Template:Networking rutos manual wireless

Summary

The Wireless section of the Network tab can be used to manage and configure WiFi Access Points and WiFi Stations (clients) . This chapter of the user manual is an overview of the Wireless section of {{{name}}} routers.

If you're having trouble finding this page or some of the parameters described here on your device's WebUI, you should turn on "Advanced WebUI" mode. You can do that by clicking the "Advanced" button, located at the top of the WebUI.

Wireless technology

{{{name}}} routers support IEEE 802.11ac (WiFi 5) with data transmission rates up to 867 Mbps (Dual Band, MU-MIMO), 802.11r fast transition.

Wireless Overview

The Wireless Overview window provides you with the possibility to configure your wireless access points and wireless clients in both, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, bands.

File:Networking rutxxx manual wireless overview window v2.png

Above is the overview of the Wireless Overview window. It displays active access points and stations. Here you can turn on or off your WiFi interfaces, remove them or start configuring by clicking on Edit button on the right side of interface. You can also configure your WiFi devices by clicking Edit button in the right side of each table header. To configure your Wireless device as Client press Scan button under chosen band (2.4 GHZ or 5 GHZ) to scan the surrounding area and attempt to connect to a new wireless access point.

Device Configuration

The Device Configuration section is used for configuring WiFi hardware parameters.

General Setup

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The General Setup tab is used to Enable or Disable Wireless device for specific radio band, select the operating frequency and transmit power. Transmit Power.

Choose a WiFi channel according to the busyness of other channels. While {{{name}}} devices do not provide a function that lets you monitor the usage of nearby WiFi channels, you can download a free WiFi analyzer app on your phone, laptop or other WiFi device and check which channel is least used. {{{name}}} routers WiFi works on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. A wireless 2.4 GHz WiFi channel requires a signaling band roughly 22 MHz wide, radio frequencies of neighboring channels numbers significantly overlap each other. Many home networks utilize routers that by default run on channel 6 on the 2.4 GHz band. Neighboring WiFi home networks that run over the same channel generate radio interference that can cause significant network performance slowdowns for users. Reconfiguring a network to run on a different wireless channel helps minimize these slowdowns. Therefore, pick a channel with no other active Access Points and preferably one that has no active Access Point on two adjacent channels on each side as well. If you don't feel like doing this, set the Channel field to Auto and the router will pick the least busy channel in your location automatically.

field name	value	description
Enable	off | on; default: on	Toggle Wireless device on or off
Operating Frequency (2.4 GHz)
Mode	N | Legacy; default: N	Wireless N (802.11n) supports a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 300mbps with 2 antennas. It can reach up to 450mbps with 3 antennas. Though typical speeds are more accurately around 130mbps. The legacy standards include 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g
Channel	Auto | 1(2412 MHz) | 2(2417 MHz) | 3(2422 MHz) | 4(2427 MHz) | 5(2432 MHz) | 6(2437 MHz) | 7(2442 MHz) | 8(2447 MHz) | 9(2452 MHz) | 10(2457 MHz) | 11(2462 MHz) |; default: 11(2462 MHz)	A wireless 2.4 GHz WiFi channel requires a signaling band roughly 22 MHz wide, radio frequencies of neighboring channels numbers significantly overlap each other. Therefore, pick a channel with no other active Access Points and preferably one that has no active Access Point on two adjacent channels on each side as well.
Width	20 MHz | 40MHz; default: 20MHZ	A 40 MHz channel width bonds two 20 MHz channels together, forming a 40 MHz channel width; therefore, it allows for greater speed and faster transfer rates. But not if those channels are crowded with noise and interference. In crowded areas with a lot of frequency noise and interference, a single 20MHz channel will be more stable. 40MHz channel width allows for greater speed and faster transfer rates but it doesn’t perform as well in crowded areas.
Operating Frequency (5 GHz)
Mode	N | AC; default: AC	Choose between 802.11n and 802.11ac standards.
Channel	Auto | 36(5180 MHz) | 40(5200 MHz) | 44(5220 MHz) | 48(5240 MHz) | 52(5260 MHz) | 56(5280 MHz) | 60(5300 MHz) | 64(5320 MHz) | 68(5340 MHz) | 72(5360 MHz) | 76(5380 MHz) | 80(5400 MHz) | 84(5420 MHz) | 88(5440 MHz) | 92(5460 MHz) | 96(5480 MHz) | 100(5500 MHz) | 104(5520 MHz) | 108(5540 MHz) | 112(5560 MHz) | 116(5580 MHz) | 120(5600 MHz) | 124(5620 MHz) | 128(5640 MHz) | 132(5660 MHz) | 136(5680 MHz) | 140(5700 MHz) | 144 (5720 MHz) | 149 (5745 MHz) | 153 (5765 MHz) |157 (5785 MHz) | 161 (5805 MHz) | 165 (5825 MHz); default: 36(5180 MHz)	A wireless 5 GHz WiFi channel also requires a signaling band roughly 22 MHz wide, but since its channel with is 20 MHZ ir overlaps less with neighboring channels, but it is still recommended to pick a channel with no other active Access Points and preferably one that has no active Access Point on two adjacent channels on each side as well.
Width	20 MHz | 40 MHz | 80 MHz; default: 80MHZ	A 40 MHz channel width bonds two 20 MHz channels together, forming a 40 MHz channel width, 8 MHZ channel bonds four 20 MHz cannels; therefore, it allows for greater speed and faster transfer rates. But not if those channels are crowded with noise and interference. In crowded areas with a lot of frequency noise and interference, a single 20MHz channel will be more stable. 80 MHz width channel is faster than 40MHz which is faster than 20 MHz but it doesn’t perform as well in crowded areas.
Transmit Power	[5%...100%]; default: 100%	The transmit power of an access point radio is proportional to its effective range – the higher the transmit power, the more distance that a signal can travel, and/or the more physical materials that it can effectively penetrate and still have data successfully resolved at the receiver.

Advanced Settings

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The Advanced Settings tab is used to configure how the wireless Access Point will work from a hardware perspective.

field name	value	description
Country code	country code; default: US - United States	SO/IEC 3166 alpha2 country codes as defined in ISO 3166-1 standard.
Distance Optimization	integer [0..65535]; default: none	HT Distance to farthest network member in meters.
Fragmentation threshold	integer [256..2346]; default: none	The smallest packet size that can be fragmented and transmitted by multiple frames. In areas were interference is a problem, setting a lower fragment threshold might help reduce the probability of unsuccessful packet transfers, thus increasing speed
RTS/CTS threshold	integer [0..2347]; default: none	RTS/CTS (Request to Send/Clear to Send) are mechanisms, used to reduce frame collisions introduced by the hidden node problem. It can help resolve problems arising when several access points are in the same area, contending
Force 40MHz mode	off | on; default: off	Always use 40MHz channels even if the secondary channel overlaps. Using this option does not comply with IEEE 802.11n-2009!
Beacon interval	integer [15..65535]; default: none	Beacon signal interval in seconds.

Interface Configuration

The Interface Configuration section is used to configure Wireless Access Points or Clients.

General Setup

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The General Setup tab contains basic options for ESSID and network interface.

File:Networking rutxxx manual wireless interface configuration general setup v2.png

field	value	description
Mode	Access Point | Client; default: Access Point	Defines what role this interface will do, Access point to supply WiFi for other devices, or as Client to use other devices WiFi for WWAN.
ESSID	Factory ESSID is different for every device; default: none	Extended Service Set Identifier.
Network	network interfaces; default: lan	Choose the network(s) you want to attach to this wireless interface or fill out the create field to define a new network.
Access Point mode
ESSID	off | on; default: off	Hide extended Service Set Identifier.
WMM Mode	off | on; default: on	Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), previously known as Wireless Multimedia Extensions (WME), is a subset of the 802.11e wireless LAN (WLAN) specification that enhances quality of service (QoS) on a network by prioritizing data packets according to four categories.
Client mode
BSSID	off | on; default: off	Basic service set identifier.

Wireless Security

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The Wireless Security tab is used to determine what kind of encryption your WLAN will use.

File:Networking rutxxx manual wireless interface configuration wireless security v2.png

field name	value	description
Encryption	No encryption | WPA-PSK | WPA2-PSK | WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK mixed mode; default: WPA2-PSK	The type of encryption used on this Wireless Interface.
With all encryptions
Cipher	Auto | Force CCMP (AES) | Force TKIP | Force TKIP and CCMP (AES); default: Force TKIP and CCMP (AES)	An algorithm for performing encryption or decryption.
WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK Mixed Mode
Key	string; default: random	A custom passphrase used for authentication (at least 8 characters long).
WPA-EAP, WPA2-EAP
Radius-Authentication-Server	string; default: none	Ip address of the authentification server.
Radius-Authentication-Port	string; default: none	Default port for the server is 1812.
Radius-Authentication-Secret	string; default: none	Server's shared secret.
Radius-Accounting-Server	string; default: none	Ip address of the accounting server.
Radius-Accounting-Port	string; default: none	Default port for the server is 1813.
Radius-Accounting-Secret	string; default: none	Server's shared secret.
NAS id	string; default: none	Network access server identifier.

MAC Filter

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The MAC Filter tab is used for setting up rules that allow or exclude devices with specified MAC addresses from connecting to your WiFi network. This tab is only visible when Wireless interface Mode is set to Access Point.

field name	value	description
MAC-address filter	Disable | Allow listed only | Allow all except listed; default: Disable	Allow listed only – only allows devices with specified MAC addresses to connect to your Wireless Access Point. Allow all except listed - blocks devices with specified MAC addresses from connecting to your Wireless Access Point.
MAC-List	MAC; default: none	List of MAC addresses to be included or excluded from connecting to your Wireless Access Point.

Advanced Settings

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field name	value	description
Isolate Clients	off | on; default: off	Prevents client to client communication on the same subnet.
Interface name	string; default: none	Override default interface name.
Short Preamble	off | on; default: on	Uses Short Preamble, it uses shorter data strings that adds less data to transmit the error redundancy check which means that it is much faster.
DTIM interval	seconds; default: none	Delivery Traffic Indication Message Interval.
Time interval for rekeying GTK	seconds; default: none	Period of time in between automatic changes of the group key, which all devices on the network share.
Disable Inactivity Polling	off | on; default: off	Inactivity polling can be disabled to disconnect stations based on inactivity timeout so that idle stations are more likely to be disconnected even if they are still in range of the AP.
Station inactivity limit	seconds; default: none	Station inactivity limit in seconds. If a station/client does not send anything in st time frame, an empty data frame is sent to it in order to verify whether it is still in range. If this frame is not acknowledged, the station will be disassociated and then deauthenticated.
Maximum allowed Listen Interval	positive integer; default: none	Association will be refused if a client/station attempts to associate with a listen interval greater than this value.
Disassociate On Low Acknowledgement	off | on; default: on	Allow AP mode to disconnect stations/clients based on low Acknowledgement condition.

Hotspot 2.0

Hotspot 2.0 window lets you enable, disable or configure hotspot 2.0 configuration.

field name	value	description
Enable	off | on; default: off	Enables or disables Hotspot 2.0.
Settings	-(interactive button)	Redirects to Hotspot 2.0 configuration page on click.

Client Mode

{{{name}}} can also work as a WiFi client. Configuring client mode is nearly identical to Access Point, except for the fact that most of the options are dictated by the WiFi Access Point that the router is connecting to. Changing them can result in an interrupted connection to that router.

To begin configuring WiFi Client first press Scan button under chosen band (2.4 GHZ or 5 GHZ) to scan the surrounding area and attempt to connect to a new wireless access point.

After which you will be redirected to the window shown below, where you will see list of available WiFi Access Points in the area. Choose one according to your liking and press the Join Network button next to it.

File:Networking rutxxx manual wireless wan wireless scan v2.png

You again will be redirected to following window, where you will need to enter WPA passphrase or other security password depending on AP that you are connecting to, name yours network (it will be name of your wireless WAN interface) and assign firewall rule.

File:Networking rutxxx manual wireless wan join network v3.png

Next window that opens will be Device Configuration. Values there, mostly, should be left unchanged to avoid connection problems, because they are dictated by Access Point. Other than that, only difference from Access Point settings are in Interface Configuration → General Setup section, where Mode is set to Client, and Network attached to this wireless interface is WAN instead of LAN

File:Networking rutxxx manual wireless wan interface configuration general setup v2.png

Click Save & Apply and if you configured correctly, you will have Wireless Client working.

[[Category:{{{name}}} Network section]]