65 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
65 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
_template: blog-post.html
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---
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pub_date: 2020-11-08
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---
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title: Setting up TP-Link's Archer C5400 in AP mode
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---
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body:
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I recently bought a firewall router for home to improve our general stability (ISP provided routers kinda suck) and
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improve security at home. The more smart devices connected to the network the more concerned I become of this kind
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of stuff.
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In this case my problem was very simple: I have the firewall router and the access point router. My access point
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router (TP-Link's Archer C5400) exposes it's own DHCP server over it's own LAN segment. For my firewall router to
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work properly it has to recognise all devices on the network and with the access point creating it's own LAN,
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everything connected via Wifi was showing up in the firewall as one device (the access point router).
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The router's interface didn't allow me to set up AP mode, thus only letting me use it as a router. I contacted support
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and they told me that the version the router I had (V1) didn't support AP mode only the newest version (V2, from 2017)
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supported it, or some other latest devices.
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I didn't want to gave up on my router because it improved my wireless performance at home significantly from the ISP
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router and even some Unifi's I tried in the past but in the end I got an AX6000 to try it out (which was the newer
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version of the one I have so I expected it to perform similarly).
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We tested it for some days and wireless performance wasn't as good as with the C5400 and some of our devices lost
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connectivity from time to time so I ended up returning it and keeping the one I had.
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After thinking for a while and even considering looking for a C5400-V2 I tested to manually set it up on my access
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point before wasting more money on devices, after all, I was very happy with this one. And to my surprise I could
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enable AP mode on the router very easily.
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## Instructions
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1. Connect to your C5400 via Wifi (Ethernet should work as well)
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2. Disconnect the WAN cable from the router (you will lose internet connection but you can access the C5400's web
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interface)
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3. Disable DHCP. You will retain your lease until you reconnect again.
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4. Give the router a free IP address from the range your router is exposing on it's LAN segment.
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In this case the LAN segment is `192.168.1.0/24` and the DCHP esposes from the `192.168.1.150`-`200`,
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in order to have the IP easily accesible I gave it the `192.168.1.2` while the router is the `192.168.1.1`.
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5. Connect an ethernet cable coming from the router to a LAN port (**not WAN**).
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6. Reboot your router.
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After your access point has finished rebooting it should have the IP address you set on the LAN settings and
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all devices connected to the access point should have their IP Addresses allocated by the router, successfuly
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making the C5400 a proper access point.
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I'm unsure if this works in other models as well, but I belive it should and if you came here looking for a
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change give it a try and let me know if it worked for your model as well so I can update the post accordingly.
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