[Q] Wifi Tether and DDWRT for a complete home network - General Questions and Answers

OK, my wife and I each have Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3's. We both have Wifi Tether TrevE mod installed and working and we also have a linksys router running DD-WRT.
I have wanted for a long time to create a stable home network with the router using our phones for internet. Reason being, We both have laptops that need access to our WiFi networked printer. And I also wanted to create a networked storage.
I started out trying to use the Router as a repeater bridge. The problem here is that in that mode there is no DHCP server in the router, so when you turn off WiFi Tether in the phone, there is no IP assignment taking place since it is handled by the phone. This is ok for the printer because we can set a static IP, but not ok for the laptops because they need to have auto ip assignment for all the other networks they might encounter. Plus I'd like to be able to have a friend come over and use the printer if need be without having to change his IP address. So this setup is unstable.
Then I tried the Router in Repeater mode. In this mode IP addresses are being assigned and everyone can see everyone else on the network. The problem here though, is that the Router and all connecting devices have to be in a separate subnet than the WiFi Tethering phone, i.e, Tethered Phone on 192.168.1.x and Router on 192.168.2.x (as far as I can tell anyway, I've tried putting them on the same subnet but fail to get internet access.) It's a problem because I have Samba Filesharing installed on the phones and the tethered phone is in a different subnet and not visible on the network. I want all devices visible.
So that's kind of where I am now, Wifi Tether on both phones (each setup with same settings so either phone can be used as our internet gateway) but they are on a separate subnet from the rest of the network while tethering.
How do I get all of my devices to be visible on the network?
Do I need a different setup in DD-WRT?
Currently it is setup in Gateway mode with DHCP server and wireless is in repeater mode with a VLAN setup with a different SSID from the WiFi tethered phone.
Do I need to usb tether the phone to the router? I have a usb port on the router but I've not found good instructions for getting the phones internet through to the router that way and I'm not sure that I would want it that way since I wouldn't be able to walk around with my phone.
Is there a way to make devices in different subnets visible to each other? Some kind of bridging or static routing or something?
Is it possible to have the phone connect to the router in a normal manner and for the router to then share the phones internet connection with the rest of the network? Then at least the router could run DHCP and be stable even without the phones.
Again, just to clarify, I want a home network with devices connecting to my WiFi router running DD-WRT and internet being provided by one of our phones, but with the network remaining intact when the internet provided phone is removed. Thanks for your help.
Bonus questions:
Is it possible to harness the power of both of our phones internet connections into one network by any means possible?
Are there any other wifi/tethering apps or another version of WiFi Tether that offer more features or the functionality of DD-WRT?

did you see this?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1548844

pbmurdoc said:
did you see this?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1548844
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Not much new there other than Barnacle. Didn't know about it, tried it, doesn't work on my phone. I would like to see a version of WiFi Tether with some more options though, why couldn't we have one with the same options as DD-WRT?
I did some more reading and I think what I need to do is link the subnet created by the router to the primary router (the phone serving Wifi Tether) through static routing. Unfortunately the static route needs to be done through the primary router and WiFi Tether doesn't include features like that.
I'll do some more experimenting and see what happens.

[A] Cellular Phone/USB Modem As WAN Connection
Answer is in the DD-WRT Wiki, here (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Cellular_Phone/USB_Modem_as_WAN_connection).
Or just google "DD-WRT Cellular Phone/USB Modem As WAN Connection", it should be the #1 result.
Their WIKI is a great resource.
Good luck!
EDIT:
In retrospect, I am unsure about linking to the DD-WRT site... external and all. If this is a no-no just let me know and I will delete the link.

DD-WRT Client Bridge worked for me
I was able to do what you're trying to do by configuring my DD-WRT router as a Client Bridge.
I can't post the link, but there are directions I followed exactly on the DD-WRT wiki in the section:
DD-WRT wiki mainpage / Linking Routers / Client Bridged
I'm connecting my router to the tether via wifi, and connecting my wired devices to the router. I haven't had it working long, but so far it has been great.

Got it, sort of
Just to update this thread. The client bridge is a great way to connect a wired network to the bridge but loses out on creating a stable wi-fi network when the phone tether is turned off.
Anyway, the final setup I managed was having the DD-WRT router set as a wireless repeater with a computer connected to it running a DHCP server. The computer takes care of the IP addreses so that we have a stable wired/wi-fi intranet when the phone is not sharing it's internet connection.

Update: I founde another solution/project based on OpenWRT
http://ofmodemsandmen.com/
my exploits using a Linksys E3000 have been documented here:
http://tweakedrom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7
I kind of like the USB tether thing. The E3000 Router USB power charges and maintains my SCH-i605 (Verizon Samsung GN2) running CM12.1. I use this as a backup connection or in the event of main cable modem service disruption at the house. It is also great for traveling (hotels) or camping (car 12v adapter for router, or power inverter)

I just bought a used Asus RT-N66U router. Out of the box it supports USB tethering with android phones and dual WANs for failover/load balancing. ROOter also works, tested the x86 build on an old PC. I'm looking to cut out my ISP completely and just use 4G from the phone for internet. The issue I have run into is that I can't appear to do DDNS or port forwarding. My wireless carrier (verizon) appears to be employing a double NAT. If I perform a speedtest on the ookla app, I get 2 IP addresses in the results, an "internal" and an "external". Both are in the public range but I can't DDNS in with either of the IPs, nor can I get any kind of service working.
Anyone have a solution for this? I'm not 100% sure but I wonder if using the SIM card in a dedicated USB 4G modem (not tethering via the phone) would get me a direct IP? I suppose I could also sign up for a VPN service and run OpenVPN on the router but that'd cut down on speeds I think. I've also heard about punching holes for ports but I'm not 100% sure how that works, I assume I still need some 3rd party public IP for relaying or something.

Related

Is it possible to mns to wireless router via xp computer

been messing with it all day, i'm sure i am doing something wrong googled the hell out of it though.
ok here is what i am trying to do, I just bought a Acer Nettop running XP i installed the HTC drivers on it MNS is working great. i would like to hook up my wireless router to the Ethernet port to share the internet connection with the rest of my gadgets.
any help would be appreciated.
smittycg said:
been messing with it all day, i'm sure i am doing something wrong googled the hell out of it though.
ok here is what i am trying to do, I just bought a Acer Nettop running XP i installed the HTC drivers on it MNS is working great. i would like to hook up my wireless router to the Ethernet port to share the internet connection with the rest of my gadgets.
any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't use Wireless Tether and everything can pull internet from the phone without the need of a router?
Bridge the connections in network connections or use ICS
morbidpete said:
Bridge the connections in network connections or use ICS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tried both of those, the bridge would connect, but no internet, ics didn't work either, i am pretty tired though probably missing something simple.
WIFI tether is cool and all but i want to use it full time with a dedicated phone and be able to use my wireless printer
I've never been able to get to work if you do post Back with what you did. I think the issue is up addresses, you may have to setup the router gateway address as the pcs ip or even the phones ip... Im not a networking guru though
Kcarpenter said:
I've never been able to get to work if you do post Back with what you did. I think the issue is up addresses, you may have to setup the router gateway address as the pcs ip or even the phones ip... Im not a networking guru though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be honest i was hoping someone had done it and could tell me how easy it was. while trying to get it to work today i was just clicking around, tomorrow i'll go about if more scientifically and post all the stuff i'm doing wrong.
I can't see any reason off the top of my head why ICS wouldn't work.
So, let me see if I have this straight. Your phone is connected to your PC via USB. Your access point is connected to the PC via ethernet. And you want other devices to connect over wifi and have Internet access. That about right?
Try this... Assign the ethernet port on your PC a static IP address of 192.168.1.1. Connect that to the "Internet" port on your access point, and assign that port an IP address of 192.168.1.2. In the wireless setup on your access point, assign the wireless side the static ip address 192.168.2.1 and tell it to act as a dhcp server, and hand out addresses from 192.168.2.100 to 192.168.2.200. Netmask in all cases will be 255.255.255.0. For dns go ahead and use 208.67.222.222 unless you have another dns service that you prefer.
The router should be configured to use 192.168.1.1 as its default gateway. The wireless devices should be set to use 192.168.2.1 as their default gateway.
This *should* work. Different accesss points can be finicky in various ways, but I really don't see why the setup I've outlined wouldn't work....

Wifi proxy suddenly works on Android

Okay folks got a bit of a strage development that I could use some help with.
As we all know, Android does not currently support Wifi proxy servers, at least it has no way to access the settings. I live on campus and the wifi is piped through a proxy server to the internet and I found the lack of wireless to be quite annoying (especially the hole it was burning in my pocket!)
Anyway, I had bought a wireless router to have internet all around my apartment. The network is hidden and my HTC Desire wasn't connecting to it. I eventually found out that this was because the network was braodcasting in mixed b/g/n mode. I changed it to b/g only and the phone connected.
I hadn't really expected it to connect to the internet because there was still no proxy set up but to my surprise it did! I checked my data counters and only the Wifi one was going up. The network my router is connected to uses the same proxy as the campus wireless so there is definately a proxy.
An even stranger development is the fact that since then, when I connect directly to the campus wireless network (not to my router) the internet still works. I keep checking the data counters and its not using up any 3G data. I checked my IP address online and it corresponds to the campus IP address. I also switched off the wifi and checked again and the IP changed to my cell provider.
I haven't tried connecting to a different wireless network since then and I didn't change any settings. I'm using an unrooted HTC Desire with stock ROMs. I had downloaded WifiAce but I since removed that and the proxy still works.
So what I'm wondering is, can anybody confirm this or give any thoughts on how this is working? Does anyone also know if the data counters available on the market acurately track data usage or do they simply assume that if the wifi is connected that the phone is downloading via wireless and not cell.
If anyone has any thoughts on this or could go out of their way to try and confirm it I'd be grateful.
(update) I found that it doesn't work on one of the networks, the oldest one on campus. Not sure why this is yet
You are correct. I found out this a long time ago. It also happens with some wireless MAC Laptops. You have to define the broadcasting channel.
Stupid Question, I'm Sure...
Omnichron said:
You are correct. I found out this a long time ago. It also happens with some wireless MAC Laptops. You have to define the broadcasting channel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you could explain what "defining the broadcasting channel" means...in case I occasion similar difficulties joining a public wifi network?
It's a dumb question, I'm sure...but I've never actually owned a router.
Between my dearly-departed, slightly hacked XV6800, followed by Tetherberry on my 9530...Wireless Tether on my CM7 Droid (only in a pinch) and the Clear Wireless dongle on my laptop (shared via Connectify), I think I'm missing several years of typical AP experience.

IP address when sharing internet with laptop

I use need to use my phone to get my laptop online a lot. I had the Epic for two years, and rooted that so I could use the wireless tether. I have not rooted my Q LTE yet. Most of the time I don't care how the connection sets up my IP. However, I do have times when I need my laptop to be online and on a wired network connection simultaneously. When I tried to do that recently using Easy Tether, I kicked my IP for the laptop out of the 192.168.1.X range that I needs for the wired network. Anyone have advice on an app that will not bump my IP outside that? I tried FoxFi and can't get that to even work right (heard something about a known bug).

[Q] Long-range Wifi repeater with auto hotspot authentication?

Hi All,
At this point, I'm just brainstorming, and would like some input. (I hope this thread is in the right place)
I'm trying to find a setup to connect to free wifi hotspots that are far away, and share that connection to a group of devices locally. For example, this solution may be useful in a boat or an RV, when you're not particularly close to a free access point.
There are commercial solutions like the Rogue Wave however, this doesn't do anything to authenticate through the Terms of Service (TOS) pages that are frequently used at free access points.
This is what brings me to using Android. There are Android apps which automate the process of accepting the terms of service. My favorite right now is WebWifiLogin (I'm familiar with the security risks involved in using public wifi; and may also have the Android device to also establish a VPN connection when doing this.) (I can't find an equivalent macro-authentication solution that will run on a PC, which would make this much easier.)
So here's my proposed solution:
1. Start with a powerful omnidirectional wifi antenna (Possibly add an in-line amp if needed. Also perhaps a directional antenna may be better for non-mobile use.)
2. Connect the antenna to any Android device that supports an external Wifi antenna. I found several Android TV devices which should work. Like This, or possibly this.
3. Set up some kind of local access point/bridge. One option may be to use fqrouter2 which supposedly uses the same Wifi radio for the local WLAN, while it also connects to the remote one. Another option may be to USB or Ethernet tether to a DD-WRT Router.
Result:
The Android device has a range to connect to a free hotspot up to a mile or two away, then automatically accepts the TOS using the WebWifiLogin app, and shares that connection locally to a handful of devices.
So am I crazy? Is this too complex to work correctly? Is there a simpler solution that I'm missing?
Can anyone confirm whether I've posted this in the correct sub-forum?
Thanks.
I use a slightly different method which yields the same results.
I have a Linksys WRT54GL router (with high gain antennas) which runs DD-WRT and a script called AutoAP. The script scans for unencrypted WIFI access points, makes sure they're live, and automatically connects to the strongest one in range.
I set up a second WPA2 encrypted WIFI SSID in the router which I connect to with my Android tablet. Once WebWifiLogin on the tablet handles the TOS login, the remote access point allows web access for any device that connects to the WRT54GL router (either by WIFI to the secondary SSID or through one of the ports)! This happens because the remote access point usually checks/remembers TOS acceptance by the MAC address of the connected device. Since it only sees the MAC address of my router, anything behind the router now gets access.
ssenemosewa said:
Once WebWifiLogin on the tablet handles the TOS login, the remote access point allows web access for any device that connects to the WRT54GL router
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is great information; thanks!
I would not have thought WebWifiLogin would work when connecting through another router. When WebWifiLogin is running, its status says "Listening for WiFi events" (Or something similar) so I was under the impression that WebWifiLogin would only work if the connection to the AP is made directly by the Android WiFi interface, and not through a intermediary router.
This makes things much easier.

[GUIDE][NO ROOT] How to use tethering for home network

Hello everyone! Here's a nice little guide on how to tether your phone and use that ability to power a home internet network. I have done tons of trial and error to get this working with bits and pieces from numerous forums and google research. This has been working flawlessly for me and it's a "set it and forget it solution".
The reason why I wanted to do this is because I live in a rural area with no high speed ISP. My only option was to use a data capped satellite ISP that is extremely limited in ability and expensive. Without further ado my guide to achieve an unlimited, data cap free, tethered home network.
What you need:
Android phone you're willing to dedicate for full time use
Computer with windows and LAN port you're willing to dedicate for full time use
Wireless Router
A nice USB cord for your phone
A nice CAT cable
1) First thing to do is look around for an unlimited data (4glte preferred, no tethering plan needed) cellular plan. I know there are a few out there but I decided on MetroPCS due to the coverage I get and the price ($60 a month, no contract). I opted for just a sim card as I had an android phone laying around.
2) Make sure your android is unlocked if it's not on the same network you are trying to use. My phone was tied to AT&T and I had to call them to unlock it. Most carrier will do this if the phone in good standing. Meaning paid off. Or root it.
3) We will need to find out where your equipment will sit to receive the best speeds. I recommend putting your phone in "field test mode" and walk around the house. The lower number the better. I also ran a speed test in certain locations to give me a rough idea of what speeds I would be getting. If you are really serious about this set up there is equipment out there to boost cell signal in your house. I like WeBoost.
4) Download your tethering application. I have tried multiple apps but only one worked perfectly but with different hardware you might have other results. Clockworkmod Tether ($4.99) and PDAnet+ ($7.95) worked alright but I had issues with it talking to my router and clients so disconnects where frequent and frustrating. I ultimately went for EasyTether ($9.99) and it has been working fantastic. Mind you when using Clockwork and PDAnet I would be getting a DL speed of 6Mbs when my phone was 13Mbs. I don't know what would cause that but with EasyTether I am getting speeds very similar to my phone with no speed loss.
5) All three tethering applications require you to install a sister program on your computer to work. So install that on your "slave" machine. They are all about the same process, install an .exe and drivers for your phone.
6) Test that everything is working. The tethering application will have instructions on how to USB tether your phone. We need to check that it will give your slave machine an internet connection. Simply open a web browser and see if it is working.
7) Great! Now your are connected and able to surf the web! But wouldn't it be great if you could use this on all your devices? This is where the router comes in play.
8) Now I don't know what router you are using but mine is an ASUS RT-N56U and the principle should be the same. Plug your router into power and reset it with the button on the back (10 seconds). Unplug from power. Connect the CAT cable to the WAN port of the router (the one that usually connects a modem to the router) and the other end to the LAN port of your slave machine. Plug power to the router and allow it to boot up. Now on your slave machine go to Network and Sharing Center, View status on the tether connection, properties, sharing, check Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection, select the Home networking connection as the router. With everything done correctly you should be getting an internet connection to the router.
9) Now this is all fine and dandy but there are some settings in the router you can configure to make it more reliable. Our cases could be different but this is what has worked for me. I'm no networking genius by any means so my setting could not mean anything. In my experience things would work for a few mins but streaming to chromecast or connecting a mac to wireless mysteriously cut all connection. So here are my settings.
Disable MAC Filter
Disable Wireless Scheduler
Enable IGMP Snooping
Enable DHCP Server
Disable DHCP Routes
Disable Multicast routing (IGMP Proxy)
WAN Connection Type-Automatic IP
Enable UPnP
Connect to DNS Server automatically-NO
DNS Server1 8.8.8.8
DNS Server2 8.8.4.4
Everything else is default
I don't know about the NAT for all you gamers out there but I am sure there is some router configuration you can do. If anyone has ideas on how to achieve this please chime in.
10) Congratulations! You have now set up a home network with your phone and can use it like any other ISP. If you experience any issue with this process let me know and I will get back to you with an answer. I have had to do a lot of trouble shooting to get to this point.

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