Hi, I just got a GL-A1300 (Slate Plus) to travel with in Europe,
and I was trying it out at home and was having issues with it connecting to my home wifi.
Seems my 5GHz wifi AP is on CH132, which seems to be a DFS channel.
Now I’m in Canada and I’m seeing a bunch of APs on CH52-64, and a couple on CH132-144…
And it seems that this is my problem, since I saw this in my system logs
[…]gl-sdk4-repeater/usr/sbin/repeater:701) skip bss with dfs channel: :BSSID
but nothing seems to work. I know it’s annoying to get the DFS certification, but why sell it in Canada if I can’t connect it to a DFS network anyway?
Is there a way to disable this validation?
If you are in a country where DFS is needed it is illegal to disable DFS and use DFS-channels. This can lead to huge problems with the authorities.
If you are in Canada, you have to use the country-code of Canada. If your router can not make DFS, than you can not use the DFS-channels.
Here you can find more information about the usable channels: List of WLAN channels - Wikipedia
Is there a guide to setting the country codes in GL-A1300?
I’ve tinkered with /etc/config/wireless / uci commands to try setting the region, but it seems that the repeater mode is still blocking it.
It’s not that I want to broadcast on DFS channels with the GL-A1300, just to connect it to a DFS channel to be able to use as source internet connection.
I’m guessing that the issue is that the GL-A1300 only has two wireless network interfaces (2.4GHz, 5GHz), which might mean that the 5GHz repeater BSSID needs to be on the same as the AP channel.
If I could just connect to a DFS network, but rebroadcast on any other channels, that works for me too.
A stupid workaround I’ve found is to connect my android phone to the GL-A1300, which has no issues connecting to the DFS channel (of course), and have GL-A1300 use that as the internet source, via USB tethering.
Maybe there’s a way to use another usb wifi adapter to achieve the same without too much tinkering with openwrt?
You can connect the GL-A1300 to 5GHz DFS channels in STA (Client) mode using LuCi, but I don't believe that it can also work as a 5GHz Master / Repeater if on a DFS Channel (you can still use the 2.4GHz radio in AP / Master mode).
You need to first turn off the 5Ghz WiFi AP via the normal UI menu, then login to LuCi (System->Advanced Settings) and stop / disable the "repeater" service ([LuCi]System->Startup)
Now, using the [LuCi]Network->Wireless menu, Scan on the 5GHz adaptor for the SSID you want to connect to. It should find APs on all Channels, including DFS ones. Connect in Client mode (selecting the wan Firewall profile), Save/Apply and you should be good to go. You may need to Reset the adaptor and / or Disable the 5Ghz Master (AP) Interface and change the Country code to your current location.
One possible gotcha is that after doing this the 5GHz radio may become unusable in Master (AP) mode - it's visible to clients but they can't get a DHCP lease (and with many "DHCP packet received on wlan1 which has no address" messages on the GL-A1300 log). Most likely cause is that the interface has been removed from the LAN Bridge - you can re-attach it via the LuCi Wireless menu using the Edit option for the 5GHz Master SSID, after which all should work normally.
Don't forget to re-enable / restart the Repeater service if you subsequently want to use as a Repeater on non-DFS Channels.
This doesn't (and shouldn't) enable the the router to act as an AP on DFS channels - it's not certified - but I don't see an issue with it as a STA / Client as the AP it's connecting to should handle the radar avoidance.
I totally agree the DFS is totally stupid the power from a router cloud never interfere with radar or aircraft if the routers were running 1 watt of rf power then yes it could cause problems, but the flea power of a router unless your using it in an aircraft control tower again possible yes, any way of defeating it permanently would be fantastic I have a GL-MT6000 Flint 2 and a GL-AXT1800 Slate AX.
Yes, if you're acting as the AP. Not so straightforward if in a hotel or AirBnB with no access to the Router/WiFi AP and they've configured it to only broadcast on a DFS Channel! The LuCi workaround above is only for this use-case..
The workaround isn't a workaround, since you can't disable DFS detection by luci.
It's built-in into the driver itself.
I am not even sure what this workaround trying to fix. You could simply go with full-routing mode instead, which will let you choose whatever channel you like.
Not sure that you've fully grasped the concept or purpose of a "Travel Router". The workaround is only for connecting the Slate Plus to "upsteam" WiFi in a hotels etc. where the best or only available connection has been set to a 5GHz DFS channel - over which you have no control. It most certainly does work, tested on my Slate Plus, although I believe only in STA (Client) mode, with "downstream" (VPN-secured) devices served either through the Slate's 2.4GHz WiFi or the 2x Ethernet LAN ports - actually 3 now available as the WAN port can be re-configured to LAN.
Not in it's native state, no. You need to make the changes described above to enable them. It's probably the only significant disadvantage with the device, which in all other respects is pretty much perfect as very capable Travel Router.