Bridging between a WLAN/LAN and a wifi hotspot

[Psycloud]

Hi All - I'm looking for some advice on bridging networks and using a 3 phone with wifi hotspot as the external gateway...

 

First of all I'll explain the situation - we have a 3 phone (on the One Plan) acting as a wifi hotspot for our various devices (laptops, ipads, phones on networks that can't hit 3g when on the boat etc). There seems to be a limit of 5 concurrent connections, which sounds like plenty but when the 3 kids are here using phones and watching iplayer on laptops then those 5 connections go quickly.

 

I also have 3 devices that do not have wifi and need to be networked - a PC, a RAID5 NAS (also acts as media server) and a printer. These are not on board yet but will soon be, I have several small switches I could use to network them, or my old ADSL router (but obviously without the ADSL) - when we lived in the house these devices all connected in this way.

 

What I want to achieve is all the devices (wired and wifi) to talk to each other, so they will need to be on the same LAN/wLAN - then for that LAN/wLAN to use the 3 phone as a gateway.

 

What device would I need to buy to achieve this? Is there some kind of wireless bridge that can link up all the devices (with built in DHCP) via wifi and built in LAN ports then route internet traffic via the hotspot? I could probably use a laptop to do the job but would rather not if possible.

 

Many thanks in advance

 

EDIT: This device in the US seems to be exactly what I need but not available in the UK - does anyone know of a similar device in the UK? http://www.zoomtel.com/products/4504.html

Edited December 4, 2012 by Psycloud

[john6767]

Sounds like you want a wireless router with some RJ45 ports that can be configured as a bridge. Your old ADSL router may be able to do that, you need to see if it supports bridge mode.

[oarfish]

Putting the 'all' in all you can eat there?

 

That device is available in the UK, nice find

 

46 quid

Edited December 4, 2012 by oarfish

[by'eck]

You can use a WiFi modem/router with two or more LAN ports and dedicated SIM card slot to provide your needs. Google 3G SIM WiFi router. Here is Solwise one I found.

 

A cheaper alternative is to buy one with USB port to take 3G dongle to provide same, similar to MiFi. Check for proven compatibility with your particular 3G dongle though.

 

A third almost free alternative if you are familiar with Windows networking, is to tether your 3G connected phone to laptop and configure its built in WiFi adapter as an adhoc WiFi connection. This adapter is then bridged with the one that has the Internet connectivity after first creating a Windows built in Network (MAC) bridge. This method allows only wireless connectivity though.

 

Finally you can run a WiFi hotspot app on your phone to relay its 3G connectivity wirelessly to other devices. Again no LAN cable connectivity though.

Edited December 4, 2012 by by'eck

[Richard10002]

Putting the 'all' in all you can eat there?

 

That device is available in the UK, nice find

 

46 quid

 

Can you tether a phone one The One Plan to it? It seems to read that you need a 3G USB dongle to plug into it. I guess you could put the SIM in a dongle, but then you wouldn't be able to use the phone if some calls?

[Psycloud]

Can you tether a phone one The One Plan to it? It seems to read that you need a 3G USB dongle to plug into it. I guess you could put the SIM in a dongle, but then you wouldn't be able to use the phone if some calls?

 

It does also say smartphone on the specs tab

 

Putting the 'all' in all you can eat there?

 

That device is available in the UK, nice find

 

46 quid

 

Thank you! I will order one tomorrow

 

Sounds like you want a wireless router with some RJ45 ports that can be configured as a bridge. Your old ADSL router may be able to do that, you need to see if it supports bridge mode.

 

Yep, unfortunately I don't think my very old netgear one does

 

You can use a WiFi modem/router with two or more LAN ports and dedicated SIM card slot to provide your needs. Google 3G SIM WiFi router. Here is Solwise one I found.

 

A cheaper alternative is to buy one with USB port to take 3G dongle to provide same, similar to MiFi. Check for proven compatibility with your particular 3G dongle though.

 

A third almost free alternative if you are familiar with Windows networking, is to tether your 3G connected phone to laptop and configure its built in WiFi adapter as an adhoc WiFi connection. This adapter is then bridged with the one that has the Internet connectivity after first creating a Windows built in Network (MAC) bridge. This method allows only wireless connectivity though.

 

Finally you can run a WiFi hotspot app on your phone to relay its 3G connectivity wirelessly to other devices. Again no LAN cable connectivity though.

 

I was hoping to keep the sim in the phone so I could use it as a phone too

[Richard10002]

Can you tether a phone one The One Plan to it? It seems to read that you need a 3G USB dongle to plug into it. I guess you could put the SIM in a dongle, but then you wouldn't be able to use the phone if some calls?

 

Interfaces

 

1 X RJ45, 10/100 Mbps port for wired WAN interface

4 X RJ45, 10/100 Mbps port for wired LAN networking

1 X USB 2.0 Host for 3G/4G modem or tethered smartphone

WPS button, reset button

[Caprifool]

Send the kids outside with no phones to play. That takes care of three devices.

[by'eck]

Don't know if it helps but I have a Ubiquiti NanoStation incorporating wireless to LAN bridge to provide long range WiFi access from distant hotspots. The LAN cable from this host feeds an old 802.11g modem/router plugged into one of its four LAN ports and sited inside my boat. Its configured with a static IP address (for configuration access) different but on same subset as host, and with DHCP turned off, since the host does that.

 

Virtually any old wireless modem/router can be configured in this fashion - PM me if you want more info.

 

With this arrangement I have wireless and cable Internet connectivity with networking between cable and wireless connected devices including laptops, printer and smart TV. I can also access the NanoStation or wireless router independently for configuration purposes.

 

Since this is much as you want, maybe its the direction you should be looking in.

Edited December 5, 2012 by by'eck

[Psycloud]

Don't know if it helps but I have a Ubiquiti NanoStation incorporating wireless to LAN bridge to provide long range WiFi access from distant hotspots. The LAN cable from this host feeds an old 802.11g modem/router plugged into one of its four LAN ports and sited inside my boat. Its configured with a static IP address (for configuration access) different but on same subset as host, and with DHCP turned off, since the host does that.

 

Virtually any old wireless modem/router can be configured in this fashion - PM me if you want more info.

 

With this arrangement I have wireless and cable Internet connectivity with networking between cable and wireless connected devices including laptops, printer and smart TV. I can also access the NanoStation or wireless router independently for configuration purposes.

 

Since this is much as you want, maybe its the direction you should be looking in.

 

Thanks - I will check this out also

[bespin]

We have the zoom and its working good also got a signal booster for using the phone inside the boat

[keble]

Thanks for the great info on this thread (and another related one). I'm lapping it up because I want to use our marina's wifi but the signal strength is too low in the boat. I will get it done after Xmas