Tell me about wireless ethernet bridges. Want home network to pull internet from hotspot - SUCCESS

[danpass]

I have a T-Mobile dedicated hotspot. I have this for backup to main home internet since I work from home.

When hurricanes have taken out internet before I knew I would have to individually connect computers and other items to the hotspot.

I knew it would be kludgy.

What I’d like to do is have my home router/network grab that hotspot signal for internet …. and then wifi that signal out into the house.

This way all the home stuff can stay on the one network instead of me having to individually link them to the hotspot network.

Now I think I have found a solution, in the form of this mythical "wireless ethernet bridge", and looking for input on what equipment to use with the following:

- Apple Airport Extreme providing the home network, both wired and wireless. Service comes into the house on fiberoptic.
- T-Mobile hotspot device (also have iPhone hotspot available)

I have another Apple Extreme laying around but apparently only an Apple EXPRESS will do this wireless ethernet bridge function.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

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UPDATE:

Success. The Apple Express will 'Join Network' (ie: the hotspot) and output that hotspot signal over ethernet to another router.

Primary mission achieved.

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Challenge:

I have to run that second router in Bridge Mode. This means (I THINK .....) that devices that connect to the second router over wifi are getting their [MYSTERY] from the hotspot. Are they getting DHCP? NAT? What are they getting?

What I would like to do is:

- Hotspot provides internet, nothing else, no router function, nothing
- Airport Express wirelessly bridges that internet to ethernet (LAN out)
- Have the second router (WAN in) do all the assignments out to the network. When I set this second router to bridge mode everything is ok. When I set it to DHCP/NAT then a double-NAT error comes up.

Here are some of the available fields in the hotspot:

 

[danpass]

A $25 Airport Express from ebay has tempted me to try it with that unit lol.

Plus I can see it easily in Airport Utility.

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[Bigwaff]

I have a T-Mobile dedicated hotspot.

Which hotspot device do you have? Because the MiFi X PRO 5G has an ethernet port.

 

[VintageMacGS]

A $25 Airport Express from ebay has tempted me to try it with that unit lol.

Plus I can see it easily in Airport Utility.

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This article mentions using a travel router and is similar to what you're trying to accomplish. I have the TP Link unit mentioned in the article and it works well. The Airport Express should do the same thing but I've only used those for AirPlay.

Can an iPhone’s Personal Hotspot feature connect to a Wi-Fi network?

A reader has wonky Wi-Fi in their laptop, and finds Personal Hotspot isnu2019t helping, either.

www.macworld.com

 

[danpass]

Which hotspot device do you have? Because the MiFi X PRO 5G has an ethernet port.

hmmmm … tempting. edit: the reviews are atrocious lol, both verizon and tmobile

I have an older T-Mobile Franklin T10

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[Grumpus]

If I've understood, you're looking for automatic WAN failover from your fiber connection to cellular. If that's correct, then the GL.iNet GL-X3000 would probably work for you. It's a little pricey, even with the $120 coupon. Dave's Garage did a video on it a while back.

I use a GL-AXT1800 to connect to my apartment building's 5 GHz community wireless on the WAN side, translating to my own private 2.5 GHz WLAN (i.e., in repeater mode). It works very well, and although it's also capable of automatic WAN failover, it's more limited in connection choices than the GL-X3000.

You can find documentation for these things at GL.iNet.

 

[danpass]

Thanks, original post updated.

 

[danpass]

OP updated

Mostly successful. Looking for a solution to avoid bridging second router while avoiding double NAT

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[Bigwaff]

I have to run that second router in Bridge Mode. This means (I THINK .....) that devices that connect to the second router over wifi are getting their [MYSTERY] from the hotspot. Are they getting DHCP? NAT? What are they getting?

Second router in bridge mode, devices IP addresses supplied by the AE DHCP server.

 

[danpass]

even though the AE is passing the internet connection?

 

[Bigwaff]

even though the AE is passing the internet connection?

AE is your Wi-Fi router, supplying devices with DHCP IP addresses. Second router in bridge mode is extending AE Wi-Fi network.

 

[danpass]

That seems odd. I thought the way it would work is the AE grabs the hotspot signal and passes it through to the second router (by ethernet cable)

Essentially the second router sees the hotspot and AE as “the internet”, same as what would come from a Comcast modem into the WAN port of a router.

My Apple Extreme is the home network and assigns IPs.

I’m trying to understand why that isn’t the case.

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[VintageMacGS]

That seems odd. I thought the way it would work is the AE grabs the hotspot signal and passes it through to the second router (by ethernet cable)

Essentially the second router sees the hotspot and AE as “the internet”, same as what would come from a Comcast modem into the WAN port of a router.

My Apple Extreme is the home network and assigns IPs.

I’m trying to understand why that isn’t the case.

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The TP Link 802n model that was in the MacWorld article should work. It has five modes. I don't know if the Airport Express has the same ones but I don't think so. Maybe the Extreme does.

From the TP Link manual:

TL-WR802N V4 User Guide | TP-Link

TL-WR802N V4 User Guide - About This Guide

www.tp-link.com

The one you need is WISP which is a repeater mode that takes the wireless internet from something like your hotspot or an iPhone and connects to your main router through ethernet. I think this is what you're trying to accomplish. As I said before, I've only used the Airport Express for AirPlay.