Question Using my smartphone as a gateway for my private network ?

[jimbou]

Hello,

I have found this question asked a couple of times, but not since a long time, and maybe the answer today could be different.

I want to use an Android smartphone as a gateway to Internet. But not as an access point. I do not want to use the standard Android access point function because I want my home network to remain operational even if the smartphone is not at home.

The home network operates with a TP-Link access point with DHCP activated.
I have tried to connect the smarphone to the access point in WiFi and then configure the access point to use the smartphone IP adress as gateway and DNS provider, but it does not work. The smartphone does not automatically provide a bridge between its wifi connection and the 4G connection, which makes a lot of sense from a security point of view.

Would anyone know how to configure the smartphone to make it work ?

I am looking for a simple solution from a hardware point of view. I know I could do it involving a Windows or Linux computer, but this is not an option at the place where I need this.

 

[Ralston18]

And what/where is the place you "need this"?

What problems have been encountered at that place?

 

[jimbou]

The place where I need this is my brother's home.

He had to change his internet provider, and he wanted to take benefit from this change to switch to the optic fiber. I am not sure he had any choice, by the way. But rooting the fiber across his garden presents difficulties, according to the technician who visited him, and it could take 2 or 3 weeks to fix the issue. During this time, he will have to use his smartphone to get access to the internet.

 

[bill001g]

Your problem is more the tplink access point.....BUT if you are running DHCP it almost has to run as a router.

Most home routers DHCP server will only set the gateway IP to its lan IP. That means all traffic destined for the internet will flow to the router lan address on the router chip. Its only real option then is to flow to the wan port. I don't know why they don't support running the DHCP server and setting the gateway IP to something else...almost all other forms of dhcp server function that way.

The main reason it is going to be difficult to get this to work is because the router needs to act as a "client" to connect to the phone. You would need a router that could take its WAN interface via wifi. These tend to be very rare or use third party firmware to accomplish it. You needed a dedicated wifi radio chip since it can't run both as a client and as a server at the same time.

I am unsure what purpose the tplink would server when the phone was not at the location providing internet.

Maybe you can run the tplink in repeater mode and it would accomplish what you need.

The other option is to buy another device that can run as a client-bridge and hook it to the wan port of the tplink. Some routers have this ability and many repeater device also can do this.

 

[jimbou]

Thanks for this reply.

It led me to investigate the TP-Link, and I discovered that it is capable of bridging two WiFi networks. This should solve the problem.

 

[bill001g]

The only things that may or may not work with a phone is WDS. Most repeater type of function needs a "hack" called WDS. Although it never was designed to be used to pass mac addresses and bypass the restrictions on the encryption all the manufactures kinda do it the same.

The problem is some devices...ie your phone.. might not support it. Many routers you must manually enable the feature and some you must put in the mac of the repeater. This is all because it is bypassing the encryption security that uses the mac address of the end device as part of the keys. Using the mac address as the key though prevents other mac address from passing over the same connection. It is used to pretty much ensure someone is not doing exactly what you are trying to accomplish. If someone was stupid they could connect to a secure wifi and the broadcast out a open wifi signal and bridge them together.

In some ways you are lucky to have tplink. Some tplink repeater/routers have another method of repeating they call "universal". This is kinda form a NAT but using mac addresses. I forget what issue it casues but there are thing that use the mac addresses that do not work when you run this way.

 

[lantis3]

Maybe not exactly what you want. But see if this helps.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...it-to-pc-via-tethering.3838743/#post-23218322