WiFi as WAN - messing with

[stevech]

WiFi as WAN - a router that can be told to use a certain SSID as its WAN connection, and simultaneously be a router managing a subnet for wired and WiFi clients.

Used when there's a cooperating WiFi network (the SSID above) that agrees to take the WiFi as WAN device and all of its wired and wireless clients. Often done where the WiFi as WAN device is arranged so it gets a strong signal from the "donor" SSID, and the local WiFi clients cannot, and the wired clients can't connect directly due to cabling impracticalities.

I tried this with a Cradlepoint CBR400 I have.
Ran my desktop (wired) to the CBR400.
Ran my laptop on WiFi to the CBR400's WiFi access point side.
The donor SSID is an ASUS access point that runs on cat5 to a router that connects to a cable modem.

Not sure why, but the desktop going by wire into the CBR400 then by WiFi to the ASUS then by wire to the main router.. ran Speedtest.net and got just 10% or so reduction in speed (30Mbps) versus 34Mbps without the hops.

The CBR400 has a huge number of router options and inbound rules for blocking, and on and and on.

The CBR400 runs the same firmware as the MBR95 and others in that family.

The main router I use is the older generation MBR900 - same functionality minus WiFi as WAN. (MBR95 (eBay) replaces the MBR900.

All these have a USB port for a cellular modem as primary or fail-over from the normal WAN source.

WiFi as WAN - Not like WDS/repeater because WiFi as WAN in the CBR400 is a full up router with WiFi clients and wired clients. (though it does have a client bridge mode too).

This is intended to just chat about WiFi as WAN not plug Cradlepoint; though I like never having to reboot.

 

[sinshiva]

the main use i see for this is if you were using the router to share like a hotel wifi connection. problem mostly being in how you authenticate the connection. with (dd/tomato/asus)WRT in client bridge mode, you can install optware which should allow you to authenticate via the hotel portal via a text based browser like lynx. then it's just a matter of removing the wireless nic from the bridge, bringing up the firewall and setting up nat between the interface and the bridge.

[edit/] oh, i suppose a light proxy server would be better than messing with lynx

 

[stevech]

WiFi as wan of course has to be told the hotel's SSID and encryption key.
To do that, your laptop browser just logs in to the WiFi as WAN device and enters the key.

That done, it connects and your PC browser would get the hotel's authentication page.

It is a PITA.

 

[azazel1024]

WiFi as WAN - a router that can be told to use a certain SSID as its WAN connection, and simultaneously be a router managing a subnet for wired and WiFi clients.

Used when there's a cooperating WiFi network (the SSID above) that agrees to take the WiFi as WAN device and all of its wired and wireless clients. Often done where the WiFi as WAN device is arranged so it gets a strong signal from the "donor" SSID, and the local WiFi clients cannot, and the wired clients can't connect directly due to cabling impracticalities.

I tried this with a Cradlepoint CBR400 I have.
Ran my desktop (wired) to the CBR400.
Ran my laptop on WiFi to the CBR400's WiFi access point side.
The donor SSID is an ASUS access point that runs on cat5 to a router that connects to a cable modem.

Not sure why, but the desktop going by wire into the CBR400 then by WiFi to the ASUS then by wire to the main router.. ran Speedtest.net and got just 10% or so reduction in speed (30Mbps) versus 34Mbps without the hops.

The CBR400 has a huge number of router options and inbound rules for blocking, and on and and on.

The CBR400 runs the same firmware as the MBR95 and others in that family.

The main router I use is the older generation MBR900 - same functionality minus WiFi as WAN. (MBR95 (eBay) replaces the MBR900.

All these have a USB port for a cellular modem as primary or fail-over from the normal WAN source.

WiFi as WAN - Not like WDS/repeater because WiFi as WAN in the CBR400 is a full up router with WiFi clients and wired clients. (though it does have a client bridge mode too).

This is intended to just chat about WiFi as WAN not plug Cradlepoint; though I like never having to reboot.

You must have a router that supports WISP.

Some travel routers do (might be a more common feature among them? Not sure), TP-Link has a specific page on their supported WISP APs/routers http://www.tp-link.us/products/?categoryid=1246 I'd imagine that Netgear, Asus, etc probably have a listing of their WISP supporting routers/APs if you check their sites, or do a search on it.

 

[stevech]

the cradlepoints that I wrote about above were connecting as an ordinary WiFi client. So any WiFi router or AP is fine. No need for special WISP support. After connecting, the WiFi as WAN support ran, and the donor didn't know.

 

[Astrobirder]

Need a WAW router, but not sure I want a Cradlepoint.

I too am interested in using WiFi as WAN for a very niche application. Unfortunately I've been having trouble finding routers that support this feature, other than a few of the cradlepoints, which I'm a bit leery of, having had some bad experiences with their products in the past.

Has anyone been able to find a good quality WAW router from any other manufacturer?

I need 4-8 LAN Ethernet ports (preferably Gigabit capable) and WiFi LAN (ac would be nice down the road, but not necessary now).

Thank you in advance for sharing your experience.

--
Astro