Help creating wifi network: extending WiFi with different SSID

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RickD

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#95359 1-Jan-2012 09:19

Hi,

I want to buy a bridge/access point/router that I can use to connect to an existing WiFI network and then create my own WiFi network (with my own SSID etc, rather than extending the other network) that my devices (phone, laptop, iPad etc) can connect to and access the Internet through the other network.

Is this possible using one device? What would I need?

It would also be useful if the router supported VPN so I didn't have to set that up on our devices.

Cheers

sbiddle

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#563420 1-Jan-2012 10:11

You are going to need two units - firstly something to act as a client/bridge to connect to the old network, and then a 2nd unit to act as an AP for the new network.

raytaylor

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#563510 1-Jan-2012 15:28

Also you can run a cable up to 100m

What you are looking for is a simple Wifi Access Point - not a router. Though with some fancy configuration, a wifi router can be made into an access point, you will be best to look for an access point only.

Next you decide how to connect the lan port of the access point back into the main network.
This can be done three ways
- An ethernet cable running up to 100m

- Ethernet over power devices. Suit most homes. Good for running ethernet out to the garage. You buy a pair and plug one into the wall and the master router, and the second one into the wall, and your second AP.

- A second AP in client mode. This means two units are back to back. One recieves the wifi signal from the master router, and converts it to a short ethernet cable, which goes into your new AP which retransmits it under a different SSID or network name to the client device eg. laptop.
This is the most complicated way of doing things and can be hard to setup and troubleshoot.

Ray Taylor

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RickD

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#563663 2-Jan-2012 09:51

Thanks, using a cable to connect to the external network is not possible so the two access point solution you suggested is what I will have to do I think.

If the first network required authenticating via a webpage (e.g. network is open, but I need to sign in once on a webpage), would that be passed through to the second network I create?

raytaylor

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#563681 2-Jan-2012 10:52

Yes in that case it would go through to the next network.

The other thing i forgot to mention is that when you are daisychaining wireless networks, you need to make sure that the master wireless network has WDS enabled otherwise a vital component called DHCP probably wont reach your end device on the slave network.

Ray Taylor

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RickD

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#563709 2-Jan-2012 12:11

raytaylor: Yes in that case it would go through to the next network.

The other thing i forgot to mention is that when you are daisychaining wireless networks, you need to make sure that the master wireless network has WDS enabled otherwise a vital component called DHCP probably wont reach your end device on the slave network.

Thanks I didn't think of that. Could my AP run DHCP and give IPs to my devices and the AP in client mode just receive an IP from the master network?

sbiddle

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#563723 2-Jan-2012 12:56

RickD:
raytaylor: Yes in that case it would go through to the next network.

The other thing i forgot to mention is that when you are daisychaining wireless networks, you need to make sure that the master wireless network has WDS enabled otherwise a vital component called DHCP probably wont reach your end device on the slave network.

Thanks I didn't think of that. Could my AP run DHCP and give IPs to my devices and the AP in client mode just receive an IP from the master network?

Yes, except then you'll need a router, not an AP. You'll also have double NAT occuring which will break some things.

raytaylor

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#563905 3-Jan-2012 03:41

To elaborate...

You will need a simple access point that supports client mode, and then a standard broadband wifi router... not an adsl wifi router. It needs to have a network plug for a wan/internet port, not a telephone plug.

If you would like to send me a PM I have just the two perfect devices I can supply you with and preprogram them for you if you like.

Otherwise, if you want to find the broadband router and wifi ap with client mode yourself, then let me know the model numbers before you buy and ill double check if they will be compatible.

Ray Taylor

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hashbrown

463 posts

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#563938 3-Jan-2012 10:35

RickD: Thanks, using a cable to connect to the external network is not possible so the two access point solution you suggested is what I will have to do I think.

If the first network required authenticating via a webpage (e.g. network is open, but I need to sign in once on a webpage), would that be passed through to the second network I create?

If I'm reading this correctly the first network is unencrypted, correct? If that is the case, you probably want to send pretty much all the second networks traffic through a VPN.

RickD

280 posts

Ultimate Geek

#564068 3-Jan-2012 18:02

hashbrown:
RickD: Thanks, using a cable to connect to the external network is not possible so the two access point solution you suggested is what I will have to do I think.

If the first network required authenticating via a webpage (e.g. network is open, but I need to sign in once on a webpage), would that be passed through to the second network I create?

If I'm reading this correctly the first network is unencrypted, correct? If that is the case, you probably want to send pretty much all the second networks traffic through a VPN.

Yeah the first network is unencrypted, I do have a VPN account to use, so if I configure the VPN on the WiFi router, do you think the login page will still be passed through from the first network?

RickD

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#564079 3-Jan-2012 18:18

raytaylor: To elaborate...

You will need a simple access point that supports client mode, and then a standard broadband wifi router... not an adsl wifi router. It needs to have a network plug for a wan/internet port, not a telephone plug.

If you would like to send me a PM I have just the two perfect devices I can supply you with and preprogram them for you if you like.

Otherwise, if you want to find the broadband router and wifi ap with client mode yourself, then let me know the model numbers before you buy and ill double check if they will be compatible.

Thanks Ray, I'm trying to test this out on my PC tonight using 2 Wifi dongles (one to connect and one to create an ad hoc network) before deciding to get the hardware to run it.

richms

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#564147 3-Jan-2012 22:37

RickD:
hashbrown:
RickD: Thanks, using a cable to connect to the external network is not possible so the two access point solution you suggested is what I will have to do I think.

If the first network required authenticating via a webpage (e.g. network is open, but I need to sign in once on a webpage), would that be passed through to the second network I create?

If I'm reading this correctly the first network is unencrypted, correct? If that is the case, you probably want to send pretty much all the second networks traffic through a VPN.

Yeah the first network is unencrypted, I do have a VPN account to use, so if I configure the VPN on the WiFi router, do you think the login page will still be passed through from the first network?

No, it will not get passed thru, the non standardization of hotspot logins is something that has really annoyed me for ages, if you get a router that can do ddwrt or openwrt or one of the other many linuxes for routers you may beable to script something on it to automate the hotspot terms agreement, password entry or whatever the hell else they make you jump thru to make it work but when I last looked a few years back there wasnt anything that would automate it.

If you get a second router that can run one of the router linuxes then you could probably get some help from one of the forums that supports them. It must have been done before.

Richard rich.ms

RickD

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#566789 10-Jan-2012 10:38

So I got this working using two wifi adapters connected to my PC. One connects to network1 and the other I use to create a network to share network1 with my wireless devices (using the hostednetwork built into Windows7).

On my PC I connected to my VPN and shared the VPN connection through the hostednetwork feature, so all wireless devices that connected went out to the Internet through the VPN -- this worked fine.

So I want to replicate this using dedicated hardware and not having to configure the VPN on each device.

Is it possible to setup the VPN in a wireless router (i.e. put the VPN server and user/pass in the router) so all devices automatically connect through it? I played around with a dd-wrt demo and couldn't see anywhere so set this up -- I only found pass through settings which isn't what I want.

It would be something like this...

iPhone<--->wireless router (VPN)<--->AP in client mode<--->AP<--->Internet

Cheers

hashbrown

463 posts

Ultimate Geek

#566844 10-Jan-2012 12:00

Not sure what VPN you use but the instructions for StrongVPN are easy enough to find.

http://strongvpn.com/setup.shtml

dolsen

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#566857 10-Jan-2012 12:22

I've done something similar,
Have a look at this link.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Repeater_Bridge

For setting up the bridge part of this. Not sure about the vpn or access pages though.

RickD

280 posts

Ultimate Geek

#566862 10-Jan-2012 12:31

hashbrown: Not sure what VPN you use but the instructions for StrongVPN are easy enough to find.

http://strongvpn.com/setup.shtml

Thanks, yeah I eventually found the option to set it up on the dd-wrt demo after I posted that.