I’m looking at devices to use for mesh networks, preferably with two radios (one for backhaul and the other for a local AP on most nodes).
I’m wondering if anyone can comment on success stories using 802.11s, batman, or olsr on their hardware and which models were preferred. I stumbled upon this link and saw at the time of posting there were a few issues with mesh support for various protocols, https://www.gl-inet.com/forums/topic/ar150-wireless-mesh/
I can see we are a lot further along in the firmware so I’m curious to hear how people have gotten on.
We have been using the AR150s for a large mesh network in Pittsburgh PA for the past year now. Hardware wise these routers are great. They run OpenWRT like no other router out there at the minute.
Performance wise, they are excellent when it comes to running OLSR (Our mesh protocol). We can easily max out the 100 Mbps ports. Wireless performance however leaves some to be desired, but with the newer gl-inet routers that come with AC and 5 GHz, there should be a performance boost. Also, for backhaul, these units don’t have very powerful radios, so we haven’t had too much luck with longer range links, 300 ft seems about max for the AP150, regardless of the antenna used. We have had to switched to Ubiquiti for longer range backhaul, but the AR150s still handle all the routing.
For mesh networks that backhaul over wireless as well as broadcast a client WLAN, steer clear of the MTx models, since they use Mediatek chips, which don’t allow two SSIDs. We learned this the hard way. It’s best to stick with Atheros (used on the AR150S) for any kind of mesh networking.
All in all I would strongly suggest using them with OLSR. Ive heard good things about the Batman protocol as well, but I have never personally tested this. Some of our AR150s even run an OpenVPN client to link up with locations too far for wireless, and performance there too has been excellent.
In conclusion, the routers work great for mesh routing, but don’t expect crazy througput over WiFi, at least not until gl-inet releases a new 5 GHz model
Can you please give me some more information or point me to a link for/about your network? Us Amateur radio operators would like to do something similar here to build a mesh based emergency use VOIP based network.
