Wifi router/AP that can connect to internet through Senao bridge

[brick]

Hi,

I currently get internet at home through twk.co.za using a Senao bridge + yagi that lets me connect to a twk.co.za AP in a flat building a few blocks away. Can I use a Linksys wrt54g or similar to connect through the Senao to the twk hotspot and then share it over the wrt54g's wifi in my home? If I can get something that I can connect a USB mass storage device to and share over the network I'd be even happier... Thinking of a HDD in an USB enclosure, and I have a NAS on the cheap...

If you're wondering why I have the Senao... It was installed as CPE in a previous life (before my studies took a year longer and I had to move into a closet to save money) when I used snowball.co.za. Currently I connect the Senao to my desktop PC's ethernet, and then share internet from the twk hotspot to my laptop trough an old PCI wifi card that someone gave to me. There is a reason they gave it away, and that is that it sucks (30s dropouts every couple of minutes for no reason, incredibly weak signal/range). So I'd like to get a wifi router/AP to replace it with.

Thanks
Neilen

 

[portcullis]

One of our competition was recently sold. They used this type of technology a lot. The new owners aren't doing a great job of supporting the old clients and the clients have started walking. I'm uninstalling connections like yours on an almost daily basis and replacing them with Nanostations or RB411s.

You are probably using a PPPOE connection from your pc to your WISP's RADIUS server.
Your WISP then allocates you an IP address on their network once you've been authenticated.

I'm not going to criticise your WISP's network layout, but let's just say that there are better ways of connecting clients.

You could put the Linksys between yourself and the Senao, but then you will have to set up your PPPOE connection details on each machine. Your WISP may or may not allow for multiple logins.

Your next option would be to get your hands on a PIII, Celeron or old P4 and to load pfSense onto it. Augi in Strand does very reasonably priced older machines. You'd then connect the WAN card on pfSense box to the Senao and the LAN card of the pfSense box to the Linksys. The pfSense box will handle the PPPOE side of things meaning you can have as many machines on your side of the connection as the connection would allow.

The third option is to replace the Senao with a Nanostation, Bullet or RB411 (I think your cheapest option would be the Bullet) and to let that machine do the PPPOE. Connect that machine directly to the Linksys and connect all your devices to the Linksys.

Are you on the Somerset West or Stellenbosch side of Helderberg? There are options that are better and cheaper than your current WISP

Last thing: Look at FreeNAS. I'm using that at home and it's brilliant.

 

[brick]

You're right about the past

Hi Portullis

You're right about my old setup, (PPPOE etc), but that was years ago. AFAIK the wisp themself started converting ppl over to a setup like the one you mentioned, but I was about to move out of my flat, so didn't bother. I haven't had regular internet at home for almost 2 years since.

Right now I'm using twk simply because it requires zero installation (I get very good signal even indoors, at least if I use the Senao), and I use < 500 MB a month, so they actually work out pretty cheap for me. Currently I'm not using PPOE. The twk connection is a simple hotspot type set up for a neighboring flat building, i.e. like you'd find in a coffee shop, and not a highsite. It's a coincidence that I can pick up the signal, they were surprised themselves when I told them I could use it

I set up the Senao in "point to multipoint" mode to look for the 'twk-hotspot' SSID, and then on my desktop PC I do a fully automatic DHCP configuration on the ethernet port connected to the Senao. Works just as if my PC actually had a wifi connection to the hotspot, and performance is very good.

What I'd like to do is replace my desktop PC with a wifi router, i.e. the router is connected to the Senao thru ethernet, and the router shares it to my other computers over it's wifi interface. I can't really see why this should not work if, but I'm just checking before plunking down the cash

 

[portcullis]

I've got a WRT54GL in the workshop. I'll get a tech to look at it tomorrow to see if there's way we can use it to connect to one of our hotspots and report back.

There are guys who load a different operating system on the Linksys routers. Maybe one of them can join in this thread?

 

[brick]

dd-wrt

Yeah, I was specifically thinking of using dd-wrt or open-wrt.