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| docs:guide-quick-start:basic_wifi [2024/11/15 16:01] – clarify transmission strenght and power levels carlitossuper1 | docs:guide-quick-start:basic_wifi [2024/12/11 14:42] – [About the Country Code] further small cleanup palebloodsky |
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| ======Enabling a Wi-Fi access point on OpenWrt====== | ======Enabling a Wi-Fi access point on OpenWrt====== |
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| Devices that have Ethernet ports have Wi-Fi turned off by default. | Devices with Ethernet ports have Wi-Fi turned off by default for security reasons. This page contains basic settings to enable Wi-Fi. |
| This is a basic description of how to enable a Wi-Fi network and most importantly, how to properly configure your country code such that your Wi-Fi network complies with the legal regulations of your country. | |
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| ===== Determining your Country Code ====== | ===== Setup with the web GUI ====== |
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| To comply with your local regulatory laws, the correct country code for the wireless radios on your device must be set. By default on most, if not all OpenWRT devices, the wireless radios come with the 00 (Rest of the World) Country code that limits operation to only the limited set of channels and transmission strenght/power levels that are allowed anywhere in the world. You might have a bigger range of available channels and higher power levels if you set the country code with your own. Be aware, that setting the wrong country code might get you in trouble with local authorities if caught because selecting a channel that is not allowed or transmitting at higher power could interfere with other equipment, like radars. You can also interfere with other neighbors' devices. | - Connect to LuCI at http://192.168.1.1, and login with your "root" password. |
| | - Go to **Network → Wireless**. This page lists a separate Wi-Fi configuration for each physical radio (most devices will have one for 2.4 GHz and one for 5 GHz). |
| | - For each Wi-Fi network, click ''Edit'' (if not there click ''Add'' to create a network) to configure: |
| | * In **General Setup**, select the ''Country Code'' where your OpenWrt device is installed. This is to ensure your radios meet local regulations. Note this was formerly in the **Advanced** tab. |
| | * In **General Setup**, enter an ''ESSID'', the name for your Wi-Fi network. |
| | * In **Wireless Security**, select an ''Encryption'' method, "WPA2-PSK" or "WPA3-PSK" is recommended. |
| | * In **Wireless Security**, enter a ''Key'', the password devices use to connect to your Wi-Fi network. |
| | * As needed, configure other settings such as a different Cipher, KRACK mitigation, or additional Wi-Fi networks. |
| | - Click ''Save & Apply''. |
| | - Finally, click ''Enable'' on each radio you would like to activate. |
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| On Linux based devices, like OpenWRT is, the database of regulatory domains comes from [[https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/wens/wireless-regdb.git/tree/db.txt|this]] file. In there, is the list of countries alphabetically sorted by their [[wp>ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]] with the allowed frequencies, channel bandwith and transmission strenghts (in dBm) or power levels (in mW). | ===== About the Country Code ====== |
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| If you plan to set your country code using the web GUI, you can do that on the dropdown, detailed on the following section; but if you intend to do it via command line, take note of the [[wp>ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]] code on the link. You'll learn how to set it up on the apropiate section below. | To comply with your local regulatory laws, the country code for the radios on your device must be set. The default 00 (Rest of the World) country code limits operation to the limited set of channels and transmission power that is allowed anywhere in the world. You will typically have more available channels and higher power levels when you set the country code to your own. Be aware that setting the wrong country code could get you in trouble with local authorities because selecting a channel or transmitting at higher power than is allowed could interfere with other equipment, like radar. You can also interfere with your neighbor's devices. |
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| ===== Using the web admin GUI ====== | On Linux based devices, like OpenWrt, the database of regulatory domains comes from the [[https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/wens/wireless-regdb.git/tree/db.txt|wireless-regdb]]. In there is the list of countries sorted alphabetically by their [[wp>ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]] with allowed frequencies, channel bandwith, and transmission strength (dBm) or power (mW). If you plan to set your country code using the web GUI, do that from the dropdown, but if you intend to do it via command line, take note of your [[wp>ISO 3166-1 alpha-2]] code on the link. |
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| - Connect to the web GUI at http://192.168.1.1, and login with your "root" password | ===== Troubleshooting ===== |
| - Go to **Network → Wireless**. This page lists a separate Wi-Fi configuration section for each of your physical radios, (many devices you may have, will have one radio for 2.4 GHz and a second one for 5 GHz). | * If you have configured 5 GHz Wi-Fi and have just enabled it, but it does not start up immediately, consider the following: If your device supports Wi-Fi channels >100, your OpenWrt device first must scan for weather radar on these channels, before you can actually use such channels for Wi-Fi. This will take 1-10 minutes once after first reboot depending on your Wi-Fi situation and depending on the number of device-supported channels >100. You may also experience 1 minute delay on each automatic channel change, as the same scan delay is required for regulation compliance. For more information see [[:docs:techref:dfs|DFS]]. |
| - For each of your radios, you can create a Wi-Fi network by clicking ''Add'': | * Network / Wireless / Edit / Interface Configuration / General Setup / Network should be left to the "lan" default or to another interface where there is an active DHCP server, DO NOT select "wan" or "wan6" as that's the upstream interface for the Internet. |
| - On the first Wi-Fi network that you configure, go to the **Device Configuration** and open the tab **Advanced Settings**: in the ''Country Code'' field, select the correct county code, where your OpenWrt device is installed. This is important to ensure your OpenWrt device meets the legal regulations in your country. (all other configured radios will use the same device settings) | |
| - For each Wi-Fi network, in the "Interface Configuration" section, configure your Wi-Fi settings: | |
| * In the tab **General Setup**, enter an ''ESSID'' to become the name of your Wi-Fi network | |
| * In the tab **Wireless Security**, select an ''Encryption'' method (e.g. "WPA2-PSK", recommended for home/small office networks) | |
| * In the tab **Wireless Security**, select a ''Cipher'' (e.g. "auto" is recommended) | |
| * In the tab **Wireless Security**, enter a ''Key'', a secret phrase which clients must use to connect to your Wi-Fi network. NB: With WPA2-PSK, the Key must be at least eight (8) characters. | |
| * If needed, configure further settings according to your needs. Other default settings ordinarily correct for general usage. | |
| - Click ''Save & Apply'' when done. | |
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| Troubleshooting: | ===== Using the command line ===== |
| * If you have configured 5GHz Wi-Fi and have just enabled it, but the 5 GHz Wi-Fi does not seem to start up, consider the following: If your device supports Wi-Fi channels > 100, your OpenWrt device first must scan for weather radar on these channels, before you can actually use such channels for Wi-Fi. This may take 1-10 minutes onetime after first reboot depending on your Wi-Fi situation and depending on the number of device-supported channels > 100. You may also experience 1 minute delay on each automatic channel change, as the same scan delay is required for regulation compliance. | |
| * Network / Wireless / Edit / Interface Configuration / General Setup / Network should be left to the "lan" default or to another interface where there is an active DHCP server, DO NOT select "wan" or "wan6" as that's the upstream interface for Internet connection only | |
| ===== Using the SSH command line ===== | |
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| This is not a complete howto on how to create a fine tuned Wi-Fi network on the command line.\\ | This is not a complete howto on how to create a fine tuned Wi-Fi network on the command line. It just shows you the important steps to initially set the basics for properly enabling the Wi-Fi on the command line, to meet the legal regulations of your country: |
| It just shows you the important steps to initially set the basics for properly enabling the Wi-Fi on the command line, to meet the legal regulations of your country: | |
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| * Connect with SSH to your OpenWrt device: ''$ ssh root@192.168.1.1'' | * Connect with SSH to your OpenWrt device: ''$ ssh root@192.168.1.1'' |
| * Execute ''uci show wireless'' to see all the wireless configurations and how many Wi-Fi chips (called “radio” in the config) there are on the device. Identify the radio number (0, 1, 2, etc) that are you aiming to. E.g., ''radio0'', ''radio1'', ''radio2'', ''radioX''. | * Execute ''uci show wireless'' to see all the wireless configurations and how many Wi-Fi chips (called “radio” in the config) there are on the device. Identify the radio number (0, 1, 2, etc) that are you aiming to configure, e.g., ''radio0'', ''radio1'', ''radio2''. |
| * Execute ''uci set wireless.radio**N**.country='XX' '' to set the country code XX for each (N = 0, 1, 2) radio devices your router may have. Refer to the first section of this page. | * Execute ''uci set wireless.radio**N**.country='XX' '' to set the country code XX for each (N = 0, 1, 2) radio devices your router may have. Refer to the first section of this page. |
| * Execute ''uci set wireless.radio**N**.disabled='0' '' to enable all the said radio(s). | * Execute ''uci set wireless.radio**N**.disabled='0' '' to enable all the said radio(s). |
| * Commit the changes executing: ''uci commit wireless''. | * Commit the changes executing: ''uci commit wireless''. |
| * Reload the wifi interfaces: ''wifi reload''. | * Reload the wifi interfaces: ''wifi reload''. |
| * Wait a couple of minutes to allow the radio(s) booting and eventually DFS scanning. Enjoy | * Wait a couple of minutes to allow the radio(s) booting, and for 5 GHz DFS scanning. Enjoy. |
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