Recently I upgraded my travel router to a GL-iNet GL-MT300N-V2. My motivation was two-fold:
- I wanted support for my OpenVPN built in.
- TP-Link had stopped supporting my old TL-MR3020, leaving it insecure.
The MT300 is a fantastic little device. Very low power requirements (it will run off a single port on my USB power pack). It supports OpenVPN. And in a recent update the UI has been completely redesigned to make it much more straightforward to use.
This has left me with an the old 3020 router to spare, and I started to wonder if I could still make some use of it. The OpenWRT project provides a firmware for this model, which resolves the problem with out of date software. I have been having problems with WiFi coverage in some parts of the house and was considering a range extender plug. Perhaps the 3020 could do the job?
I ran through the install steps and configured the OpenWRT as a WiFi extender. It works perfectly and because it's running a fully-fledged router firmware it has a couple of advantages of a WiFi extender:
- I can replicate my MAC filter rules from the main router.
- The TX power can be manually adjusted on both units to persuade my devices to pick the optimal router as I move about the house.
