Deploying OpenWRT within an Access Point setup while pfSense blocks WAN communication between devices.
Deploying OpenWRT within an Access Point setup while pfSense blocks WAN communication between devices.
Hey everyone, I just set up a pfSense router for my entire home network. Since we already had some Belkin RT3200s running OpenWRT, I thought I could reuse them as access points. The router is on the LAN side, connected to an Intel I350-T4 with all four ports feeding into a network bridge that acts as our home LAN—no switch needed in this configuration. The AP is plugged into this card, and it includes the LAN Bridge along with other devices.
I followed a few guides, but after trying many tutorials, my setup now matches what I saw in this YouTube video. At first, everything seems to work: devices connect to the AP's LAN ports, DHCP is handled by pfSense and assigns IPs, and internal pings are fine. However, Wi-Fi clients connect to the AP and get assigned IPs but can't reach the WAN (like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1). They also get IP ranges that differ from what pfSense normally allows—192.168.xxx.001–254 instead of its usual range.
I disabled the firewall and DHCP on the AP. Still, I’m confused about why devices aren’t getting proper WAN access or consistent IP assignments. It’s a bit tricky for someone new to pfSense and OpenWRT, but I’m learning as I go. Any tips would be super helpful!
I've attempted to investigate this but I'm struggling to understand the new OpenWRT network setup. The changes seem confusing—I don't know why they were made. Pay attention to the interfaces where WiFi appears next to Ethernet ports. You might also try connecting via SSH to the router and using "brctl show" to verify bridging. If you're receiving DHCP from pfSense, it suggests the configuration is likely correct.
I examined this unusual setup and it reminded me of editing Debian's sources.list for the first time in 2014, honestly I’m confused about what I’m dealing with here. I’m trying to explore the documentation to understand it better, but right now it doesn’t seem like anything useful. I should focus on learning pfSense instead of getting tangled up with OpenWRT Everything. The configuration looks okay for DHCP and DNS, and the firewall is off. Devices trying to connect negotiate an IPv4 lease with pfSense and work fine within the LAN. They just seem reluctant to reach out to the Internet somehow. If I change the firmware now just to test, maybe it’ll help. Otherwise, I’m really puzzled about this situation!
It seems strange since an AP is a basic tool—once it connects to the LAN, internet access shouldn't affect anything, because you're still just communicating with the router. You might want to verify if IPv6 is turned off in OpenWRT.
From my view, this appears to be an AP configuration problem. Are you certain the Belkin RT3200s are operating in AP mode with OpenWRT? My suggestion is to perform a full reset and reconfigure them in AP mode again. If the issue persists, revert to the original firmware and run them in AP mode from there.
It won’t solve your problem, yet PFSense isn’t built to act as a simple switch. I suggest dedicating one port for LAN and using a switch to isolate it. Firewalls remain firewalls, switches stay switches. (Of course you can force it to do that, but it’s not meant for this purpose.)