[support]

It seems that you are not using the 5Ghz band at all. So just disable it.

1. You can’t disable LAN SSID but enable SSIDs for other VLANs. So keep LAN SSID on, but set a strong password and keep it for yourself.
2. Work on the main router first. Connect your computer to it via the LAN SSID. On the Wireless Settings page, select “No Mesh”. Create additional SSIDs for Guest, X1, and X2. To be sure this is the router you’re working on, keep the AP router powered off at this point.
3. On the Network Settings page, select Router mode, assign X1 to Port 1, and X2 to Port 2, tag Port 3 but leave it on LAN. Keep the checkboxes below unchanged.
4. Power down the main router. Power up the AP router and connect to it via the LAN SSID. On the Wireless Settings page, select “No Mesh”. Create additional SSIDs for Guest, X1, and X2.
5. On the Network Settings page, select “Access Point” mode. Assign X1 to Port 1, and X2 to Port 2, tag Port 3 but leave it on LAN. Click Save and you’ll be notified that the router switched to AP mode.
6. Connect the main router to your ISP and power it up.
7. Connect the AP router Port 3 to the main router Port 3 and power it up
8. After both routers are powered up, go to the router admin page (i.e., http://192.168.10.1 if you didn’t change the LAN IP). You’ll see the AP router in the list of Connected Devices. Click on the hostname to give it a proper name. You can use the listed IP address to manage the AP router.

[support]

@bambina We’ll review this and get back to you. Stay tuned.

[support]

To answer your questions:

1. The initial set up creates two SSIDs (one for 2.4GHz, one for 5GHz), both are on the LAN. You can use them for whatever purpose you decide.
2. You don’t need to change any of these settings.
3. It’s the SOURCE/DESTINATION chart. It controls the routing between VLANs. By default, LAN can initiate communication with devices on other VLANs, but not vice versa. And only devices connected to LAN has the ability to log in the router.

Your intended setup is pretty complicated. While our router supports your usage scenario, I’d strongly suggest that you consult someone who can help you face-to-face. Some of your statements above were pretty confusing. For example:
x1 vlan will be for all tenants.
x1 vlan will be for all guests.
x1 vlan to be for all Owner IOT equipment (2.4Ghz Only.

Does that mean you wan to use X1 for all tenants, guests and IOT devices? If so, create an SSID on X1, give the WiFi password to tenants, guests, and connect your IoT devices to the SSID.

[support]

Yes there’s an easy way to do this. In this guide I outlined how to establish a site-to-site VPN with both sides retaining Internet access from the local network: https://portal.pcwrt.com/blog/2026/08/05/pcwrt-vpn-router-business-site-to-site-wireguard/

You can adjust this setup slightly to achieve what you want. On the WireGuard client side (Router B in the guide), check the box:
Tunnel everything through WireGuard VPN except for the domains and IP ranges listed below, which will be sent through the alternative route.

Then, leave the text box below empty.

After this change, all traffic for devices connected to LAN on Router B will be routed through the VPN. However, on Router A, incoming VPN connections are allowed to destination LAN only. Internet bound traffic will be dropped.

[support]

@bambina Follow the steps here to reset the router: https://portal.pcwrt.com/blog/2024/04/03/how-to-reset-the-pcwrt-router/

[support]

Please check the timezone on your router.

[support]

@bambina Let’s set up your first router then. What problems are you encountering with the single router? You don’t have to travel to the tenant’s place to do this.

[support]

3. You can connect two pcWRT routers by wire or by wireless. What I’m suggesting here is a three router setup: 1 router + 1 AP connected by wire + 1 wireless satellite node. They’ll all be in the same subnet – so no NATting. IPv6 is not enabled by default. Check out this video for wireless mesh setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lIyd4BCsEQ

4. If you have multiple devices streaming or gaming, 150Mbps is not a lot of bandwidth. If that’s the case, the only solution is to get more bandwidth from your ISP. But you can use bandwidth monitoring on the pcWRT to find out the bandwidth consumption for each device.

[support]

One pcWRT will function as a router (let’s call it PCWRT1), the other as AP (let’s call it PCWRT2). You’ll connect like this:

1. Connect the WAN port on the PCWRT1 to a LAN port on your ISP router.
2. Connect a LAN port on PCWRT1 to a LAN port on PCWRT2. Preferably, tag the connected port on both sides. If you don’t tag the ports, only LAN will be served from PCWRT2.
3. Switch PCWRT2 to AP mode

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, you can keep SSID broadcast on the ISP router. But devices connected to the ISP router won’t be visible from the pcWRT interface, and can’t be controlled by the pcWRT router.
2. You can access the router remotely regardless of VLAN configurations. I’m not sure how your safety devices are connected, but in general your safety devices should continue to work regardless of remote management or VLANs.
3. You can set up another PCWRT by wireless mesh networking.
4. How many devices are we talking about here? What’s the ISP speed and expected bandwidth consumption?

[support]

@bambina Yes can set up the routers before you go to the tenants place.

However, you can’t connect pcWRT’s LAN1 to ISP router’s LAN1. You need to connect pcWRT’s WAN to ISP router’s LAN, so that they are on different subnets. And then turn off WiFi on the ISP router – your devices will be confused if both WiFis are broadcasting with the same SSID. For more range, you can set up another pcWRT router as an access point, like described here: https://portal.pcwrt.com/blog/2024/12/07/how-to-set-up-a-second-pcwrt-router-as-an-access-point-with-vlan-support/.

[support]

@w9yu34ac8yd2 Can you send a copy of your backup file just before the change causing the crash-reboot loop to [email protected]?

[support]

@bambina Sorry for the late reply.

You can try to replace the ISP router with the pcWRT, assuming there’s an Ethernet connection from the modem. Most of the time, it’ll just work. But some ISPs have special protocols between their router and their services. In that case, the pcWRT router won’t get an IP address from the modem. You can log in the pcWRT to check. In that case, the Status page will show Internet “down”.

But connecting the pcWRT WAN to a LAN port on the ISP router should always work. Again, log in the pcWRT and check the Status page. If you connect this way, turn off WiFi on the ISP router.

With a wired connection, you can connect a second pcWRT router as an Access Point to the main pcWRT router. Checkout this guide: https://portal.pcwrt.com/blog/2024/12/07/how-to-set-up-a-second-pcwrt-router-as-an-access-point-with-vlan-support/.

When a wired connection is not possible, you can add a second pcWRT router as a mesh satellite. Checkout this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lIyd4BCsEQ

You can do both if needed.

The easiest way to set up remote control of the pcWRT is opening it up for cloud management: https://portal.pcwrt.com/forums/topic/how-to-remote-control-the-pcwrt-router/. The pcWRT router remote control is more secure because it does not require an open port on the router. You can test remote control on location with your phone by turning off WiFi on the phone.

[support]

@galaxysurfer To recap, sometimes the router fails to obtain an IP address from a cable modem. Here are some ways our users have tried and worked:

• Power down both modem and router, then power up the modem first, connect and power up the router. Some users reported this working after a couple of tried.
• Clone the MAC address off of a device you know that works into the “override MAC address” box on the Internet Settings page.
• Make sure that the router’s time is correct. If needed, you can sync the router time with your browser on the System Settings page.
• Call your ISP tech support to troubleshoot. They should be able to see a new device connecting to their service when you connect the router.

[support]

All DNS traffic will be sent to the main node. The satellite node also sends DNS to the main node.

To use your pi-hole, you need to change the DNS on the main node. If you enabled Access Control, then the DNS settings specified in the profiles is used. Unless DNS is set to “System Default”, then system level DNS is used (i.e., DNS under the Internet Settings page).

If Access Control is not enabled, the DNS defined in the Internet Settings page is used. By default, it’s your ISP DNS servers. You can override that by checking the “Use custom DNS servers” box and entering your own IP addresses.

[support]

Sorry, change password was broken in v2.8.7. This is fixed in v2.8.8, just released.

[Author]

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