Setting Up A Home Wi-Fi Access Point With Openwrt

Choosing the Right Hardware for an OpenWRT Access Point

Selecting compatible wireless router hardware is crucial for building a stable OpenWRT-based Wi-Fi access point. The open-source OpenWRT firmware supports a wide variety of chipsets and router models, but some work better than others.

Discussing wireless chipsets compatible with OpenWRT

OpenWRT is designed primarily for broadband routers, so it works best with common home gateway wireless chipsets like:

Atheros/Qualcomm Atheros AR7xxx, AR9xxx
MediaTek MT76xx, MT7688A
Ralink RT305x, RT35xx
Realtek RTL838x, RTL865x

Many older 802.11b/g wireless routers used chips like the Ralink RT73, which OpenWRT has dropped support for in recent versions. When shopping for OpenWRT compatible hardware, look for a router built with the chipsets listed above, dual-band 802.11ac, MU-MIMO support, and multiple antennas for maximum Wi-Fi standards compatibility.

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Recommending affordable wireless router models

Based on the latest OpenWRT hardware compatibility list, we recommend some good, low-cost wireless routers to use:

Linksys E1200 v2
TP-Link Archer C7 v4
Netgear R6400
Xiaomi Mi Router 4A

The TP-Link Archer C7 has fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 5 Gigabit LAN ports, 2 dual-band antennas, and a 1GHz dual-core processor within most home networking budgets. Meanwhile, the Linksys E1200 v2 costs around $25 yet is very OpenWRT friendly, with 802.11n, 4 LAN ports, MIMO support, and detachable antennas.

Installing OpenWRT on Your Wireless Router

Once you have acquired compatible router hardware, obtain the correct OpenWRT firmware file for your device and have it running in under 10 minutes.

Downloading the correct OpenWRT firmware image

Start the OpenWRT installation process by identifying your router model’s hardware ID, usually located on the bottom label. Go to openwrt.org and enter your model number into the search box to locate its firmware builds page.

There you will find a table of latest OpenWRT versions for that router, including release dates and changelogs. You should download one of the more recent “factory” or “sysupgrade” images built for your model.

Accessing your router’s admin interface for firmware upgrades

Before you can flash OpenWRT, access your router’s web admin portal while connected to its default LAN IP address (192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 typically). Consult your device documentation for this IP and the default login credentials.

Navigate through the router’s menu system to locate the firmware/system upgrade section. This section will have options to upload a firmware file (.bin or .img format) from your computer and begin the flash process.

Flashing OpenWRT firmware with the web UI or TFTP

With the upgrade menu open, select the OpenWRT .bin file you downloaded earlier. The router will take a few minutes to flash the custom firmware and reboot itself. Repeat the process if the initial flash attempt fails.

Some router models lack a web UI firmware flash capability, requiring you to use the alternative TFTP method. This uses tftpd TFTP server software on a networked computer to send the image to your router’s LAN IP address.

Configuring Basic OpenWRT Settings

After successfully installing OpenWRT, optimize the system configuration so your Wi-Fi access point network functions properly.

Setting a password for the root admin user

Secure your OpenWRT access point by setting a strong password for the “root” admin user account. Connect via SSH or telnet protocol using an existing LAN connection and the default root password.

Log into a command line shell, then use the passwd command:

passwd
Changing password for root
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password: 
passwd: password updated successfully

Configuring the LAN and WAN interfaces

Customize your LAN IP networks and upstream internet gateway connections at Network > Interfaces in the OpenWRT web admin GUI. Click the Edit button on the target interface to assign IP addresses and DHCP ranges for your Wi-Fi LAN bridging and WAN ISP links.

Connecting to the OpenWRT LuCI web interface

OpenWRT includes the responsive LuCI web admin environment for configuring all router features instead of the CLI. To access the LuCI portal, navigate a web browser to your router’s LAN IP address on port 8080 (for example http://192.168.1.1:8080). Then log in with your admin credentials.

Setting Up the Wi-Fi Radio as an Access Point

Transform your router into an OpenWRT-powered Wi-Fi access point by customizing wireless radio settings like SSID broadcast, encryption type, channel selection, and transmit power output.

Selecting the Wi-Fi mode, channel, and encryption

Navigate in the LuCI interface to Network > Wireless to define essential Wi-Fi parameters. Choose Access Point under Wireless Network Mode, then pick an uncongested channel like 1, 6 or 11 for 2.4GHz. Select a secure encryption mode like WPA2 PSK or WPA3 to protect your wireless network.

Configuring the SSID and key for your wireless network

Staying under the main Wireless configuration tab, set your desired network name or SSID that will be publicly broadcast by your access point. Expand the Wireless Security section to specify the pre-shared key or passphrase clients will need to authenticate, at least 8 characters long.

Testing Wi-Fi connectivity to client devices

Reboot your OpenWRT router to have all wireless settings properly take effect, then connect Wi-Fi devices like laptops or phones to your newly created access point SSID. Test network connectivity by pinging router interface IPs and browsing the internet.

Using OpenWRT Firewall Rules and Traffic Shaping

Bolster security and optimize traffic flow on your DIY Wi-Fi access point using OpenWRT’s extensive iptables firewall and QoS bandwidth management functionality.

Allowing/blocking traffic with the firewall configuration

Under the Network tab in LuCI, access the Firewall configuration menu. Here you can define highly granular iptables firewall policies, like only allowing SSH traffic from your remote VPN subnet, blocking internet access for IoT devices, or port forwarding to local servers.

Limiting bandwidth usage with QoS traffic shaping

If managing lots of client devices simultaneously, Wi-Fi speeds can suffer without quality-of-service traffic shaping rules. Under Network > QoS, create minimum bandwidth guarantees for voice/video streaming, while limiting download speeds for low-priority file transfers or peer-to-peer traffic.

Troubleshooting Common Issues with OpenWRT

Diagnose connection problems or system instability using OpenWRT’s detailed logging and recovery tools.

Checking for firmware and driver compatibility problems

An incompatible Wi-Fi driver or kernel module can cause wireless connectivity failure. Review dmesg logs after boot and Tools > Kmod Firmware Available Drivers status with LuCI to verify expected network adapter drivers have loaded properly.

Monitoring the system log for hardware and software errors

System log messages contain valuable runtime details for isolating issues on an OpenWRT router, viewable under System > Logs. Watch for wireless event warnings, application crashes from bad plugins, DNS resolution failures, or the firewall blocking legitimate traffic.

Resetting OpenWRT to factory default settings

If troubleshooting steps do not resolve stability problems, reset the router to a fresh OpenWRT software state. Use the LuCI System > Backup/Flash Firmware page to select a full erase option. Reconfigure settings afterward to determine if a particular change introduced the bugs.