine to “N-Only” so it operates the max speed my main router can handle
11. Set the wireless channel to match your primary router channel. I chose “Turbo 40MHz” again to maximize the bandwidth of the link between the repeater and the router.
12. If you are using N only or Mixed with N, set your wireless channel width to match your primary
13. Set the wireless network name to exactly the same as your primary router. Make sure spelling and capitalization match.
14. Hit SAVE at the bottom. Then hit APPLY.
15. Check to make sure all the configurations, including the mode, saved and the mode is still client bridge. If any changed, fix them, and SAVE again.
16. Goto “Setup” => Basic Setup” and set your “Router Name” = “Bridge”. Enter a router Local IP address of 192.168.0.2. (Presuming your primary router is on the 192.168.0.x subnet. Client bridge must match the subnet of the primary router) Leave subnet mask at 255.255.255.0.
17. Set the Gateway IP to your primary router. (192.168.0.1)
18. Leave Local DNS blank
19. Check Assign WAN port to a switch, (if you wish to).
20. Change your Time Zone and DST to match where you are.
21. Hit APPLY.
22. Set your browser to 192.168.0.2 and login to your router
23. Goto Security, Firewall. Under Block Wan Requests, uncheck everything but “Filter Multicast” (Leave Filter multicast checked).
24. Hit SAVE
25. Disable SPI Firewall
26. Hit APPLY.
27. Go to “Setup” => “Advanced Routing” and change the operating mode from “Gateway” to “Router”. Hit APPLY.
28. Set your browser to 192.168.0.2 and login to your router
29. Go to the “Wireless” => “Basic Settings” page and add a Virtual Interface with the following settings then Hit APPLY.
“Wireless Mode” = “AP”
“Wireless Network Name (SSID)” = “SSID2”
“Wireless SSID Broadcast” = “Enabled”
30. Set your wireless security for the repeater under the “Wireless Security” tab to ensure your bridge isn’t opening up your previously secure Wi-Fi. I recommend using WPA2 to ensure your network is secure.
31. Lastly go to the “Administration” tab and then choose “Commands” from the sub tab choices. Here cut and paste the following command: “echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/br0/proxy_arp” and then hit “Save Startup” to ensure it runs this command at every startup.
32. Lastly reboot the router by pulling the power for 10 seconds and then plugging it back in. After waiting a few seconds to allow the repeater to establish the connection you should be up and running with a working Wi-Fi repeater.
Thanks to Ratty over on the DD-WRT forums where I got the majority of these steps. I added in changing the firmware build to one that others online had said was much more reliable and also an easier way to setup the proxy ARP instead of using Telnet.
Update: I noticed that the repeater has a weird issue with losing connectivity briefly about once every 2 hours. It only seems to be noticeable when doing something that continuously needs a connection (i.e. gaming or streaming movies)
I am going to work to see if I can find the cause of this issue. If anyone else has any suggestions feel free to let me know.
Thanks a lot man that helped me finally get the repeater mode working! Though I didn’t notice any connection loss yet.
I’ll keep you posted if I get the issue.
I actually caved in recently and ran some extra wires to move the router to a central location instead of using the repeater. I never could get the repeater to work good for more than a few hours.
Thanks, works perfectly!!!
Hey, cheers for the detailed review. I have a question though, for some reason I cannot continue beyond step 28. I did all the above but then when I type in 192.168.0.2 in my browser it no longer enters the router. So from that point on I haven’t been able to continue. Any thoughts or ideas from anyone? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks for the good start though, hope it will help me in the future.
Sorry, it should be step 22, not #28.
My guess is you either made a mistake at steps 16/17 or you need to reset your router by unplugging it for a few seconds then plugging it back in and trying again.
If neither of these work let me know and I’ll see if I can’t help figure out what is happening.
This guide has helped me out a great deal. If ever anyone gets stuck, try proceeding with the first router (with the internet connection) either on or off before trying the whole process again.
The router do not respond after disable spi firewall and apply, in step 25
The conection down and no more respond, then i reset and begin again, but only at step 25. What hapens?
Thank you so much for this guide! I’ve been searching all over the web for a way to extend the wifi using my TP LINK without the need to use a wireless dongle and this is just perfect. I’ve been using this setup for a few days now and the only drawback I noticed is that it tends to loose speed (only happened once so far), but all I do is reset the router and all works great again, definitely better than using a crappy wireless dongle! Again, thank you very much and I hope this helps other as well as it helped me!
By the way, the 40mhz bandwidth can be unstable, so I would suggest sticking to 20 if your base router is not too far away. I’ve recently changed it to 20mhz and noticed a drastic change in performance, so if anyone having problems with connectivity, take note.
Thank you for this !! it works !!.. But … one thing, after i reboot the router, i cannot login anymore to the dd-wrt site.
I tried the 192.168.1.2 (Local IP address) and also the 192.168.1.1.
I tried everything but still wont let me go to the dd-wrt site anymore.
I need this to change something in the config.
Can someone help me? Thank you!
Hi John. Thank you very much for this! I have been trying to extend our wifi at our house almost year ago for 3 days with no success. I was really sad and I gave up. But today thanks to you I have made it and ti works very good., only from time to time some interruption but you mentioned so no problem.
Thanks again!
The problem I am having is that I cannot progress further than step 22
Once I change the local ip of the router from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.0.2
I can’t get back into the router when I try and access 192.168.0.2 I get a 404 error as I can no longer connect to the router.
I have few questions:
Between my main router and 2nd router 1043nd, I link them with LAN cable, with the hope that it’ll much faster. Will it be OK? Is my assumption correct?
Can I use the other LAN ports in the 2nd router as normal, and will the clients get IP address from DHCP in 1st router?
Awesome! Worked first time. Love ddwrt
dont doing upgrade on TL-WR1043ND!!!