Trouble with Archer C6 as wifi bridge within the same subnet
Hi all.
I have an Archer C6 which I want to use as a bridge between two networks. On one side, I have a LAN cable. For the other side I must connect the C6 with the wifi signal because I have no cable there. On both sides I have a Fritzbox (Model 7490) that provide the DHCP function (for separate ranges) and most devices have a static IP. The two sides are supposed to see each other. Therefore they operate in the same subnet. Initially, I setup both sides using just one IP range (xxx.xxx.2.xxx) with subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and it worked fine. So I know that it works, but I did not note down how the C6 was set up.
To have more addresses available, I have separated the two networks to be in two ranges (192.168.2.xxx and 192.168.3.xxx) that are connected by a common subnet mask 255.255.254.0. After changing the addresses in one side, the bridging wifi connection was lost and I somehow could no longer see the C6. So I reset it and tried to re-establish the connection from scratch. But the setup of the C6 gives me headaches. I simply cannot get the thing working anymore ... :-((
Going to the operating mode menu, I can either choose Access Point Mode or Router Mode in the C6. The C6 starts in Router Mode by factory default.
According to Google, the connection between two routers should be done via WDS bridging. So I reset the C6 to factory setting, then go in and establish a WDS bridge to the 3.xxx side. That works ok, but then the IP range of the LAN is set to 192.168.0.x, which is not part of my subnet mask and consequently I cannot see the router from the LAN side (2.xxx). When I try to change the LAN address to something like 192.168.2.100 the GUI says that the LAN address cannot not be within the WiFi subnet. Trying to work with the WAN port, the story is the same. With dynamic IP I cannot find the C6 on the LAN side and pings to 3.xxx addresses fail and when I try to set a static address in 2.xxx I get the error it must not be in the same subnet.
I am 66% sure, that last time I set the thing up, I used the Access Point Mode. But when I now switch to that mode, WDS Bridging can no longer be found in the menus.
Can someone tell me where the error is? Is WDS bridging the wrong way to go? Or do I make a mistake setting up the LAN or WAN Ports? I would be awfully grateful for help.
