Wireless Bridge Help

[AmbulanceDriver]

Ok....  this is gonna be a little deep in the weeds, and I'm pretty out of my depth too, but figured I'd run it past the brain trust here to see if I can get this figured out.   I've got a pair of routers, both Asus, one is an RT-N66U, the other an RT-AC66U.  Got the AC for $15 at a garage sale sans power block, etc, hence why I didn't get a matching pair for this project.

Anywho.  My goal is to use the AC66U in bridge mode to connect my security camera DVR to the network - mostly because I don't want to run cat 5e from where the N66U is (living room, connected to the cable modem, etc) out to the garage (even though that would be the simplest method, it'd be a bit unsightly, so SWMBO nixed it). 

So I have my N66U running happily, and I toss the AC66U into "media bridge" mode (what Asus calls their wireless bridge).  I get it to connect to the N66U with no major hiccups, or so I think....    Except I can't get it to see the internet through the bridge.   It shows a connection to the parent AP, but says the internet is disconnected on the parent AP (it isn't).   And I'll be darned if I can figure out why the [censored][censored][CENSORED] secondary router (in bridge mode) can see the primary router, but it can't see the internet.

Anywho, after a few hours of fighting with this, I'm done for tonight, but if anyone has any insight into why this might be happening, well, I'd be mighty grateful.

[cordex]

You don’t want bridge mode, you want repeater/extender mode.

Any reason you don’t put the AC66U in as your primary and extend with the N66U?

Edit: Actually, media bridge ought to work too, but try the repeater mode.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Repeater mode halves the bandwidth of the AP

[Firethorn]

Repeater mode halves the bandwidth of the AP

That's a consequence of having one radio doing two tasks.  The bandwidth is halved because you need bandwidth to receive the traffic from the cameras, then more bandwidth to forward the traffic to the main router.

Unless you have a properly configured multiple radio solution or a hardwired connection, it is inevitable.

As for why you can't see the internet, I'd look into making sure the default gateway for both systems are set correctly.

[cordex]

Just as an aside, I have an N66U running in repeater mode in support of a wireless camera in my garage and a desktop which has always had issues with wifi.

Repeater mode halves the bandwidth of the AP

Sort of, but all the more reason to put your AC66U as your primary station.  Unless I'm misremembering and ASUS actually has another radio for mesh, your primary station is already sacrificing bandwidth to support the media bridge connection.  Using the N radio as your primary router as opposed to the AC bottlenecks at the primary.  The AC66U has 3 transmit and 3 receive radios and the N66U has 2x2.  Considering most devices are connecting to the primary station, you'd want the more capable device as your primary in any case.

Secondly, is your internet connection faster than half the potential throughput of the N66U?

I needed repeater since I was driving a wireless device and a hardwired computer.  It has worked since I put it in.  If you're only driving a hardwired device YMMV.

[Brad Johnson]

You don’t want bridge mode, you want repeater/extender mode.

Any reason you don’t put the AC66U in as your primary and extend with the N66U?

Edit: Actually, media bridge ought to work too, but try the repeater mode.

Repeater/extender is the ticket. Easiest to set up and deal with. Yes, it cuts bandwidth in half but even then it's still plenty enough to handle a single streaming device several times over.

Also, another vote for making the AC66U your primary. Better processor with twice the speed of the N and will support wireless AC if needed (the N is limited to N and G).

Brad

[AmbulanceDriver]

Yeah, you're right, the AC is 3x3....   mostly have it set up this way because I was being lazy and didn't want to switch everything around, but I think I'm going to do that and see if I can get the N66 to work in bridge mode and see the internet through the AC....   And yeah, the secondary router will only be driving a wired connection to the DVR for the cameras.  *theoretically* comcast is providing me with 400mbps....   Reality is about 10-15% of that.   Even after upgrading to their latest and greatest modem....  So that's another issue I'm trying to deal with......  Tilting at windmills and whatnot.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Huh...

So I hooked it up the other way....   AC66U as the primary, N66U as the secondary, hit the media bridge setting, logged in to the primary AP, and whaddya know, lickety split, presto hook-up-o, I've got a wireless bridge running just dandy....