Create a "travel" router to share a WiFi connection

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I want to create a "travel" router. On our vacation location we have a chalet with a WiFi connection that I want to share with multiple devices. I see there are gli.net devices (with openwrt) which can do this. I prefer to use a more powerful device to do this. What should I look for? Should I look for a router with 3+ bands? 1x 2.4G for the incoming connection and 1x2.4G/1x5G for the local devices (2.4G for incoming connection because it has a larger reach and the connection is limited by host anyway? Is that logical?)

I'm not sure if I use the right terminology. Correct me when I'm wrong, I'll edit it.

I'm also fine with buying a second hand router (even prefer it) you usually get better hardware for the same price that way.

2

If you want to u¡e device at homevafter choose well:

https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi

you can use travelmate package for all connections during travels, what you describe is simple wwan setup.

3

If there is limited connection speed, then what's the purpose of having a more powerful device here? Or you mean signal strength?

Just a normal dual band devices would serve your purpose.

1 Like
4

A very popular and well supported option is the GL-Inet GL-MT3000. It's not the cheapest device, but has nice specs for the price, including the small size. I recently picked one up for exactly this purpose, and I'll be using it as a travel router + VPN (connecting back to my home) when I'm abroad. The moment it arrived, I flashed it with official OpenWrt... super easy!

5

There's also the Cudy TR3000, looks almost the same, and have the same specs as the MT3000, but half the flash, it is however fanless, and cheaper :slight_smile:

I went for the TR3000, but I got a cheap open box off US eBay,~$35.

6

Is there a good guide how to create this kind of travel router with a router that is supported bij openwrt?

7

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/connect_client_wifi

8

I tried this on my TP-Link TL-WR1043ND V1.x (V1.8) (openwrt-22.03.5-ath79-generic-tplink_tl-wr1043nd-v1) but it is not working. I'm not sure what I do wrong. I tried both N and legacy. The 5Ghz network is shitty, I prefer using 2.4Ghz (both the same SSID). But both legacy and N are not working. What can I show to see where it goes wrong? I made three screenshots, are these settings right? It shows country US, that is not right (it should be NL). Can that be the reason?

OpenWRT_travel_01
OpenWRT_travel_011452×601 57.8 KB

OpenWRT_travel_02
OpenWRT_travel_021344×1372 131 KB

OpenWRT_travel_03
OpenWRT_travel_031427×726 81.6 KB

9

Well, legacy is certainly going to significantly reduce the available wifi bandwidth, but you have a bigger problem -- the wwan and lan are on overlapping subnets.

Change your lan address to something else (for example, 192.168.213.1) so that doesn't overlap the subnet of the upstream network.

If that doesn't help, please post your configs:

Please connect to your OpenWrt device using ssh and copy the output of the following commands and post it here using the "Preformatted text </> " button:
grafik
Remember to redact passwords, MAC addresses and any public IP addresses you may have:

ubus call system board
cat /etc/config/network
cat /etc/config/wireless
cat /etc/config/dhcp
cat /etc/config/firewall
10

I did a reset and tried it again following this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdKTAHtKA1M
But without ignoring DHCP server.
With following this method it works!
However, in the relay_bridge > firewall part I couldn't pick Lan:lan/wwan but instead I have Lan:lan/relay_bridge. I'm not sure why, but it looks like it works.

Can I make it also accessible through WiFi? Or should I add another Router/AP for that?
Or can I for now temporarily make it accessible through WiFi till I have a separate AP?

11

I did not watch the video, but if you're setting up a relay bridge, that is not a travel router type configuration.

What is your goal?

12

Make a local private WiFi network from a single WiFi connection (you can buy a single WiFi connection here)
Or does this relay bridge mean it is actually not a private network anymore?

13

A relay bridge is a method of basically just extending/repeating an existing network. It does not create a downstream private network.

14

I removed the relay_bridge interface and it still works. Should it now be okay?

15

If I (temporary) want to make the new local network accessible through WiFi instead of only Lan. How can I do this without an AP and only use the router?

16

I don't know... I haven't seen your configuration.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking here...

What is the upstream connection (wifi or wired) and the downstream connection (wifi, wired, or both)?

17

Upstream is "from the internet" to my local network?
If so:
Upstream is through WiFi and downstream is currently wired, but I want to have it over WiFi too

18

Yes this is possible. But if your device only has 1 radio, there will be a performance impact. Also, if you will be using this on different networks, you will absolutely want to use travelmate to manage the upstream because the AP won’t start if it cannot first connect to the upstream (travelmate handles this gracefully).

19

Yes it only has 1 radio and I am aware of the performance impact, that is why I want to add an AP later. But for now I want to make it temporary accessible by WiFi.

It will be used on the same network.