Site Tools


switch_or_ap_mode

Use a router as a switch or Access Point

Turning your FreshTomato router into a switch or Access Point (AP) is fairly easy. In FreshTomato, the difference between using your router as a switch versus using it as a Access Point is only about making use of the router wireless interface(s) while using it as a switch. In other words, you first have to turn your router into a switch and then it can be used as a Access Point by adding a Access Point in the Basic > Network setting page.

Switch mode

To turn your router into a switch follow these instructions:

Basic > Network

  • Disable WAN
  • Give your router an IP address in the same subnet as the gateway router and outside of the DHCP range (e.g. 192.168.1.2)
  • Disable DHCP (uncheck the checkbox)
  • Set the gateway and DNS addresses to the one of your gateway router i.e. 192.168.1.1

Advanced > VLAN

  • Add WAN port to LAN

Then link your routers with an Ethernet cable plugged into any one of the LAN ports on both routers to create a LAN to LAN connection. On the router you want to use as a switch, you can use the WAN port if it was reassigned to the LAN bridge.

Make sure every port is assigned to the same bridge (e.g. br0) in Advanced > VLAN on both routers.

Access Point mode

First turn your router into a switch following the instructions above, then to add an Access Point you only need to add them in Basic > Network like you normally do when using your router normally. Additional AP can be added using virtual interfaces in Advanced > Virtual Wireless.

Make sure every ports and every wireless interfaces are assigned to the same bridge (e.g. br0) in Advanced > VLAN.

switch_or_ap_mode.txt · Last modified: by hommeoursporc