How do I perform a "Double Client" connection

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

So here's my situation:

I am about to go to a 14 days cruise trip in about 1 more week and I already paid for an unlimited high speed internet package and this ship (just like the rest of them) controls your access by whitelisting your MAC address so only one device can be online at the same time.

I can bring a router with Open-WRT installed to connect to the ships network as a client and then share this connection with two or more of my users in my family under a different SSID name in Access Point mode. This would work, I can have this router in the room we will be staying at and all of our device will work. However, I would like to take this one step farther and I would like this "shared" internet environment to work through the whole entire ship and not just in our state room. For that my idea is as follows:

Pre-Step:
Change my router's IP to something like: 10.111.1.1 then disable my router's DHCP server forcing me to assign a static private IP address to each device connected behind this router.

Step 1:
Connect my Open-WRT router as a client mode to my ship's SSID name (example: NorweigianWiFi)

Step 2: Setup a new WiFi interface as Access Point. (Example: My_Own_WiFi) everyone in my room will be able to connect to "My_Own_Wifi" to access the internet at the same time through my router.

Step 3: (and the part where I seem to be having problems): Connect to the ship's WiFi again, under a secondary client mode and attach this to "LAN" so that way I can connect my smartphone directly into the ship's own WiFi network and all what I would need to do is assign my smartphone a static IP address that points to MY router instead of the ship's NAT's (router) (ex: use 10.111.1.2 for my smartphone, 10.111.1.3 to my sister's smartphone, etc) and under that way I should be able to use the ship's entire ship-wide WiFi network as my own "network switch" when I will be able to access my router to access my own shared network connection no matter where I am on the ship and not just on my own room. This is why (if you noticed on my "pre-step" above) why I would find the need to disable the "DHCP" function of the router to ensure that my router wound't give anyone else an IP address for my router (eg. I woudn't want my router's DHCP server to compete with the ship's DCHP server).

Here's the problem part:
I am testing this configuration on my own main router in my house and its not working. I can only make it work when I have only one client and one accesspoint configuration but if I have one access point configuration and two client configuration when all three will stay as "0% wireless strengh and I can't even see the regular "access point" mode within my SSID list when I scan it on my laptop/phone.

In short: I am trying to connect the Open-WRT router to another router in "CLIENT" mode not just once, but twice, the first time as a regular CLIENT mode and the second time in CLIENT mode as well but attach to the "LAN" side of my router.

I know how to do this with TWO different router: the first router connect's to the ship's WiFi to get its MAC address authenticated then Router #2 also connects to the SHIP as a bridge (also known as "Client Bridge") and that router is inter conencted with the first router, then I connect to the ship's WiFi network from my smartphone and I assign my smartphone a static IP address from router #1 and this should work as it did work in my own test in my house but thats with TWO separate physical routers, I am trying to do all that with just one router so that I don't have to take two routers with me, I am already worried if they are going to have issues with me taking a standard router on board

2

Cannot connect a client to your AP until the router has connected to the upstream master.

It doesn't know what channel to use.

3

Ignoring the legal implications for a minute, but step 3 isn't going to work anyways (unless the implementer was really, really stupid - to an extent that simply wouldn't work for ship-wide coverage, as the network would drown in multicast traffic). WLAN simply isn't a switch (or more correctly, but still false, a hub) - and even in an environment with just wired (managed) switches your proposal wouldn't work either.

Yes, from a technical point of view you can use your own router within the reach of its own antennas, but that's about it.

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4

@FNetV1,

Also understand that if you are using US FCC Part 15 rules and concepts to setup this WiFi, FCC rules don't apply on a ship sailing under the flag of another nation.

Which means, you may not be authorized to run radio equipment on the ship. You should be able to check this. The ship's radio officer would be able to give you directions.

I also can't recall at the time; but I'm nearly certain you need the permission of the Captain to run radio equipment on an aircraft or vessel anyways.

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5

you have to pay twice for another client on the "high speed internet package"....?

1 client per room seems jurassic....

if anything..... you'd want to leave the router at home..... get vpn clients running on your end devices that go to the net via your home router.....

there you can perform any filtering etc. ( and get to home devices like cameras woohoo! )......

having said that third party services ( vpn ) are so cheap and easy that would also be worthy of consideration. more protocol optiuons assuming the third party network restricts certain paths.

more coverage, more features, safer....

6

wulfy23: "you have to pay twice for another client on the "high speed internet package"....?
1 client per room seems jurassic...."

Yes, on all the cruises that I have been to you would have to pay per device in order to give it internet access. This means that if a family of 6 people wants to go to a cruise ship and they stay in a suite and each one wants to have internet access the ship would expect each one of them to fork over $35 a day for the high speed package. For a family of 6 people that translates to $35 x 6 = $210 per day or for a 14 day trip it would be $210 x 14 $2,940 for the whole 14 days trip. That's completely unacceptable. In my opinion, the high speed internet package should be billed per room, or per family traveling and they should give just one code that would work on all devices that the family takes with them, after all that one package ends up costing over $380 for the whole 14 days trips that the least they could do.

My theory is that they (the ship operators) already know that some people brings over their "travel router" with them so they are already billing them for the privilege of using such routers and that if no one would bring with them a travel router then prices might be much lower allowing more devices to be connected and properly authenticated at a much lower price.

But the point is that these internet packages should be sold per family basis and not per device.

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