I am brand new to OpenWrt and am trying to follow the USB Tethering guide, but can't seem to make sense of it. I have installed version 23.05.2 onto an EA6350. My only internet connection is via hotspot, so I can't have a wired upstream internet connection (if that is referring to an ethernet cord connecting a modem to the Internet port of my router). The instructions then say that without an upstream connection the packages can be dowloaded if your laptop is tethered to your phone. Why does the phone need to be tethered at this point? Then the article gives package install examples, first for Android, then "additional steps for iOS", but its not clear in addition to what? Finally, in the last part of step 1, it says the structure of the url to download the packages if you need them "on another device for bootstrapping". Does that mean, not on this (the router) device? And, if what I am doing is "bootstrapping another device", how do I determine my device's instruction set? The article:
Any clarity would be greatly appreciated.
you have the possibility to run a wifi hotspot on your smartphone:
example:
https://www.google.com/search?q=personal+hotspot+wifi+iphone
https://www.google.com/search?q=xiaomi+wifi+hotspot
brand of your smartphone + "wifi hotspot"
ps: it's just to allow your router to have an initial connection that allows you to install all the necessary packages.
Apple is really serious about sandboxing and sideloading.
The phone is not going to do anything unless you tell the phone whatever you connected to its port is trusted. I cannot imagine it allowing sideloading anything OTA not signed from Apple.
IOW, it can still be connected to the laptop with trust and you can enable the hotspot without using the tethering for internet. So the laptop thinks it has an ISP connection and the phone is plugged in with privileges.
I offer this under the offer for any clarity.
The OP isn't trying to install or sideload anything onto their iPhone. It's purely an issue of getting providing their router internet access with which they can then install packages onto the router itself.
@mattbuilt1 - the easiest path is probably the following:
- put your iPhone into wifi hotspot mode
- connect the OpenWrt router to the iphone as a wifi client (wwan) using this process
- install the usb tethering packages as specified in the link you provided (specifically following the command line instructions in the installation section).
- disable the hotspot and then try connecting your phone via USB and following the rest of the directions for the usb tethering.
I was not answering that primarily. But I was confused.
I was trying to explain that the phone was not going to allow tethering at all unless they granted permission (I omitted it may even ask for the password) and that if they needed packages downloaded for the router to tether they could trick the router by adding a phone that was 'tethered' as far as the router thought and using the wi-fi hotspot at the same time.
I did read it 3 times before I replied and would have left it ignored were it not for the outreach.
Thanks, I am, slowly, learning but I'll never understand hexadecimal numbers for flashing.
See, I do not see this working. What is that snake eating its tail? Ouroboros.
If they need packages to tether you cannot tether to get the packages you need to tether.
Oh wait: that is exactly what I said in different words....
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You can add the packages you need using the online image builder.
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Assuming no restrictions from the carrier, wifi tethering is as easy as flipping a switch on the iPhone. It will setup a wifi hotspot to which any device can connect as a client (sta mode). This will give the router an internet connection just using wifi.
The USB tethering method, on the other hand, requires packages installed on the router itself. So... we start with a wifi tethering operation so that the router has an internet connection, install the packages, then move on to the rest of the USB tethering setup.
Or, as @frollic suggested -- just include the necessary packages in the base image by using the image builder. Good call @frollic!
I'm becoming confused how this was missed?
Oh, laptop...
That should have been router..
Got it.
Thank you for all of the responses! Since I installed OpenWRT with only connecting the router's LAN1 port to my laptop, I thought that was all I would need to install additional packages using the download method described at the end of the Installation section. I now have my router connected directly to a modem instead of a hotspot. I installed all of the packages. I connected my phone and got the trust prompt. I then ran the enable tethering commands for ifname=eth0. I think that was a mistake and I was supposed to do eth1. When I then went to LuCI to create the TetheringWAN interface, I saw eth0 and a grayed out eth1. I disconnected and reconnected the phone, the gray eth1 went away, and now the phone doesn't act connected - it doesn't even charge through the port.