Using a mobile phone AP for an Ethernet network?

[David]

Virgin Media seems to have a problem at the moment.
It has been intermittent over the last few weeks but seems to have become
a hard fault today.
I can get individual PCs on line by linking them to a mobile phone hot
spot (mainly - that is another issue to pursue) but any devices linked to
WiFi routers which rely on the Ethernet to connect them to the Internet
are banjaxed.

My initial searches don't seem to catch this particular problem.

I am thinking of a wireless router/AP which can be told to connect to
another wireless device instead of Ethernet.
Further this router should maintain its SSID so devices will not see any
change (apart from speed).

Does such a thing exist?

Cheers



Dave R

[Theo]

Post by David
Virgin Media seems to have a problem at the moment.
It has been intermittent over the last few weeks but seems to have become
a hard fault today.
I can get individual PCs on line by linking them to a mobile phone hot
spot (mainly - that is another issue to pursue) but any devices linked to
WiFi routers which rely on the Ethernet to connect them to the Internet
are banjaxed.
My initial searches don't seem to catch this particular problem.
I am thinking of a wireless router/AP which can be told to connect to
another wireless device instead of Ethernet.
Further this router should maintain its SSID so devices will not see any
change (apart from speed).
Does such a thing exist?

A few options...

If your router has an ethernet WAN port, a 'game adapter' is intended to
connect wired consoles to a wireless network. TP-Link used to have a good
range - it looks like they're labelled 'travel router' with added 3/4/5G:
https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/3g-usb-adapter/tl-wr902ac/
('client mode' they call it)

The router connects to that as its ethernet WAN, which then uses the wifi to
uplink to your phone. It'll double NAT, but I think that's inevitable.

It's also possible to set up a router to do this directly, but you'll need a
second wifi device (the router's wifi is busy being an AP). Either a USB
wifi or steal one of the wifi channels (eg uplink via 5GHz and offer 2.4GHz
as an AP). Would need custom settings - OpenWRT should be able to do it.

Theo

[Tony Mountifield]

Post by David
Virgin Media seems to have a problem at the moment.
It has been intermittent over the last few weeks but seems to have become
a hard fault today.
I can get individual PCs on line by linking them to a mobile phone hot
spot (mainly - that is another issue to pursue) but any devices linked to
WiFi routers which rely on the Ethernet to connect them to the Internet
are banjaxed.
My initial searches don't seem to catch this particular problem.
I am thinking of a wireless router/AP which can be told to connect to
another wireless device instead of Ethernet.
Further this router should maintain its SSID so devices will not see any
change (apart from speed).
Does such a thing exist?

Yes, my Draytek router can be configured to connect to another WiFi network
as its WAN connection. It was very useful when our local DSL cabinet was down
for several days after a power outage from which it didn't recover automatically.
I told the router to connect to the hotspot provided by my phone, and the rest
of the network was none the wiser.

Cheers
Tony

[SH]

Post by Tony Mountifield

Post by David
Virgin Media seems to have a problem at the moment.
It has been intermittent over the last few weeks but seems to have become
a hard fault today.
I can get individual PCs on line by linking them to a mobile phone hot
spot (mainly - that is another issue to pursue) but any devices linked to
WiFi routers which rely on the Ethernet to connect them to the Internet
are banjaxed.
My initial searches don't seem to catch this particular problem.
I am thinking of a wireless router/AP which can be told to connect to
another wireless device instead of Ethernet.
Further this router should maintain its SSID so devices will not see any
change (apart from speed).
Does such a thing exist?

Yes, my Draytek router can be configured to connect to another WiFi network
as its WAN connection. It was very useful when our local DSL cabinet was down
for several days after a power outage from which it didn't recover automatically.
I told the router to connect to the hotspot provided by my phone, and the rest
of the network was none the wiser.
Cheers
Tony

you can in fact get 4g/5g routers where you insert a SIM card, teh
router then connects to mobile phone network and then it will present
usally 4 ethernet ports, a 2.4 GHz wifi network and sometimes also a 5
GHz wifi network (depending on model)

I have a Soyealink B535 from Amazon for £60.

just make sure you put the right APN into the router for the SIM
provider you use though!

[Tony Mountifield]

Post by SH

Post by Tony Mountifield

Post by David
Virgin Media seems to have a problem at the moment.
It has been intermittent over the last few weeks but seems to have become
a hard fault today.
I can get individual PCs on line by linking them to a mobile phone hot
spot (mainly - that is another issue to pursue) but any devices linked to
WiFi routers which rely on the Ethernet to connect them to the Internet
are banjaxed.
My initial searches don't seem to catch this particular problem.
I am thinking of a wireless router/AP which can be told to connect to
another wireless device instead of Ethernet.
Further this router should maintain its SSID so devices will not see any
change (apart from speed).
Does such a thing exist?

Yes, my Draytek router can be configured to connect to another WiFi network
as its WAN connection. It was very useful when our local DSL cabinet was down
for several days after a power outage from which it didn't recover automatically.
I told the router to connect to the hotspot provided by my phone, and the rest
of the network was none the wiser.
Cheers
Tony

you can in fact get 4g/5g routers where you insert a SIM card, teh
router then connects to mobile phone network and then it will present
usally 4 ethernet ports, a 2.4 GHz wifi network and sometimes also a 5
GHz wifi network (depending on model)

Yes, if you are looking for that as a permanent solution, it would work well.

The OP is, and I was, looking for a temporary WAN solution that didn't involve
changing the existing infrastructure. One could indeed use a device such as
you mentioned, but as a stopgap, a phone was fine. Assuming the router can
connect to it, which mine could.

Cheers
Tony