Connecting two OpenWRT MBE70 (LN6001) routers wirelessly using MLO

This article provides step-by-step instructions for configuring two Linksys OpenWRT MBE70 (LN6001) devices to establish a wireless connection using Multi-Link Operation (MLO).

If you need further assistance, please reach out to the OpenWRT community for support.

Network Topology

First Router: Perform the following settings on your parent MBE70 (AP).

1. Log in to the router. The default username and password are root and the default WiFi password, respectively.

Router login screen

2. Once inside the web interface, go to Network > Wireless.

Select the Network tab and then go to the Wireless sub-tab

3. Click the Edit button for the 2.4 GHz interface (wifi0).

Click Edit where it says "wifi0"

4. Under Interface Configuration > General Setup, change the ESSID to MLO.

Edit ESSID to "MLO"

5. Under Wireless Security, change the Encryption to WPA3-SAE and customize the Key (which will be your wireless password for the 2.4 GHz band).

Click Save to continue.

Go to "Wireless Security" and change the Encryption to WPA3-SAE

6. You will be rerouted back to the Wireless Overview page. Click Save & Apply.

Click the Save & Apply button at the bottom.

Changes successfully saved.

7. Perform the same steps for the 5 GHz interface (wifi1).

Apply the same configuration to "wifi1" settings

wifi1 settings

8. Perform the same steps for the 6 GHz interface (wifi2).

Apply the same configuration to "wifi2" settings

wifi2 settings

wifi0, wifi1, and wifi2 settings overview

9. Go to Network > MLO.

Go to the Network tab and then to the MLO sub-tab

10. Check the AP MLO Enable box and click Save & Apply.

Check where it says "AP MLO Enable". Then click Save and Apply.

Second Router: Perform the following settings for the child MBE70 (STA).

1. Log in to the secondary router, then go to Network > Interfaces.

Go to the Network tab, then click on the Interfaces sub-tab

2. Under the Interfaces tab, click the Edit button for LAN.

Click the Edit button where it says LAN.

3. Change the LAN IPv4 Address from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.100.1 and click Save.

Change the IP address then click Save. And then click on Save & Apply.

Click Save & Apply once done.

Change the IP address then click Save. And then click on Save & Apply.

4. After the router has saved the settings, log in to the user interface using the new IP address - 192.168.100.1.

Go to Network > Wireless > then press the Scan button for your 2.4 GHz interface.

Press the Scan button for 2.4 GHz

5. Click the Join Network button once you have found the MLO SSID.

Click the Join Network button

6. Make sure to select Replace wireless configuration and put the WiFi password of the MLO SSID in the WPA passphrase field.

Click the Submit button once done.

Put the password in the WPA passphrase field and hit Submit

7. Set the Encryption type to WPA3-SAE, update the password to the MLO SSID password, and the Mode to Client.

Change the Mode to "Client".

Change the Encryption type to WPA3-SAE

8. Go to Network > Interfaces, and you will see that another WWAN interface has been added.

Interfaces overview. You will you will see that another WWAN interface has been added

9. Go to Network > Wireless and click the Edit button for 5 GHz interface (wifi1).

Click the Edit button where it says "wifi1"

10. Change the ESSID to MLO, Mode to Client, encryption to WPA3-SAE, and password to the same as your parent WiFi password. Click Save, then click Save & Apply.