Need Router/ Repeater to bridge WPA2 Enterprise to WPA Personal

[4Style]

Hi Guys,
I need a router or repeater that is able to repeat a wifi signal with WPA2 Enterprise encryption (with certificates etc.) to a WPA Personal network.
I read somewhere that it is possible to do that, if the router has 2 radios inside.
I don't care much about speed, the enterprise network has only about 10 mbit/s, but the router shouldn't be too expensive.

If it's not possible to combine this into one device, than I would need 2 devices:
One that is used as a WLAN (WPA2-E)-to-LAN Bridge and is able to connect to a WPA2-E network (is this possible via luci)?
And another one that works as a simple WPA2 AP, which shouln't be too complicated to find.

But I would prefer the solution with only one router, because it will be running on a battery, so powerdraw is important.
Thank you very much

[jeff]

2.4 GHz or 5 GHz?

Two radios are only important if you either need both bands, or are pushing bandwidth close to that of the link (the repeater function roughly halves the bandwidth, if on a single radio).

If only 2.4 GHz, take a look at the GL.iNet AR300M-Lite at about US$18 I measured the current draw there to be ~250 mA at 5 V.

If 5 GHz is also required, I have the GL.iNet AR750S-Ext ("Slate") that I'm very happy with, but it runs around $70 and draws ~400 mA at 5 V. Not surprising with twice as many radios and a more powerful SoC.

Edit: Check the instructions and on the GL.iNet forum to understand what the current firmware supports with "turn-key" Enterprise auth. It looks like Enterprise WPA2 support requires using the "advanced" (LuCI) configuration GL.Inet's firmware is recent OpenWrt with mainly just some utility packages / GUI on top of it.

[4Style]

Oh nice that was really fast.
2,4 GHz should be sufficient, because the host (?) wifi also is only 2,4 GHz.
The GL.iNet AR300M-Lite look really good, but i need an external antenna to receive the signal from outside.
Ideally i would like to repeat the signal inside my room with another antenna. Would this be possible with that router?

[jeff]

At US$18, give it a shot -- it's a well-designed unit, in my opinion, with two patch antennas on the board. You're only talking a couple of dB difference with external antennas, generally not enough to be significant.

You could go for the AR300M-Ext, which adds 128 MB NAND flash and external antennas, but runs US$45. At that price, I'd personally go for the Slate and get 5 GHz as well.

[4Style]

Of course, i am sure the router is worth its price.
The thing is, i would like to connect beam antenna, because the wifi signal is not that strong.
So it doen't matter for me, if a external antenna is installed, but there must be a port to connect one.
The slate is a bit to expensive for me, i would like to stay under 50 €, and the slate costs about 90 € at Amazon Germany.

I've read the thread in the GL.Inet's forum and if i understood them right, connecting as a client to a WPA 2 enterprise network is possible if I replace wpad-mini with "full" wpad.
This would be really nice.

Edit: I found the GL.iNet GL-AR300M-Ext for 40 € on ebay, i think that's a reasonable price

[jeff]

If you want to connect a high-gain antenna (and I'd go for a dish from a reputable manufacturer along with a real feed line over an "eBay" beam and cable), then you should look for something with an external antenna jack.

Be aware that anything that is truly a significant gain over a stock antenna is going to be 30€ for the antenna, and another 30€ for a feed line. Most "eBay" cables are so lossy at these frequencies to negate any gain that an "eBay" antenna might have.

Edit: See, for example http://www.l-com.com/wireless-antenna-24-ghz-eg-series-die-cast-parabolic-grid-antennas

[4Style]

Hmm this seems to be quite expensive, in fact the antenna and cables would be more expensive than the actual router...
So would it be possible to first check out the signal with the shipped external antennas and, if the connection is not that great, later switch to a high gain antenna with the AR300M-Ext?
I'm not sure, but i think it has two 'jacks' to connect external antennas

Edit: i mean the description says "External antenna support Yes". But nevertheless thank you very much for your help

[jeff]

From https://store.gl-inet.com/collections/travel-routers/products/gl-ar300m-mini-smart-router?variant=3097496944667 it looks like there are connectors there, so it might be possible.

[4Style]

Yes I'm also confident, that it will work.
I'm a bit scard of setting up the whole thing, but it's great to know that there is such a great community here.
I will reply again if i received the router.

[4Style]

Ahh sorry that i have to ask again, i read everywhere that bridging from WPA2-Enterprise to WPA2-Personal is not possible because it breaks the protocols ...?
So maybe that is the reason why the article i read stated, that i need two radios.
Can you confirm that?

[slh]

You can't repeat a WPA2-Enterprise (IEEE8021X) network, with your local clients transparently appearing in the WPA2-Enterprise subnet/ broadcast domain, but you can configure your router to connect to the WPA2-Enterprise network as client (STA/ WWAN) - and then do masquerading/ routing and spawn a WPA2-Personal AP interface for your clients. This means only your router will be accessible from the WPA2-Enterprise network (with port-forwardings being possible), but your clients behind the router can access the WPA2-Enterprise network (or internet, if available).

[4Style]

Okay thanks for the explanation, but i think that's just what I need for my setup.
So i guess (aside from my power limitations) there should be no special requirements for the router right?