This is a noob question about the Mikrotik default “license” for my Mikrotik RB411 with WiFi card R52n-M.
All I’m asking in this thread is whether or not the license allows me to set up this transceiver as an “access point” wired to my SOHO router at home.
My main beginner noob question here is whether it is possible, given the equipment that I have, to set it up as a wireless access point, wired to the router.
A friend gave me a Mikrotik RB411 motherboard with WiFi card R52n-M radio and antenna that he was using as his rooftop WISP transceiver.
It was used by his WISP previously, years ago, before he had switched to a new WISP using Ubiquiti radios (where the old WISP told him to just keep the Mikrotik equipment or throw it away).
After googling for the procedure, I reset the Mikrotik radio by shorting the half-moon test point at the top left of the RB411 board, and powered up the 24-volt 1amp POE while keeping the half moons shorted for about 30 seconds until the leftmost of the handful of LEDs on the bottom right of the RB411 motherboard started flashing.
Logging into the now-reset-to-factory-defaults RB411 at 192.168.88.1, I changed the IP address to 192.168.1.x so that I could log into the radio from a Windows computer with WinBox.
Looking about in Winbox, I find that I have license level 3 so my first question is whether that is the default or not for Mikrotik equipment?
So my main beginner noob question here is whether it is even possible, given the equipment that I have, to set it up as a wireless access point, wired to the router.
Thank you for confirming that the Mikrotik RB411 comes with default license level 3.
Thank you for confirming that license level 4, 5, or 6 is needed for me to set up the Mikrotik RB411/R52n-M as an “access point” wired to my SOHO router at home.
Thank you for suggesting that a different router board might come with a different default license.
I have only set up Ubiquiti equipment in the past, where all the Ubiquiti AirOS radios are easily set up as access points, so it came as a complete shock to me that the Mikrotik RouterOS radios cannot be set up (by default) as an access point like the Ubiquiti AirOS radios all can be set up as Access Points.
However, on the other hand, what also came as a shock to me was how utterly configurable the RouterOS radio is.
Since I have plenty of Ubiquiti radios already set up as access points, I was just trying to make this free Mikrotik RB411/R52n-M radio useful.
Now I know what I didn’t know previously, which is that the default license on the Mikrotik RB411 motherboard is such that it’s not useful as an Access Point. So I will try to find some other use for the radio!
Thank you very much.
Is there a way to mark this thread SOLVED?
May I ask a related question before we mark this thread SOLVED?
I’m brand new (one day) to Mikrotik equipment so I don’t know what’s “private” information and what is not private information.
For example, I know the second half of the MAC address is private information while the first half is not.
And, the SSID could be considered private information.
But what about this thing on RouterOS called the “Software ID”?
If I post a screen shot of my “Software ID” (see below), do I need to redact the name of the “Software ID” for privacy?
Thanks for the kind advice!
I’ll try to keep subtopics separate.
Thanks for that answer - but it’s confusing because it doesn’t mention if that “Software ID” is unique.
OPEN QUESTION:
Am I the only one with that specific software ID (like a specific MAC address is, for example)?
Or does everyone have the same software ID (like the first half of a MAC address is, for example)?
Thank you for that advice that it’s a shock, as I agree with you.
I come from the Ubiquiti world, where this concept of a “license” doesn’t even exist (as far as I know).
Plus, I received the Mikrotik equipment for free … so I never had to research “buying” it (where the license may have come into play).
Worse, none of the tutorials for setting up an AP even mentioned that a specific license is required.
That’s a terrible tutorial!
I write a lot of DIYs (mostly for car stuff) where I lay out all the tools needed at the beginning, the versions, the subversions even.
It’s irresponsible, IMHO, for a writer of a tutorial (or documentation) to simply assume that everyone knows everything!
Nonetheless, I do understand that not everyone is as anal as I am with respect to documenting everything!
So I take what I can get!
And I appreciate it.
(Often, I try to contact the authors to ask them to update their tutorials saying, “This won’t work unless you have license level 4 or higher!”)
One thing I love already about this Mikrotik RouterOS is that it does seem to basically have a setting for everything I could ever want it to have.
No need to repeat the same things again and again.
Mac address is freely changeable so there is no reason to keep it secure.
The software id is more unique and identifies the device towards the mikrotik for licensing purposes. It is not normally seen over the network and is not usable in any other way. Again. No need to keep it secure.
You can write whatever tutorial you think is missing. Surely it will be appreciated by others.
Imagine that there are still many things we need to be changeable within the routeros…
About RouterOS licenses, they are quite simple. When you skip trial and free demo (L0 and L1), the real ones are L3-L6. Those are all almost completely equal in functionality and they differ only in some limits. The basic idea is that MikroTik can get more money from someone who needs e.g. thousands of VPN tunnels. I like that approach (compared to another possible one, where lower levels would not have some functionality at all), because even L4 lets you do everything as L6, just not in unlimited scale. Of course one license level with no limits would be even better, but I’m not really complaining here.
Except for L3. I hate that one, I really do. There’s just one major difference between L3 and L4 and it’s wireless AP mode. L3 can work as “AP”, but will only accept one client. So if you have RB411 and one of your thoughts is “hey, it could be nice AP!”, the answer to that is NO. If I had to count how many times I had the same thought myself, had nice spare RouterBoard that could easily handle it, and ended up with “oh no, L3 again!”… To me, L3 is remainder from distant past when whole wireless was something extra, so even this was good enough to squeeze some more money from customers. Well, ok, back then… The frustrating part is that it persisted until now, so while even the cheapest MikroTik’s home router ($22 hAP lite) has L4 (it has to, because it’s supposed to work as AP), some much more expensive models (e.g. $79 RB911G-5HPacD) still come with L3.
If all you need is to connect one device to your AP, then Level 3 is enough. All you need is to use “bridge” mode instead of “ap bridge”. Bridge mode has nothing to do with bridging, it is basically a wireless AP with maximum of one connected client.
I think I got the memo which is that level 3 is what my RB411 comes with and there is no license for my R52n-M miniPCI wi-fi card so level 3 is what I get.
So whatever I do, it will be with that L3 license.
Hmmmm… what does that mean in a practical sense to me?
I am perfectly fine with just one client accessing the Access Point.
For example, I have a hammock in a net in a tree out in the back yard which is about 50 feet from the house which has no WiFi signal.
If I could set up this RB411 with R52n-M as an access point aimed in that direction, I would be perfectly happy with only a single “client” being able to access it.
By “client” do you mean “device”?
For example, I’d be perfectly happy if only one iPad or only one cell phone or only one laptop at a time could access the access point.
Does the L3 license allow me that luxury?
What kind of error message does a second device get if it tries to connect to the AP that only allows one device to connect?
Are they locked by BSSID like hotel rooms in Europe are?
Hi Normis,
I am OK with “one device” if what you mean is I can connect the RB411/R52n to my router by wire and then mount it pointing to the back yard where, about 50 feet away, I have a hammock in a net in an oak tree that I’d like to get signal to which can’t easily get a wire due to the need to go underground.
At the hammock, I’d be happy to have just one iPad or just one phone or just one computer (only one at any one time) connected to the access point. Is that possible with the L3 license?
I hear what you’re saying but we may be talking about different terms so can you just let me know if my understanding is correct from what you said?
From what you said, it seems that with the L3 license, I can set up the RB411/R52n-M in “bridge” mode (and not “AP Bridge”) where I can connect only a single device (whether that is a cellphone or a tablet or a laptop) to the access point at any one time?
If that’s the case, I’m happy.
Why didn’t people say that earlier if that is the case though?
Can you confirm what you’re recommending given that I’m perfectly fine with a single device connecting to the AP at any given time?
Yes, with a level3 license, set your device wireless mode to “bridge” and you can connect your iPad and surf the web. Only if you need multiple clients connected AT THE SAME TIME, then you need ap-bridge mode, which requires level4 or higher.
That’s PERFECT!
I wish I had known that when I first asked the question!
I will reset the radio back to factory defaults and then set it up as a “bridge” and then connect it to the SOHO router switch to see if/how it works to connect to a single iPad at any one time. I will also test what happens when a second device (say an Android phone) tries to connect.
I thought I had posted a cross reference to another thread that asked the same question but I don’t see it so I’m posting that again so that others who search for this question will have both threads as their reference guide.
Where I asked this specific question:
Q: Is it possible to set up a RB411/R52n-M with a default level 3 license as a wireless access point, wired to the router?
The answer came back:
A: If all you need is to connect one device to your access point at a time, then the Level 3 license is enough to set up the device as an access point. Just use “bridge” mode instead of “ap bridge” mode. Bear in mind that bridge mode has nothing to do with bridging; bridge mode is basically a wireless access point with the maximum number of clients limited to one connected client at a time. Just set your Mikrotick device wireless mode to “bridge” and you can connect your mobile devices to the access point and surf the web. Only if you need multiple clients connected AT THE SAME TIME would you need ap-bridge mode, which requires a Level 4 or higher license.
To me, L3 is remainder from distant past when whole wireless was something extra, so even this was good enough to squeeze some more money from customers. Well, ok, back then… The frustrating part is that it persisted until now, so while even the cheapest MikroTik’s home router ($22 hAP lite) has L4 (it has to, because it’s supposed to work as AP), some much more expensive models (e.g. $79 RB911G-5HPacD) still come with L3.
