Trapped in wireless hell! Help with network.

Pyrojodge

Pyrojodge

Well-Known Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
May 1, 2011
4,248
Lake Erie Ohio
Boat Info
1989 Sea Ray 340 DA
Engines
twin 454 Mercs
Ok, as some of you know I have set up a network on Aftica. I wanted to be able to control my Fusion stereo with my phone/tablet. My problem I use my cell phone as my internet hot spot and I can not use both the hotspot and my network. The questions is how can I turn on my hotspot on my phone and patch that into my network on the boat so if i sign into my network I will have internet over the boats router (which is also more powerful for distance)? I know that this has to be possible but I am unsure what I am looking for. Any and all help appreciated.

If I have left any info out please let me know and I'll try to fill in the blanks.

Thanks guys and gals!
 
The hotspot feature of your phone takes 100% control of the wifi signal, and bridges the traffic over to the cellular network. I don't think there's a way to "blend" it in with another wifi signal (i.e. using your phone as a wifi bridge or extender to another network).
 
src is correct on this. You do not need the internet to control a Fusion head unit . . . just a wifi network.

I am, with wifi network on boat, controlling a headless music server with an Ipad mini and it has worked wonderful. I do have to disconnect from boat's network to use hotspot for internet connection on computer on boat or Ipad. This is not a lot of trouble for me as I have very little need for the WWW on the boat at sea or docked.
 
This isn't trivial to do. But if your boat wireless router supports wireless bridge mode it can be done. Router acts as wireless hotspot for your boat, but wirelessly forwards internet traffic to your cell hotspot.

PM me with the exact model number and firmware version of your router and maybe I can help. If we get it working we can update the forum.

Rich

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 
To use your phone as your Wireless 3G gateway - find a router with a USB plug - that can use your Phone as gateway. There are not many around and it is dependent on the phone if it works via USB "dial up". Some phones do not like the "old fashioned" dial up protocols (*99#) to get internet access.

The other solution is to have 2 wireless "antenna/routers" on your boat (that is what I do) - so I have a router - that connects via Wi-Fi to Accesspoints (Harbour, my iPhone and other internet wireless accesspoints) - and then have a seperate "Wi-Fi" client access point where you can connect devices on that also need Internet access. It takes a bit of configuration - but once it is done - on my setup it works great. So while i'm in the harbour - my boat is connected to the harbour internet - and when I go out - I turn on the hotspot feature on my iPad/iPhone - and the router finds it automatically - and shares internet access to all other devices on board.

You could also find a Wireless router with 2 wireless network cards in it - that would simplify installation a bit.

I have MicroTik router installed with USB connector and single Wifi. Then I have a Simrad Wi-Fi 1 as the access point for clients. The setup was slightly complex - but works perfect. I can also plug in a USB 3G modem - and then I don't need to use my Phone as the Internet gateway when I am out - but that requires more SIM cards. :) but preserves phone battery.
 
Or you could get an iPad with Verizon access. Starting with the iPad 3 it can be configured as a wireless access point from the Verizon signal...

I use this frequently for work when I need to use my laptop while I am out at a customers site.
 
If you are willing to change out your router to make this work, take a look at Cradlepoint-they specialize in "failover" routers that are able to use a variety of sources for the internet connection including USB devices and other wireless networks in addition to standard sources. So, you can configure a connection with your home marina's Wi-Fi assuming that's available as well as your wireless hotspot as second priority. If you get underway and lose the marina signal the router will switch to your hotspot. The router will work as would any other wireless router otherwise and will accept wired sources. You can get the MBR-95 for $100 or so on Amazon.
 
First of all thanks for all of the replies.* I understand that I can control the head unit through the router that I have now. *My issue is I enjoy being able to stream Pandora as well.* Right now I can’t do both. I have my system set up to play through Bluetooth through my AV700 head.* I have to have internet to have Pandora and I have to have network access to have control of my volume ect.* I know that I am asking for a lot but I think it should be doable.* I just want to be able to sign onto the boat net work and have access to internet from my tablet plus have all the controls that I should with the stereo.

*

Here is an example of what I have now… and I am willing to change it to something else if it will give me what I want to do.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0044YU60M/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
 
Most firewall/routers want a wired ethernet connection to provide Internet
You want to use your phone in Hotspot mode to provide wireless Internet to the router

Ergo, you need a firewall/router capable of accepting the wireless Hotspot Internet signal before you can go any further. This process is referred to as tethering.

As an alternative, if your cell phone provider offers a cable for tethering (usually USB to a laptop) and you can a find firewall/router capable of accepting the cable, that would work.


Look here for possible solutions:

http://www.cradlepoint.com/

http://3gstore.com/
 
Ok, I puchased the cradle point mbr95. Ill set it up this weekend and see how it works!
 
Pyrojodge said:
Ok, I puchased the cradle point mbr95. Ill set it up this weekend and see how it works!
Click to expand...

Jason, if you have limits on your plan, recommend you get into the "Data Usage Management and Alerts" utility in the router interface as soon as you can once you get the router up and running. This will let you monitor bandwidth use and put limits on data use that are consistent with your plan. When I first set up my data card I blew right through my 6GB limit in a couple of days of what I thought was light usage. Not sure exactly how this happened and suspect it was a problem with the carrier (who, since they couldn't provide details on the usage refunded the overage) but you could conceivably have lots of connected devices using your bandwidth and might want to have good control. I had not discovered the router's data management capability but it would have enabled me to see exactly how much each device used and when; I have it in place now.
 
Al, thanks for the heads up. I typically use 30gb some times reaching 70gb. Thank god for being a grandfathered unlimited data user!
 
***UPDATE***

The Cradlepoint router worked flawlessly. I was able to be up and running in about 15 mins and I do not have to have wires coming from my hotspot to the router. I am able to use it and repeat my wifi signal. Fantastic thanks all for help and suggestions!
 
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