With iwlist you can only scan for networks when your AP is in client mode. iwlist eth1 scanning iwlist eth1 scan wl ap 0 ; wl scan ; sleep 1 ; wl scanresults To join a non-encrypted access point run these commands: ifdown wan nvram set wl0_ssid=<SSID> nvram set wl0_channel=<CHANNEL_NUMBER> ifup wan; /sbin/wifi When you set an interface to DHCP, OpenWrt runs the DHCP client on that interface automatically at boot time. If you want to re-run the dhcp client, for example because you joined another network, you can either reboot, or you can run the ifup command: ifup wan; /sbin/wifi When using the bridged client mode, you should disable the DNS/DHCP server: If the "chmod" command fails and reports a read-only file system you will have to remove it instead (you can always put it back since it's just a symlink to the real script): chmod -x /etc/init.d/S50dnsmasq OR rm /etc/init.d/S50dnsmasq The first step would be changing the Wrt's behavior from AP to client mode. nvram set wl0_mode=wet # bridged client OR nvram set wl0_mode=sta # routed client --------------------------------------------------------------------------------