[SOLVED] Best way to share a single "guest" wifi connection

tomyak

Reputable
Oct 17, 2016
6
0
4,520
I'm a guest in a house for several weeks. I have access to a guest wifi account to which I can connect my 3 devices BUT I don't seem to be able to share drives/files between my devices.

Therefore, I need a bit of help:

1. My 3 devices are a Mac w/ OS X 10 El Cap; Windows 10 Pro; Android. I tried to access files located on the Mac from my Win laptop but was unable. Is there a way to do that via the guest wifi connections?

2. If not, what capabilities should look for such that the router (such as, for example, a TP Link WR902AC??) can connect on the WAN-side to the existing guest wifi account and then on the LAN side to my new devices. Presumably I would want the guest network to just see the new router as just one more uninteresting device and think it's a single device and allocate it an IP address. Then, the new router would be set-up to connect to my various devices by WIFI and I would use the DHCP server in the new router accordingly.

???

Thanks very much for ideas.
 
Solution
Your largest issue is what you are trying to do guest networks are intentionally designed to prevent.

I would have to read the manual for the router but I doubt it can do what you want. It would have to have the option to use a wifi radio as its WAN connection. I have not seen that feature in your standard consumer routers. It can be done with DD-WRT on routers that support it.

A messy solution that will work is

Buy a "repeater/extender" that can run in client-bridge mode. This will basically appear as a wifi nic card that is connected via ethernet. You need to be sure it does not run in repeater mode. They make actual client-bridge units but they are hard to find and the vast majority of "extenders" have this mode...
@tomyak
1. The guest mode is working as designed. Each node is isolated from the other nodes.

2. Your looking for an access point (or hotspot), but only if it will do wifi on the "WAN" (yes, not really wan) side. For best performance you would like a device with multiple radios (MIMO) so it can send and receive at the same time, but this feature costs more and might not worth it if your just staying a couple weeks. The WR902AC looks like it would do the trick in hotspot mode, but I didn't download the manual to double check. I was also thinking your phone or laptop might be able to do something similar in a hotspot mode. Depends on hardware/software, but it's worth looking at since it wouldn't cost you anything. Google "PC as hotspot".
 
Last edited:
Your largest issue is what you are trying to do guest networks are intentionally designed to prevent.

I would have to read the manual for the router but I doubt it can do what you want. It would have to have the option to use a wifi radio as its WAN connection. I have not seen that feature in your standard consumer routers. It can be done with DD-WRT on routers that support it.

A messy solution that will work is

Buy a "repeater/extender" that can run in client-bridge mode. This will basically appear as a wifi nic card that is connected via ethernet. You need to be sure it does not run in repeater mode. They make actual client-bridge units but they are hard to find and the vast majority of "extenders" have this mode.

Next you hook this device to the wan port of any common router.

You have in effect built a router that takes its wan signal via wifi. There are some specialized routers that can do this but you will have to search for them.
 
Solution
I'm a guest in a house for several weeks. I have access to a guest wifi account to which I can connect my 3 devices BUT I don't seem to be able to share drives/files between my devices.

Therefore, I need a bit of help:

1. My 3 devices are a Mac w/ OS X 10 El Cap; Windows 10 Pro; Android. I tried to access files located on the Mac from my Win laptop but was unable. Is there a way to do that via the guest wifi connections?

2. If not, what capabilities should look for such that the router (such as, for example, a TP Link WR902AC??) can connect on the WAN-side to the existing guest wifi account and then on the LAN side to my new devices. Presumably I would want the guest network to just see the new router as just one more uninteresting device and think it's a single device and allocate it an IP address. Then, the new router would be set-up to connect to my various devices by WIFI and I would use the DHCP server in the new router accordingly.

???

Thanks very much for ideas.

Why not just stick your files on cloud storage and access them that way? Central location, no need for a direct network connection.