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Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge

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Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge

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Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge
Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge
2020-08-26 14:30:41 - last edited 2020-09-01 07:06:01
Model: Archer C6  
Hardware Version: V2
Firmware Version: Archer C6(EU)_V2_200630

Hello,

 

I am looking to build a wireless bridge between the 1st and the 4th floor of the same building. As of today, I am evaluating two different solutions:

  • A pair of TL-WA901N 450Mbps Wireless N Access Point (V6), the first configured as Access Point and the second configured as Range Extender, bridged through WDS;
  • A pair of Archer C6 1200Mbps Wireless AC Router (V2), the first configured as Access Point and the second configured as Router, bridged through WDS.

 

In both cases, the first device (the Access Point) will be connected to a D-Link COVR P2500 AV1300 Powerline adapter through a Gigabit port (4th floor), while the second one (the Range Extender / Router) will serve as an Access Point for a couple of eufy security cams using the 2.4 GHz band (1st floor).

 

My concerns are:

  1. I'm not sure whether the Archer C6 running in the 'Access Point' Operation Mode will still be able to work as a WDS node since when you switch from 'Router' to 'Access Point' Operation Mode using the web management console, you loose the WDS settings section altoghether;
  2. The addedd value of employing a couple of Archer C6 is the possibility to setup the WDS bridge by using the 5 GHz for the backhaul and leaving the 2,4 GHz band for the client devices (the eufy security cams, in this case); however, I read that WDS is pretty buggy when working through the 5 GHz band, and being forced to switch to the 2,4 GHz band for everything (backhaul and client access) would void any advantage of using a pair of C6 instead of a pair of TL-WA901N.

 

So, in the end I am wondering:

  1. Whether an Archer C6 V2 operating in Router mode is still able to bridge itself to an another Archer C6 V2 operating in Access Point mode by means of WDS, or whether both devices must rather be running in Router Mode at the same time in order to be WDS 'compatible'.
  2. If so, is today WDS reliable enough on the Archer C6 when used over the 5 GHz band, or a reliable link is ensured only when using the 2.4 GHz band?

 

Thank you in advance for any answer, thought or suggestion.

 

Luigi

 

 

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Re:Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge -Solution
2020-08-31 07:01:39 - last edited 2020-09-01 07:06:01

@LC74I 

 

Hello, thanks for getting back.

 

According to the Specifications on the official website, the WR850N supports WDS bridging, you may refer to the below:

https://service-provider.tp-link.com/wifi-router/tl-wr850n/#specifications

Wireless Functions Enable/Disable Wireless Radio, WDS Bridge, WMM, Wireless Statistics

 

However, as mentioned already, the WR850N is mainly designed as a wireless router, we may not guarantee its WDS bridging performance is far much better than the WA901N, instead, the WA901N is designed to be working as Access Point and repeater.

 

Hope this make sense, good days.

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Re:Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge
2020-08-28 02:03:14 - last edited 2020-09-01 07:05:53

@LC74I 

 

Hello,

 

Before we are talking about the 5GHz connection performance, it is better to understand that the main difference between the 5GHz and 2.4GHz is that the 5GHz has shorter coverage, so I think that is the reason why you find the 5G may have an issue to build up the WDS connection with long distance. For more details between 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, please refer to this article: https://www.tp-link.com/support/faq/499/.

 

We want to confirm first how will the two C6 or WA901ND locate, are they both on the 4th floor or one will be on the 4th floor and the other will be on the 1st? If the two will be put on different floors, you need to ensure there is a good wifi signal in the location of the second, otherwise, they won't build up the connection.

 

Back to the WDS and access point issue, how they work? We take 2 C6s for an example:

WDS: the 2nd C6 connected to the 1st wirelessly, there is no cable between them

Access Point: the 2nd C6 should be connected to the 1st with an Ethernet cable, thus there is no wireless between them, no WDS at all.

 

If you want to have a good wifi coverage for 4 floors, WDS is not recommended actually, you may refer to the Deco mesh system, which will help a lot:

https://www.tp-link.com/home-networking/deco/

 

Hopefully, that answers your question but let us know if you need more details.

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Re:Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge
2020-08-28 11:43:44 - last edited 2020-08-28 11:44:41

@Kevin_Z 

 

Hello Kevin, 

 

Thank you a lot for your kind reply.

 

Actually, I knew that 2.4GHz radios can pass through obstacles far better than 5.0GHz ones but, on the other hand, in my building the 5.0GHz band is far less crowded than the 2.4GHz one, so at the end of the day the lower penetration power might have been compensated by the less interference suffered, leaving also the full throughput available for the backhaul since the clients would have connected to the 2.4GHz band (in other words, no halved speed for band/channel sharing between clients and WDS hops).

 

In terms of placement, the first device (the AP) should be placed at the 4th floor, connected to the VDSL router by a Powerline adapter, while the second one (the RE) should be placed at the 1st floor. However, between the 4th and the 1st floor there would be only three floorings (that equates to three walls, more or less) since the room at the 4th floor and the room at the 1st floor are 'vertically stacked' -- there is just a straight vertical line between the two rooms.

 

Unfortunately, I just surveyed the signals with the analiti Android app and, while I can 'see' three of four 2.4GHz signals emitted from my 4-nodes D-Link COVR mesh system placed on the 3rd and 4th floors (albeit only one signal is really usable), there is no trace at all of the four 5.0GHz signals. So I'm afraid that the 5.0GHz signal would be weak even if managed by two identical devices (same antenna-set, same SoC, same firmware, etc.) placed in a straight vertical line.

 

At this point, I think I will go with the 2.4GHz WDS route, by employing a pair of TL-WA901N (the upper one running in AP mode, the lower one running in RE-WDS mode) or a pair of TL-WR850N, which seems to support WDS bridging as well:

 

However, it's not clear to me whether the TL-WR850N can operate in Access Point and Range Extender mode, besides the Router mode, since that is not specified anywhere.

 

To the best of your understanding, a pair of TL-WR850N could be a good replacement for a pair of TL-WA901N to build a WDS bridge? Does the TL-WR850N support other operation modes (namely, AP and RE modes) besides the standard Router mode? If so, in AP and RE modes, is the WDS functionality still available, or it is available only when the TL-WR850N is running in Router mode?

 

Thank you in advance,
Luigi

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Re:Using a pair of Archer C6 to build a WDS wireless bridge -Solution
2020-08-31 07:01:39 - last edited 2020-09-01 07:06:01

@LC74I 

 

Hello, thanks for getting back.

 

According to the Specifications on the official website, the WR850N supports WDS bridging, you may refer to the below:

https://service-provider.tp-link.com/wifi-router/tl-wr850n/#specifications

Wireless Functions Enable/Disable Wireless Radio, WDS Bridge, WMM, Wireless Statistics

 

However, as mentioned already, the WR850N is mainly designed as a wireless router, we may not guarantee its WDS bridging performance is far much better than the WA901N, instead, the WA901N is designed to be working as Access Point and repeater.

 

Hope this make sense, good days.

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