[TriLUG] Wireless Broadband

[Greg Brown]

On a somewhat related note, I finally got OpenWRT working in WET
(wireless bridge mode).  Not too terribly difficult, though the
instructions is are a bit off.

Here's how you do it (both units must be infrastructure mode, btw):

Put access point(router/whatever) A in AP mode:

Put access point B in WET mode (nvram set wl0_mode=wet nvram commit
wifi down wifi up) and make sure that your WET box has the same SSID
(and wep settings, if they exist on A. Point "A").

You can even turn off SSID broadcasting on AP "A" and it still works. 
With the coolness of OpenWRT you can then restrict by MAC address and
throw something over the line like IPSec VPN to encrypt everything
between the AP.  You can do scads of other cool stuff too.

OpenWRT is a good solution for point-to-point or point-to-many-point
links.  In the grand scheme of things I can see putting up a wireless
backup network on a multi-building small campus with these buggars,
perhaps on a /28 network or something.  Maybe smaller, I dunno, would
depend on the requirements.

I wonder if these things do BGP, OSPF, and the like... hum.. when I
get some free time when all my projects calm down I just might try to
find that out.

Greg



On 6/7/05, David McDowell <turnpike420 at gmail.com> wrote:
> WRAL news at 10pm tonight just said Raleigh was #1 in the nation with
> amount of public wifi access, so maybe roam away??  :)  ... Seattle
> being #1 in public wifi access ... and on a side note, NC is 3rd in
> BioTech behind Mass and CA.
> 
>  :)
> 
> 
> On 6/7/05, Reginald Reed <reginald.reed at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Rumor has it that 1xEV-DO is coming to the Triangle this summer.  I
> > just signed up for the service 9 days ago and have since tried the
> > Broadband access service in both Orlando and at a DFW airport
> > (terminal C from the AA lounge).  It is excellent.  The service
> > available in the Triangle now is 1xRTT and it certainly is slower, but
> > I still find it usable, even with an IPSEC tunnel riding on top of it.
> >  I have the Novatel V620 card with unlimited access.
> >
> > --Reggie
> >
> > On 6/6/05, Aaron Bockover <abockover.trilug at aaronbock.net> wrote:
> > > Okay, so Raleigh just isn't full of open WiFi hot-spots, and it'd really
> > > be nice to have wireless broadband. Is anyone subscribed to such a
> > > service? Does one really even exist yet in this area?
> > >
> > > I tried signing up for the free Nextel Wireless Broadband trial last
> > > year, but didn't get accepted. It's been a year, the trial is over, and
> > > it doesn't look like they've rolled the service out publicly.
> > >
> > > Verizon has wireless broadband, but Raleigh isn't one of its supported
> > > cities.
> > >
> > > Are we just that insignificant? I would really hate to have to start
> > > using my cellphone for dial-up... that's just asinine!
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > Aaron
> > >
> > >
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