Campground WiFi bridge

[redhat]

My dad goes "camping" and takes his netbook with him. A lot of the places have free WiFi. I'm looking to see if anyone can recommend a certain device for me.

What I'd like for him to have is some sort of wireless bridge/extender for him to use when he is camping. I just don't like the though of his laptop/iPhone/any other wireless device of ours on a public campground WiFi. My main goal would be to keep this device inside of our 5th wheel at all times. It would have to be able to connect to an existing WiFi network (as it's WAN, campground WiFi), then handle DHCP and re-broadcast it's own SSID. A plus would be for it to have a built in 4-port switch, but that isn't a necessity. I'd also like to make it so that he can keep his laptop connected to this access point and be able to log into it and easily change the host/WAN SSID it's connecting to.

Anyone have any recommendations/ideas? I know I can do this easily with a WRT54G and DDWRT but I'd like to make this easy for him.

 

[crazyoildude]

probably wont be so secure..

 

[Quattro Pete]

Quote:
I just don't like the though of his laptop/iPhone/any other wireless device of ours on a public campground WiFi.

If this "device" would be connected to a public wifi, then how would that be any safer?

 

[Brybo86]

it isn't any safer, I would recommend ddwrt and just write out some simple directions,
why the need to change ssid so often?

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Quote:
I just don't like the though of his laptop/iPhone/any other wireless device of ours on a public campground WiFi.

If this "device" would be connected to a public wifi, then how would that be any safer?


Laptop and our other devices wouldn't be on the same network as every other wireless guest. For example, I want to treat the public WiFi as if it is an ISP. You wouldn't want your computer connected straight to your cable modem, would you?

Who knows, Joe Blow could be there port scanning each and every node he can find.

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
it isn't any safer, I would recommend ddwrt and just write out some simple directions,
why the need to change ssid so often?


Different places have different public wireless networks. The SSID for our use will never change but the SSID of the public WiFi networks will.

 

[dishdude]

Just pick up a $199 Chromebook and browse as a guest. Don't log into any of your accounts. Perfect for checking news, directions and finding local restaurant or points of interest. The battery will last 8-10 hours.

 

[javacontour]

What you are describing is NOT a bridge. A bridge means you are in the same broadcast domain. You are describing a router. You want two separate broadcast domains.

A bridge will not do what you desire. If a router can participate on two wireless networks, then you can do what you are trying to do.

I personally don't know of any wireless routers that do this. Not saying it's not possible. Just saying I don't know any that do.

You could dedicate an old laptop to do this. It connects wirelessly to the camp wifi and then uses it's NIC to provide the WAN connection for your family router.

I guess you could do the same with two wifi routers. One acts as a wireless bridge, connecting to the camp wifi, the other connects it's WAN port to the bridged router.

Unless DD-WRT does this out of the box, I'm thinking you need two routers for the security you desire.

Originally Posted By: redhat
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Quote:
I just don't like the though of his laptop/iPhone/any other wireless device of ours on a public campground WiFi.

If this "device" would be connected to a public wifi, then how would that be any safer?


Laptop and our other devices wouldn't be on the same network as every other wireless guest. For example, I want to treat the public WiFi as if it is an ISP. You wouldn't want your computer connected straight to your cable modem, would you?

Who knows, Joe Blow could be there port scanning each and every node he can find.

 

[OVERKILL]

Java is correct.

Also, even if you setup an AP as a bridge and have it connect to the WAN port of another router to perform NAT and provide you with "secure" WiFi, the data being transmitted over the bridge is still insecure and could be sniffed, as there is no encryption taking place.

If you want it to be secure, setup a VPN that terminates at some other location and he can tunnel through that utilizing the "secured" WiFi setup. This would allow peering behind the masqueraded network in a secure environment (his devices), and leveraging the VPN would prevent his browsing activities from being viewed on the campground's wireless.

 

[redhat]

I think I may end up making my old Tele3SP a member of the camper that'll phone home to my TZ180.

 

[The_Jeff]

You most likely do not want DHCP turned on.

If the campground gives him or his router a 192.168.x.x address it's already from the campground DHCP server and his 2nd DHCP server would "break stuff" and cause confusion throughout the campground if not his camper.

Turn off file & printer sharing, have some sort of firewall covering all ports, should be good to go. Don't bring your tax returns etc on the "cruising laptop" and remember the physical security of the laptop itself is also important. Hackers like to hijack browsers more than tunneling into one's C drive, IMO.

 

[surtec]

Suggest looking at a Zuni Connect. I use it all over the world. Connects with other WiFi systems and then brodcasts it own ssid address.
may answer your question

 

[javacontour]

I believe I understand the objective. He wants a reasonably secure network inside the camper so he can share files, without others in the campground "seeing" his network.

I also understand the concerns others raise. Connecting to a public WiFi provides no encryption along the public route.

That's a bit less secure than a secure connection. At some point, any of your traffic is on a shared, public network. I'm not sure I would lose sleep worrying about the traffic that traverses the public WiFi because you should be using https for any thing critical such as banking, brokerage, email, etc.

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
I believe I understand the objective. He wants a reasonably secure network inside the camper so he can share files, without others in the campground "seeing" his network.

I also understand the concerns others raise. Connecting to a public WiFi provides no encryption along the public route.

That's a bit less secure than a secure connection. At some point, any of your traffic is on a shared, public network. I'm not sure I would lose sleep worrying about the traffic that traverses the public WiFi because you should be using https for any thing critical such as banking, brokerage, email, etc.


Yes, this is my exact goal. Perhaps I'm horrible at explaining things.

I looked into some products, the Zuni Connect being one of them.

I bought off of Amazon this TP-Link Router which will operate in WISP mode which is essentially what I'd like to do.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UBU8IE/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We'll see how it works.

 

[javacontour]

Should be easy to test if this accomplishes your goals. Set up some computers on the RV network and one machine on the "campground" network. See if the "campground" network company can ping the RV network machines. You can do this at home, using your home wifi to fill in as the campground network for this test.

 

[wander2039]

Way back when I worked at the WISP (alot has changed since then) we use a bridge device. DLink was one. Setup the IP and channel and just hook it to the user's router or PC. Something similar is below but we had a separate antenna. As far as ease of use if the router is setup right shouldn't be to bad. Probably ought to get something setup for our RV also.. someday!

http://www.ispsupplies.com/categories/2GHz-CPE-AP-Bridge/Ubiquiti-Wireless-AirRouter.html