Hello, my name is Fajar from Indonesia. I’m just setup a small hotspot service in my village after Covid19 pandemic, my current topology
:
/interface print
Flags: D - dynamic, X - disabled, R - running, S - slave
# NAME TYPE ACTUAL-MTU L2MTU MAX-L2MTU MAC-ADDRESS
0 R ether1 ether 1500 1598 2028 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1A
1 ether2 ether 1500 1598 2028 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1B
2 ether3 ether 1500 1598 2028 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1C
3 RS ether4 ether 1500 1598 2028 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1D
4 RS ether5 ether 1500 1598 2028 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1E
5 R wlan1 wlan 1500 1600 2290 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1F
6 R hs_bridging bridge 1500 1598 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1D
7 X pptp-luwu pptp-out
8 R vlan_hotspot vlan 1500 1594 CC:2D:E0:39:76:1D
9 R vlan_private
RB951 serve as main router and user manager, Groove connect to Eth4 and CPE220 to Eth5. I’m using VLAN to distribute private ( for my family ) and hotspot connection, hotspot running on VLAN51 (vlan_hotspot). Several neighbors requested to extend my hotspot to their home ( about 70m ) because they can connect to my CPE220 only with additional AP. I want to extend the hotspot service but i can’t find best solution yet. I tried to using TP-Link AP as repeater/range extender but not work very well, sometime can’t get IP, very slow connection, or only 1 device can login. Some people suggest to use WDS, some suggest use 2 AP ( Client → AP Bridged mode ), another suggest use MT with 2 wlan ( ex RB433AH ). i’ve read about mikrotik Wireless-Repeater package and think this solution is very simple and cheaper if i’m using another Groove to extend my hotspot. But the question is, can i connect to CPE220 ( not mikrotik product ) and use my Groove with Wireless-Repeater package?
Interesting requirements. But lacking the real numbers needed for the design (#neighbors, #devices, type of devices, data rate wanted, …).
So just some basic hints.
MKT Hotspot authentication uses MAC addresses as identification for the traffic. “Universal repeaters” , or MKT pseudo-bridge, will use ONE MAC address for all devices behind the repeater.
Repeater package is not needed in MKT. It is now in the standard RouterOS. (“Repeater Setup” on WLAN interface.)
Repeater with one radio (eg. 2.4 GHz only) will double the use of airtime. It will half the throughput. It will make one big RF collision domain with only one transmitter at a time.
WDS with one radio (eg. 2.4 GHz only) will double the use of airtime. It will half the throughput. As bad as a repeater. But it will pass the correct MAC address. One collision domain.
“AP bridge - station bridge” with one radio (eg. 2.4 GHz only) will double the use of airtime. It will half the throughput. It will pass the correct MAC address and can use all 802.11 features. It can only be used between MKT devices. One collision domain.
To avoid the one collision domain and doubling of the airtime, one needs to use “repeater/WDS/station bridge” devices with 2 radio’s at least, or use 2 (ethernet) connected devices, and operate the uplink and client servicing on a different non-overlapping channel.
An AP with high antenna gain (eg Omnitik ac versus wAP ac) will reach further (double as far with 6 dBi difference). It is not the TX power that does it, but the antenna gain.
Omnitik ac only uses outdoor 5 GHz channels. Not all end-user devices support those channels.
I only need to cover several home ( 3 - 5 ) with very small distance between them and around 5 - 10 peoples, most of them using android smartphones. I have 20Mb/s bandwidth from my ISP, each user has max. bandwidth of 1MB/s ( limited by hotspot profile ). I have a plan, but not tested it yet:
Disable hotspot on CPE220
Install 2nd Groove on my neighbors
Connect 2nd Groove wlan1 to CPE220
Create virtual_ap and run hotspot on this interfaces
Hotspot only on 2nd Groove? This opens possibilities, even if the hotspot is defined at the RB951. The Groove and RB951 can have a tunnel, bypassing the wifi MAC address problem, while the 2nd Groove itself is just a normal wifi “station” to the TP-link.
Yes, only for extending hotspot. Another plan is connect 2nd Groove to CPE220 and manage hotspot directly on 2nd Groove with RADIUS, so i can control user login from RB951. The only thing i’m not sure about is, use pysical (wlan1) on Groove to CPE220 and create another virtual AP for hotspot using Wireless-Repeater package. is it okay ?
On the second Groove, the physical WLAN1 is the “station”, the virtual WLAN2 is the “AP”. This way the wireless interface will follow the channel of the TP-Link. It is the same config as you get when you use the “Repeater Setup” button. But then you should modify the setup to make a VPN tunnel to the RB951, to be able to transfer multiple addresses. Or you could indeed have the hotspot in that 2nd Groove and then NAT-masquerade the different users, then there is only one MAC and only one IP connecting via the TP-link to the RB951.
