Back in June 2024, I wrote an article about switching to an internet modem that I owned. In that article, I noted that I used three devices for my home internet set-up. First was the ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 modem that I had set up in May 2024 (it has served me well after I dealt with its questionable log-in instructions). Second is the MikroTik hAP ac3 router. Third was a TP-Link TL-WA1201 wireless access point which I used for wireless. In early January 2025, I swapped by TL-WA1201 access point for a NETGEAR WAX202 wireless router serving solely as an access point (my MikroTik hAP ac3 still handles the routing).
My new NETGEAR access point is not just any access point, however – it runs the free and open source OpenWRT Linux-based operating system for routers, firewalls, and access points. (That is a good thing too since NETGEAR has designated it end of life.) Below, I go through my new set-up and how my now-former TP-Link access point has been re-purposed for a new task.
Why I Made the Change
Prior to 2022, I had been using a TP-Link wireless router for both routing and wireless internet. Having re-thought my computing after switching from Windows 10 to Linux in August 2020, I decided to improve my internet set-up. As a threshold matter, note that I have the cheapest available Spectrum internet plan – which back then provided for 300 Mbps download speeds and was recently bumped up to 400 (I can get about 495 on my ethernet connection with my current set-up).
I initially considered building a router and installing an open source operating system for routing, but after some due diligence and research, I took a path of less resistance and purchased my MikroTik hAP ac3 router. MikroTik devices have excellent hardware at an affordable price point. While MikroTik’s RouterOS is proprietary, it is Linux-based and has a great number of features, very few of which I know how to use. Another strong point in MikroTik’s favor is that they support their devices for the long haul and release regular updates. I previously wrote about using an RSS feed to stay on top of updates before following MikroTik’s documentation to configure my router to update automatically.
While I decided against a DIY router, I did make my life somewhat more complicated in a different respect – I opted to rely on my hAP ac3 only for routing and disable its onboard wireless. At first, I configured my old TP-Link router as an access point, but I eventually purchased my TL-WA1201 access point, which is solely an access point with no routing functionality.
I did not have any problems with my MikroTik/TP-Link set-up, but I started thinking about making a change in late 2024. There were a few reasons for this. Firstly, I noted that TP-Link seldom releases updates for its devices (very much unlike MikroTik’s regular RouterOS updates). Secondly, I read reports that TP-Link is under scrutiny from U.S. regulators, which could in the near future throw an additional wrench into its being updated. Thirdly, I was interested in trying an OpenWRT-powered device, and I figured a wireless access point would be a good place to start. Finally, I had a new use-case for my TP-Link access point. In early December 2025, I purchased a used HP EliteDesk 800 mini on Ebay to use as a second desktop computer in my front room. I discovered after purchasing it that it did not have a Wi-Fi card (note it was not advertised as having one, it just did not occur to me to check). While I do have a Wi-Fi dongle that works on Linux, it occurred to me that if I replaced my TP-Link access point, I could switch the TP-Link device to client mode and use it to provide internet to my new mini PC.
Thus my search for an OpenWRT-powered access point began.
As I noted, OpenWRT is a free and open source specialty Linux distribution for networking. Some consumer routers run proprietary operating systems based on OpenWRT and there is now one official OpenWRT router. But in the majority of cases, one has to install OpenWRT on a compatible router (or computer) the old-fashioned way. I was curious whether I could find an affordable wireless router or dumb access point amenable to OpenWRT. After some research, I settled on the NETGEAR WAX202 wireless router for a few reasons:
- OpenWRT can be installed from the WAX202’s web UI without any additional steps (see OpenWRT device info).
- I had come across the WAX202 in the past while looking at routers and access points and recalled that it was relatively inexpensive.
- The WAX202 supports Wi-Fi 6. My TP-Link AP supports Wi-Fi 5. While I doubt I get much (if any) benefit from Wi-Fi 6 over 5 for my use-case, I could point to this as a slight hardware upgrade.
- On the off-chance something happens to my MikroTik router, I could convert the WAX202 from an dumb access point to a router.
- Most important of all – the WAX202 has nice aesthetics for my set-up.
Having settled on the WAX202, I went on Ebay to see if I could find one at a good price. To my surprise, the best deal on a WAX202 was one which the seller advertised as having OpenWRT pre-installed for $48. It was pitched as being in like-new condition with the original AC adapter, ethernet cable (note I did not need the cable), and packaging. In the item description, the seller explained that he bought the WAX200 specifically because it could run OpenWRT and that it ran “flawlessly.” I had not planned to buy a WAX202 with OpenWRT since I prefer to install it myself, but I was not going to spend an extra $10 for the full DIY experience.
Configuring the WAX202 as an Access Point
The WAX202 came on time and exactly as advertised. But for the lack of original packaging and the fact that it had OpenWRT instead of the stock NETGEAR OS, one would have been hard pressed to identify it as not being brand new. The seller included a handy print out explaining how to log into the web UI for OpenWRT, which is called LuCI, and a link to the official OpenWRT documentation. I went into LuCI and re-installed the current version of OpenWRT as a first step.
Next, I need to actually configure my WAX202 as what we can call a dumb access point. I wanted it to connect to my MikroTik hAP ac3 but focus only on providing wireless coverage and not on routing. In full disclosure, I am in no way a networking expert and I had no prior hands-on experience with OpenWRT or LuCI, so I did the sensible thing and turned to the official OpenWRT documentation. Sure enough, OpenWRT has a comprehensive guide for configuring access points in an article titled Wi-Fi Extender/Repeater with Bridged AP over Ethernet. I specifically went to the Configuration by LuCI section of the article to learn how to set up my new router as a dumb access point using OpenWRT’s web UI instead of the command line. I connected the WAX202 to the ethernet port on one of my laptops and got started.
(Note: OpenWRT changed the docs slightly since I first read them in January. They previously recommended disabling the Firewall and DNSMASQ services but now take the position that the performance benefits are negligible.)
Anyone who is interested in setting up their own OpenWRT access point or repeater should do what I did and carefully study OpenWRT’s guide. I followed the guide and only came away with a couple of notes about my own experience.
The OpenWRT guide goes through the steps for configuring a static IP address on the access point, but it notes that one could alternatively “configure the wireless AP to use DHCP to obtain an address from the main router.” On my first attempt to get things working, I followed the wiki’s guide in setting up a static IP address for the access point. I managed to complete the set-up and my access point was providing wireless coverage after I connected it to my router. However, I had one issue – I could not connect to my access point at its static IP address. That was a problem since one needs to be able to connect to the access point for updates or to change settings. I suspect there was probably an easy solution to this issue – perhaps involving some settings on my router, but I decided to start over and try configuring my access point to use DHCP to obtain an address from my router (I have no concern about it not receiving an address). This worked without any problems and after going through the full set-up, I was able to find the IP address my router assigned to the access point and access the LuCI for my access point. Note that my TP-Link access point also received a random address from within an IP range from my router.
I did not have any notable issues beyond the static IP problem. I otherwise followed the OpenWRT docs and set up a very basic access point with Wi-Fi on the 5.0 and 2.4 GHz channels.
The TP-Link Access Point
After confirming that my WAX202 was in working order as an access point and switching my wireless devices to it from the TP-Link, I used my TP-Link access point’s UI to change it from access point mode to client mode.
In client mode, it can connect to a single device via ethernet and provide that device with an internet connection, so long as the TP-Link access point is connected to wi-fi.
TP-Link’s web UI is intuitive and it only took me a couple of minutes to turn my former main access point into a client device for my mini PC.
Updating the WAX202
I had an article about my new internet set-up on my to-do list and I was reminded to actually write an article when I saw that my WAX202 had an OpenWRT update available on February 24, 2025. I downloaded the update from the OpenWRT website and installed it through LuCI.
The entire process took somewhere in the neighborhood of one minute and I was able to access LuCI immediately after upgrading.
Conclusion
This concludes my short home networking update. I have not had any issues with my new access point and my former TP-Link access point is churning away providing internet to my front room mini PC. If you are interested in trying OpenWRT for yourself, I recommend starting with the project Wiki.
