Setup:
- Firmware RUT9_R_00.07.02.1
- RUT955 connected with WAN (cable) and Win10 client PC (cable). No SIM card inserted.
- Reset to factory settings (plus manual deletion of log.db)
- Setup wizard with straightforward settings. No strange characters used for passwords or for the AP-mode SSID.
Question 1: Why does the router still know the last SIM card's PIN after the factory reset?!?
- After finishing the wizard: Router configuration as WiFi client (different 192.168 subnet) and connection to existing client. No failover settings applied.
- Unplug client PC LAN cable, connect client PC with router via WiFi. Seems to work.
- Router reboot
- Now the client can hardly reach remote Internet addresses or the router itself. Plugin in client LAN cable again.
- In the log every few seconds the following lines appear:
- 2022-06-25 12:53:22 WiFi WiFi client disconnected: <MAC address>
- 2022-06-25 12:53:21 WiFi WiFi client connected: <MAC address>
- In Status --> Network --> Wireless I can see the WiFi client alternately appearing and disappearing
- Troubleshooting file is attached.
I re-installed the computer's Win10 WLAN driver, made various experiments with different firmware versions, WiFi settings (country code, distance optimization etc.), and used different WiFi antennas. I inserted/removed the SIM card and made attempts with static DHCP leases. Sometimes it worked, but not for long time.
I've spent altogether more than 3 days on debugging this. Connecting my client PC to my home WLAN network works perfectly. The PC's network adapter is a standard Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 device.
Question 2: Why doesn't this work?!?
One day later (i.e. definitely beyond the 12 hours DHCP lease time) I made another attempt with freshly booted RUT955 (no WAN cable, SIM card inserted, according to the status overview it is connected as client to my home WLAN network, too) and Windows.
Excerpt from RUT955 connections events log (only one page, this series spans over several minutes resulting in a flood of log lines):
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client disconnected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client connected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client disconnected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client connected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client disconnected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client connected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client disconnected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:40 WiFi WiFi client connected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:39 WiFi WiFi client connected: <MAC address>
2022-06-26 09:21:39 WiFi WiFi client disconnected: <MAC address>
According to Windows ipconfig /all the PC got 192.168.1.138 assigned with a sensible lease start and expiry time.
I attach a Wireshark trace of this attempt.
Question 3: Can you please check this dump?
There is a Teltonika video in Youtube "How to Enable WiFi WAN on Teltonika Networks Routers". According to this instruction I have to re-order the interfaces in the network interface menue (and of course use different subnetworks - which is the case in my configuration). Ok, tried this, but hasn't worked. In fact this instruction is not covered by the official manual, see section Client Mode. Re-ordering of interfaces makes imho no sense at all, because failover is configured somewhere else. And according to the example provided in the manual the LAN interface is first in the list.
Question 4: Why do you recommend in the video moving the WWAN interface to the top of the list?
Summary: My RUT955 works as WiFi AP only with WAN connectivity via cable or mobile data (same client PC as used for the experiments described above). Using it both as WiFi client and AP at the same time does not work. And this is the functionality I bought it for.