Can someone please put me out of my misery?

Hi everyone. Just got a new addition to my GL.iNet family in the form of the Beryl MT1300 which I am using as a travel router here in the UK. However, I have been struggling to get it to repeat a WiFi signal from a parent router that is broadcasting 5GHz signal on channel 60. I have also faced a similar issue trying to repeat a 2.4GHz signal on channel 13 in a different place. Can this be resolved or shall I just return this to the seller as being not fit for purpose as a flexible travel router? Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Can you check this post How do I change my country code on the GL-MT1300

Set up a country code that support channel 60

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Traveling with the Beryl but using it as a repeater kind of defeats the purpose, I think. We’re just back from two weeks in Paris, and my wife complained the last day that Amazon was quoting prices in euros, said it wasn’t shipping to France, etc. It took me a minute to realize this started after I’d packed up the Beryl.

But I learned the Beryl will do something my other routers won’t. I can’t change the country codes with the others.

My experience is that the Beryl is quite fit for use as a travel router.

Thanks Alfie, that has certainly solved the 5GHz - Channel 60 problem but changing the 2.4GHz region to “1” to get channel 13 to work has unfortunately failed. My current wireless settings are now:

config wifi-device ‘mt7615e5’
option type ‘mtk’
option channel ‘auto’
option hwmode ‘11ac’
option htmode ‘VHT80’
option band ‘5G’
option txpower ‘20’
option noscan ‘1’
option region ‘7’
option cfg ‘/etc/wireless/mt7615_5g.dat’

config wifi-iface ‘wifi5g’
option device ‘mt7615e5’
option network ‘lan’
option mode ‘ap’
option ssid ‘GL-MT1300-5G’
option encryption ‘psk2’
option key ‘goodlife’
option disassoc_low_ack ‘0’
option ifname ‘ra0’
option wds ‘1’

config wifi-device ‘mt7615e2’
option type ‘mtk’
option htmode ‘HT40’
option band ‘2G’
option txpower ‘20’
option noscan ‘1’
option region ‘1’
option cfg ‘/etc/wireless/mt7615_2g.dat’
option hwmode ‘11ng’
option channel ‘6’

config wifi-iface ‘wifi2g’
option device ‘mt7615e2’
option network ‘lan’
option mode ‘ap’
option ssid ‘GL-MT1300’
option encryption ‘psk2’
option key ‘goodlife’
option wds ‘1’
option disassoc_low_ack ‘0’
option ifname ‘rax0’

Do these appear correct?

Not sure I get your point that “using it as a repeater kind of defeats the purpose” as that has been my primary use for a travel router. These should be perfect for repeating the WiFi in places like hotels or camping sites (in addition to their other functionalities).

Perhaps this is just terminology. Say you are in a hotel, with wifi access through “Hotel WIFI”. If you use the router as a repeater, then it is rebroadcasting Hotel WIFI and you log your devices into that wifi and get an IP on that network, perhaps having to pay for each device. If you use the router as a router, then only the router logs into Hotel WIFI and your devices log into Router WIFI, and get an IP on the router’s own network, perhaps going through the router’s VPN.

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GL.iNet devices go into “Router” network mode by default, vs. “Access Point” and “Extender” network modes (under MORE SETTINGS → Network Mode"). Also, VPN only works in Router mode.

This is the mode that I use for travel to provide a firewall, share Internet and run VPN.

Yes, but where do you get your internet source from? For me, this has almost always been by using it as WiFi repeater which has been an impossible task if the upstream router is broadcasting an incompatible band/signal.

All 3 network modes can connect as to same Internet source on the parent router. If you can connect in Extender mode, then you should be able to connect in Router mode. I set up the 2.4GHz band to connect as WWAN to the parent router and the 5GHz band as WLAN to my devices.

Just to add a note that, to me, the GL.iNet terminology is confusing:

Using Repeater means connecting the router to another existing wireless network, e.g. when you are using free Wi-Fi in a hotel or cafe.
It works in WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider) mode by default, which means that the router will create its own subnet and act as a firewall to protect you from the public network.

“Repeater” is not the same as “Extender”. Repeater can also be a router. Extender is not a router and only extends the Wi-Fi coverage of an existing wireless network (e.g., hotel wifi).

I still see a region '7' present in one stanza of the config you posted btw

Thanks. Yes, that is the one I have changed from the default value to be able to get channel 60 on the 5GHz band. I am still, however unable to get channel 13 to show up on the 2.4GHz band.

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Ha, I apologize, I got that reversed in my head.

However, I also see a region '1' present in a different part of the config you posted! :wink:

Thanks again, I though that this would be the one to get me to access channels 1-13 (changed from the default region ‘0’). Is that not the case?

I apologize!! I double-checked and indeed I incorrectly assumed the region codes would match between devices.

I do question whether '11ac' and '11ng' are correct for hwmode based on the description of hwmode at [OpenWrt Wiki] Wi-Fi /etc/config/wireless - but perhaps this is something custom in GLi firmware, especially if those values were already present in the config before you modified it.

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I am starting to wonder whether you could be right about the incorrect values and will do more experimentation with different values the next time my Beryl is out for use.