I need to 'rearrange' the internet connection on our boat. We used to have a connection via a 3G router with a Mobistar (Belgian) SIM in it and everything on the boat (two PCs, printer, VOIP base station) just plugged into the router. It was flakey at times because we didn't have a good signal, but it worked.
However we are now permanently in France and our long term mooring has WiFi available (whoopee!) This rather spoils my nice simple setup and I need some advice to work out how to rejig things.
The trouble is that neither the printer nor the VOIP base station can do WiFi so I need to have a switch at least to interconnect things. However even that isn't straightforward (at least not to me!).
What's needed is:-
Local (i.e. LAN) connection between PCs and printer, can be provided by a switch or router but needs to be routed correctly so PCs use the WiFi for everythng except the printer. At present I have to disconnect WiFi and connect wired LAN to print and then vice versa to use the internet.
I need to connect the VOIP base station (wired ethernet only) to the WiFi somehow so we can use the phone.
The ideal solution would be if I can persuade the 3G router (which does have wireless) to connect to the WiFi here and then provide hard wired services to PCs, printer and VOIP. Is this a normal sort of thing to be able to do? The router does have something about WiFi relay in 'Lazy', 'Bridged' and another mode, should I be looking at these?
On 25/09/11 16:39, Chris G wrote: The router does have something about WiFi relay in 'Lazy',
'Bridged' and another mode, should I be looking at these?
You want a router that is capable of "Wireless client mode" and then potentially something else to rebroadcast a private wlan (if you actually need wireless on your boat..I don't know how big it is)
If your current router cannot do this then be careful what you buy as some of the Wireless client routers only support one client as they are intended to wireless enable a single wired device like a games console.
However you can get around this if you get a wireless ethernet router and plug something capable of wireless client mode into it's WAN socket.
That would give you a private subnet that has a route to the internet.
There are also ways of doing this on a single bit of kit but not on any consumer grade kit I know of without using one of the open firmware projects on a supported router.
On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 04:52:00PM +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On 25/09/11 16:39, Chris G wrote: The router does have something about WiFi relay in 'Lazy',
'Bridged' and another mode, should I be looking at these?
You want a router that is capable of "Wireless client mode" and then potentially something else to rebroadcast a private wlan (if you actually need wireless on your boat..I don't know how big it is)
No, we don't really need wireless on the boat. Just a 'wired hub' that can use the WiFi outside.
If your current router cannot do this then be careful what you buy as some of the Wireless client routers only support one client as they are intended to wireless enable a single wired device like a games console.
OK, thanks. I have a couple of routers back home that might fill the bill, I just wanted to be sure that what I want is at least possible.
However you can get around this if you get a wireless ethernet router and plug something capable of wireless client mode into it's WAN socket.
That would give you a private subnet that has a route to the internet.
There are also ways of doing this on a single bit of kit but not on any consumer grade kit I know of without using one of the open firmware projects on a supported router.
Thanks for all the info, it's not desperately urgent, just needs to be done to get settled here. It's so much better already actually having a relatively fast and reliable internet connection (the WiFi as opposed to the flakey 3G we had in Belgium).
Am I maybe making this more complicated than I need to?
If I allow my PC to connect to the WiFi, note what the subnet is and then simply set up a different subnet for use on the boat I should be OK shouldn't I? If I turn everything off on the router (Wireless, 3G, etc) and just use it as a switch for the LAN then everything should talk OK.
The WiFi gives my PC a 192.168.1.x address. So I can set up my lan to use, say, 192.168.13.xxx. The printer should 'just work' as all it has to do is communicate with other devices on the LAN. I can tell the VOIP box that its default route is my PC (the 192.168.13.x address) and it should then be able to see the outside world shouldn't it?
On 26/09/11 07:14, Chris G wrote:
The WiFi gives my PC a 192.168.1.x address. So I can set up my lan to use, say, 192.168.13.xxx. The printer should 'just work' as all it has to do is communicate with other devices on the LAN. I can tell the VOIP box that its default route is my PC (the 192.168.13.x address) and it should then be able to see the outside world shouldn't it?
Yes you can make that work, you'd have to turn on IP Masquerade on the PC so that it could route traffic between the subnets and then perhaps run local dhcp/dns and of course set up iptables as well.
Then the only disadvantage you have is that other devices on the network such as the VOIP box can only see the internet when the PC is powered up. I know from friends boats that shore power can be expensive at some moorings/marina's so maybe this is a problem. Although maybe you are on unmetered shorepower somewhere and don't care :)
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 08:44:28AM +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On 26/09/11 07:14, Chris G wrote:
The WiFi gives my PC a 192.168.1.x address. So I can set up my lan to use, say, 192.168.13.xxx. The printer should 'just work' as all it has to do is communicate with other devices on the LAN. I can tell the VOIP box that its default route is my PC (the 192.168.13.x address) and it should then be able to see the outside world shouldn't it?
Yes you can make that work, you'd have to turn on IP Masquerade on the PC so that it could route traffic between the subnets and then perhaps run local dhcp/dns and of course set up iptables as well.
I'm playing with it at the moment, rather unsuccessfully! :-)
The problem is that I can't get the wired LAN connection up without it taking over all the routing settings for the WiFi. I've tried setting the connection to 'Manual' in the network manager but it won't let me save when I do that. I'll persever.
Then the only disadvantage you have is that other devices on the network such as the VOIP box can only see the internet when the PC is powered up. I know from friends boats that shore power can be expensive at some moorings/marina's so maybe this is a problem. Although maybe you are on unmetered shorepower somewhere and don't care :)
Shore power is limited but unmetered so running PCs etc. isn't an issue. I even have a little old eeePc that I could dedicate to the task once I have worked out how to do it. Then the configuration can just live in the eeePc and not affect anything else.
On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 04:39:25PM +0100, Chris G wrote:
The ideal solution would be if I can persuade the 3G router (which does have wireless) to connect to the WiFi here and then provide hard wired services to PCs, printer and VOIP. Is this a normal sort of thing to be able to do? The router does have something about WiFi relay in 'Lazy', 'Bridged' and another mode, should I be looking at these?
Correct me if I'm wrong but... won't you want to carry on using the 3g router all the time? You'd want it in some kind of wifi client mode at your mooring and then to fallback to 3g. I'm just thinking you don't want to have to reconfigure everything every time you go and sail the boat down the river do you? :)
(what might be really helpful here is the make/model of this router)
Adam
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 09:09:56AM +0100, Adam Bower wrote:
On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 04:39:25PM +0100, Chris G wrote:
The ideal solution would be if I can persuade the 3G router (which does have wireless) to connect to the WiFi here and then provide hard wired services to PCs, printer and VOIP. Is this a normal sort of thing to be able to do? The router does have something about WiFi relay in 'Lazy', 'Bridged' and another mode, should I be looking at these?
Correct me if I'm wrong but... won't you want to carry on using the 3g router all the time? You'd want it in some kind of wifi client mode at your mooring and then to fallback to 3g. I'm just thinking you don't want to have to reconfigure everything every time you go and sail the boat down the river do you? :)
(what might be really helpful here is the make/model of this router)
Yes, you are correct, but it wouldn't be a big problem turning the WiFi off completely and turning the 3G on as required. We don't use the 3G router's WiFi at all so it can be dedicated to being a client. It has a web interface so a quick 'WiFi off/3G On' switchover would be easy enough.
The 3G router is a Solwise 434T "Super 3G router", one of the few I could find which accepts a SIM directly rather than using a USB dongle.
I have a couple of spare routers at home so if I can't get things to work with this one I can try them. One is a Speedtouch (I think) and the other I can't remember exactly what it is.
I'm happy to buy something if there's a ready made box out there to do exactly what I want, as long as it's not a silly price of course.
On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 10:05:35AM +0100, Chris G wrote:
I'm happy to buy something if there's a ready made box out there to do exactly what I want, as long as it's not a silly price of course.
... and once I had discovered that what I need (I hope!) is a "Wireless Access Point" I ordered one of these at a knockdown price from eBuyer:-
Tenda Wireless-N150 Access Point / Router / Extender
It seems to be exactly what I need and at £15 or so it's not worth faffing about trying to be clever.
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Adam Bower -
Chris G -
Wayne Stallwood