I have a really nice router which i use to run PFsense on, which has a lot of useful services. However, it does not have Wi-Fi. So in order to provide Wi-Fi, I have to use another device as an access point. In my case I don’t have a pure access point, but I do have another router. This guide can also be used to attach several access point to a single LAN, if you need more than one to cover your whole house.

First, you take the existing router with built-in access point and flash it with DD-WRT. This is usually pretty easy, but the method can change slightly depending on hardware model. So better google it and follow a separate guide for that.

EDIT: This guide seems to do all stuff I do, but more and better

After that you will have to do the following configuration. I am not sure exactly which steps are needed, since I have done it twice before, and I don’t think the configuration ended up exactly the same.

  1. Consider doing a hard reset of the router, you might have done changes which are not compatible to this. See this page for more info.
  2. Change the AP name and password. Later on by following this guide, you may lose the ability to connect to it again. In this case you will be unwilling to do any other configuration without resetting the router, after which you will need to follow this guide again to set it in AP-mode.
  3. In Basic Setup, set WAN Connection Type to disabled. Disable DHCP and uncheck all boxes below it (dnsmasq, etc) - Save and apply
  4. Under Advanced Routing, change operation mode to Router - Save and apply
  5. Under Services, disable dnsmasq - Save and apply