LAN separate from apartment LAN

[Justinh]

My mom lives in an apartment building that supplies Wi-Fi to everyone. I have a few old routers (ASUS and others) around and was thinking about using one make another LAN just for my mom's use to improve her networking security.

Would it be possible to connect a router to the apt's wireless and still use the router's firewall? Is this even a practical idea?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Would it be possible to connect a router to the apt's wireless and still use the router's firewall? Is this even a practical idea?

Not without additional hardware. There are numerous posts asking this question. Asus routers don't support wireless WAN.

If you have another spare Asus router you could configure it as a Media Bridge between the apartment's Wi-Fi and the main router's ethernet WAN port.

 

[L&LD]

Does each apartment get any WiFi equipment within it? Or is just wireless access available?

If you have access to the equipment, and it has a LAN port, use the AiMesh Router in AP mode in Administration (Asus router).

If you don't have access to the equipment, you need to look for a model such as the GL.iNet router.

Or, use two routers; one in Media Bridge mode, and the other as the WiFi router for the apartment.

 

[Justinh]

If you have another spare Asus router you could configure it as a Media Bridge between the apartment's Wi-Fi and the main router's ethernet WAN port.

Sorry, I don't follow. I do have a spare ASUS router to give my mom, but I don't have access to the apt owner's router. I was thinking about the media bridge, but is the bridge's firewall in effect in that case?

Or is just wireless access available?

All we have is the Wi-Fi SSID, no equipment is provided. What is special about the GL.iNet router?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Sorry, I don't follow. I do have a spare ASUS router to give my mom, but I don't have access to the apt owner's router. I was thinking about the media bridge, but is the bridge's firewall in effect in that case?

The Media Bridge connects the the apartment's Wi-Fi and routes the traffic to its LAN ports. You connect one of these LAN ports to the WAN port of another Asus router that's running in "Router Mode". The "firewall" is on this router, not the media bridge. That gives you the separate network you were asking for.

 

[Justinh]

Doh! Right. I forgot about having to use Ethernet in Media Bridge mode. Got it. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[L&LD]

Media Bridge Mode

If I got the manufacturer correct, the GL.iNet router can connect to WiFi and use it as the WAN input.

 

[Justinh]

Thanks!

 

[sfx2000]

My mom lives in an apartment building that supplies Wi-Fi to everyone. I have a few old routers (ASUS and others) around and was thinking about using one make another LAN just for my mom's use to improve her networking security.

Well, performance might take a hit in WISP mode, and you're adding complexity where it's likely not needed...

Have to ask - is she complaining about the network?

Too often folks get involved when they probably shouldn't - good enough is just that...

 

[CaptainSTX]

Media Bridge Mode

If I got the manufacturer correct, the GL.iNet router can connect to WiFi and use it as the WAN input.

Yes it works very well. I use one for my travel router and have no problems streaming Netflix or Amazon in hotels with connection speeds of 10 Mbps or less. The GL-inet routers also allow you to run VPN clients either Open or WireGuard and specify which client devices use the tunnel.