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hotel room without wireless

Anyone know how to convert CAT5 Cable to wireless in the Hotel room. I love to bring my PDA with me , when I travel. But, I found a problem to using the internet in most of the hotel.
Problem: Most hotels only have CAT5 network , when you plugin your notebook computer, you have to go to the login page to login. But when you using PDA(wireless). The question is how to use the internet?. If you bring a wireless rounter with you. When you plugin . how to make it found the hotel login page on your PDA?

Easiest method is to buy a Wireless bridge. Linksys sells these. Its a device that will tern an Ethernet Cable into a wireless signal.

I travel a great deal and although there are a great number of ways to deal with this issue...this is how I get around it.
I bought one of the little Dlink pocket routers like this one for a great price (less than $30). What you can do with this product (and others I'm sure...) is clone the MAC address of your laptop's ethernet port. Basically...it'd work like this...
1.) Plug your laptop into the hotel network.
2.) Jump through their proxy hoops to get out onto the net.
3.) Unplug the cable from the hotel network and into the pocket router.
4.) From the router's config pages...set the NIC to clone your laptop's MAC address.
5.) Plug the hotel network into the pocket router WAN port.
Badda bing! You're sharing their network wirelessly...doesn't take a lot of time at all. I've really enjoyed the Dlink one I got...small...flexible...and it comes with a nice travel case. Linksys (or Cisco now), Apple, and others all make similar products and some of them have the benefit of not needing a power adapter and just plugging straight into the wall outlet (a big benefit IMHO), but I can't speak for exactly what kind of functionality they provide versus the Dlink product as I've never used them.
By the way...a bridge will not help you do what you want...you need at least an AP...but if you get one of the devices like I mentioned...you get the added benefit of a NAT firewall between your device and the hotel LAN (which can be a very good thing by the way).

I can't see why you can't just plug in a standard access point via the WANport. Set the internet connection to Automatic DHCP.
Then the first time you access the net it will be ready for logging in.

eangulus said:
I can't see why you can't just plug in a standard access point via the WANport. Set the internet connection to Automatic DHCP.
Then the first time you access the net it will be ready for logging in.
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Click to collapse
Because many hotels control access to their internet connections by utilizing various methods but most often by controlling access via MAC addresses. Think filtering a wireless connection by only allowing certain MAC addresses... Now...if an AP allowed MAC address spoofing...then I certainly don't see why just an AP wouldn't work just as well (other than the fact that you don't get the benefits of a router).
By the way...this topic is certainly not Hermes specific and should likely be moved to a more appropriate forum.

One note should be made.... If the hotel is using NAT to assign IP addresss, and you use a second NAT with your router... you may not be able to use various VPN clients. Double NAT'ing doesn't work for many IPSEC VPN clients. i.e. AT&T NetClient
A number of switch vendors offer the ability to limit each port on their switch to allow traffic to one MAC address per port. A bridge would show multiple MAC addresses and typically when the switch sees that, the port is automatically shut down. This is done in many cases where there is a $10-15 a day charge for internet access and the hotel doesn't want you setting up an AP to share the cost with your travel mates. Thus they limit to one MAC address per port. The router solution would show up with only one MAC address... but you then have the double NAT issue in some cases. If you are not using a VPN, that may not be a problem.
Just some additional data points to consider.

I love the linksys travel router - more expensive then their mini router (about the same size) except for 2 things that are key for me. First, it's powersupply is embedded and 110-220v and 2 - it let's you connect it to a hotel wireless hotspot and then share that hotspot over wifi. This is great - it means that 4 people with rooms next to each other can share the fee of the hotspot and share it. It also means I can share that same hotspot with my phone! The only downside on this one over the mini router is it only has one wired out jack but that's no big deal for me!

Note that plugging a router into a network jack when the site in question is set up to use DHCP can cause some havoc on the network. I doubt many hotels are savvy enough to start hunting around for rogue routers when people in the hotel can no longer get IP addresses, but bear in mind that it's always a possibility. It's probably not a good idea to leave something like this plugged into the network longer than necessary.
Also note that whenever I've encountered a location where the establishment requires you to log into a web page in order to access anything, I've had no problem doing that from the Hermes.

Doom Tints said:
Note that plugging a router into a network jack when the site in question is set up to use DHCP can cause some havoc on the network. I doubt many hotels are savvy enough to start hunting around for rogue routers when people in the hotel can no longer get IP addresses, but bear in mind that it's always a possibility. It's probably not a good idea to leave something like this plugged into the network longer than necessary.
Also note that whenever I've encountered a location where the establishment requires you to log into a web page in order to access anything, I've had no problem doing that from the Hermes.
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Click to collapse
The one I mentioned only asigns an IP to people on it's end and not outside - it even uses it's own IP range. It is designed to be transparent to the existing network.

Yes, I know. However, depending upon the network setup, this can still cause problems.
For example, some versions of Symantec's 'On Command/CCM' (a suite for pushing software updates to computers automatically when they are booted on the network) can communicate with some routers in such a way to where the router thinks it needs to try to provide one of its IP addresses to the network. This invariably ends up having a computer in some random place on the network ending up with a 192.168.x.x IP. When an admin sees this, he/she knows that there is a rogue router on the network.

Alot of work... as you know these hotel internet connections are controlled. If you're posting here use that 3g or even edge instead of giving the hotel your credit card to have a field test (is that a ppc program?) or field day with.

Doom Tints said:
Yes, I know. However, depending upon the network setup, this can still cause problems.
For example, some versions of Symantec's 'On Command/CCM' (a suite for pushing software updates to computers automatically when they are booted on the network) can communicate with some routers in such a way to where the router thinks it needs to try to provide one of its IP addresses to the network. This invariably ends up having a computer in some random place on the network ending up with a 192.168.x.x IP. When an admin sees this, he/she knows that there is a rogue router on the network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I doubt this will happen in most hotel networks and aside from that - I doubt that there is hardly ever a network admin on hand 99.9% of the time

The Linksys Travel Router is the product I'd highly recommend as I've been using it around the world for some years now.
It has a hardware switch that let's you control its functionality. In one position, the Wired Ethernet is simply converted to Wi-Fi and once you connect, you still get the IP from the hotel's DHCP server. If you need to share the connection with more systems (such as your laptop and your phone or with some colleagues in adjacent rooms), you just switch to another mode after logging in to the hotel's network and the Linksys becomes a NAT router and gives you a private IP.
It also comes with a nice travel case...

SayMobile said:
The Linksys Travel Router is the product I'd highly recommend as I've been using it around the world for some years now.
It has a hardware switch that let's you control its functionality. In one position, the Wired Ethernet is simply converted to Wi-Fi and once you connect, you still get the IP from the hotel's DHCP server. If you need to share the connection with more systems (such as your laptop and your phone or with some colleagues in adjacent rooms), you just switch to another mode after logging in to the hotel's network and the Linksys becomes a NAT router and gives you a private IP.
It also comes with a nice travel case...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the device I've been talking about - the only thing I add to the kit is a european outlet adapter (which fits nicely inside the coiled ethernet cable included

Wifi Tethering to a wifi router / network

A picture is better than 1000 words.
For an application I'm trying to get this configuration working:
Is this possible or not?

WiFi Tethering to a WiFi Router / Network
Yes, IF your wifi router will accept wifi as an input.
If all of the devices need to be on a network OTHER than your cell phone, then yes, you need a router. The router will have to accept wifi as it's source.
If all of the devices can be on the same wifi network as your cell, then you can get a wifi repeater or range extender. Repeaters "extend" the range that wifi will reach. I don't see that as an issue here as should be able to place your cell phone well within range of your other wifi-enabled devices.
I don't immediately see why you can't have all of the devices connect to your phone directly, but I don't know anything about the application you are working on.
What I cannot say is whether this setup could bypass the number of wifi devices your service provider limits you to. I know my hotspot (Verizon) limits you to five concurrent.
I hope I've answered your question and I've helped. BTW - your picture was perfect!

Thank you for your explanation.
This is a very specific setup.
The router is an Airlink NMini and I carry in my pocket. It has to be near my camera for the wifi connection to work. I get a lot of interference from wireless equipment on my photoshoots. The Wifi router is trong enough to overpower the interference (only when used in B-mode). It's hooked up to a 5 volt power pack.
Close to me I have an Android tablet for quick selecting the right images, then the images are copied over to a remote laptop that is used by my colleage to edit the images.
I needed the internet connection for sending the processed images to a ftp server or dropbox, so my clients can download the images.
I tried using the router as a relay/bridge, but couldn't get that to work. Maybe it's possible, but that's higher networking config.
I finally got it to work by connecting the phone to the laptop using usb.
Configured the laptop for ICS connecting the USB-internet connection to the wireless router. Had to set ip adresses manually, becaue the dhcp of the router did not transmit the correct gateway. But as there are only 2 devices attached, that's not a problem after documenting this change.
So I'm good to go for our next photo assigment. Case closed.
Sent from my Transformer TF101

Sweet setup man

Xbox Live Moderate NAT on Hotspot/Tether

Is there a clear tutorial on setting the NAT to open on Xbox Live? I'm tethering off my Verizon 4G LTE phone.

Of course theres a way.
juryben said:
Is there a clear tutorial on setting the NAT to open on Xbox Live? I'm tethering off my Verizon 4G LTE phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was never able to find one that was complete... through trial and error I found a solid usb method. Now my only problem is this POS LG Revolution with no man support or ROMs. Seems I have to tether through EasyTether to maintain a solid connection (anyone know why?) otherwise it poops out after a couple minutes randomly which sucks because I've had my best tether 4g speeds through 3 rarely talked about apps, Tether Pop-Up and Auto-Usb Tether and SVTP no idea why but they kick the crap out of PDANet, Clockwork Tether, EasyTether. With the auto enablers / widgets I get 18-40DN / 6-12UP MB/S on speedtest.net the only way my tethering speed came close to matching my true phone 4g speeds the most Ive ever seen from the others was 7mbs dn 3up thats with easytether. So first find a tethering method that works the fastest with a solid connection (you need it otherwise constant disconnects and probation waiting for matches).
Now share your connection via pc/mac network card/ethernet cable to a Router (it must support an NZB Server)'s internet port. Set your xbox up to be a set IP address mines 192.168.1.4. leave everything else blank except dns = google for phone, pc and xbox network settings. Then login to your router generally under WLAN Setup you'll find "Default DMZ Server" enter your Xbox IP address in fields. Check to make sure MTU Size is 1500 and NAT Filitering "Open". I disable SIP ALG too if optional. Check to make sure your connection from PC is being shared and used as gateway ect in your main status and thats it. Connect to router via wireless or ethernet (faster). DMZ basically creates a port server for the xbox-router any port the xbox wants open nzb opens it (was what I understood). If your still not getting your xbox to say Open NAT make sure ips match router DMZ and xbox (dhcp crap messes it up sometimes), start opening ports on the router, pc and android for xbox you can get list of ports for COD via google and portforward on android and complete firewall bypass on pc can help too. You can achieve OPEN by simply getting all ports necessary but DMZ method much easier. As far as I know you need a DMZ capable Router you cannot WiFi tether to xbox and get open or any other way without a router to my knowledge.

gigilie said:
I was never able to find one that was complete... through trial and error I found a solid usb method. Now my only problem is this POS LG Revolution with no man support or ROMs. Seems I have to tether through EasyTether to maintain a solid connection (anyone know why?) otherwise it poops out after a couple minutes randomly which sucks because I've had my best tether 4g speeds through 3 rarely talked about apps, Tether Pop-Up and Auto-Usb Tether and SVTP no idea why but they kick the crap out of PDANet, Clockwork Tether, EasyTether. With the auto enablers / widgets I get 18-40DN / 6-12UP MB/S on speedtest.net the only way my tethering speed came close to matching my true phone 4g speeds the most Ive ever seen from the others was 7mbs dn 3up thats with easytether. So first find a tethering method that works the fastest with a solid connection (you need it otherwise constant disconnects and probation waiting for matches).
Now share your connection via pc/mac network card/ethernet cable to a Router (it must support an NZB Server)'s internet port. Set your xbox up to be a set IP address mines 192.168.1.4. leave everything else blank except dns = google for phone, pc and xbox network settings. Then login to your router generally under WLAN Setup you'll find "Default DMZ Server" enter your Xbox IP address in fields. Check to make sure MTU Size is 1500 and NAT Filitering "Open". I disable SIP ALG too if optional. Check to make sure your connection from PC is being shared and used as gateway ect in your main status and thats it. Connect to router via wireless or ethernet (faster). DMZ basically creates a port server for the xbox-router any port the xbox wants open nzb opens it (was what I understood). If your still not getting your xbox to say Open NAT make sure ips match router DMZ and xbox (dhcp crap messes it up sometimes), start opening ports on the router, pc and android for xbox you can get list of ports for COD via google and portforward on android and complete firewall bypass on pc can help too. You can achieve OPEN by simply getting all ports necessary but DMZ method much easier. As far as I know you need a DMZ capable Router you cannot WiFi tether to xbox and get open or any other way without a router to my knowledge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I appreciate it! One question, is it possible without a router? Just bridging PC to Xbox?

When you're using this kind of a method, your phone provider is the NAT. You can't really get around it because they control it. Not you.
However many phone providers will let you pay extra for a public IP address and then you'll have an open NAT.

I've tried just about every possible method to grt open NAT through my phone with the wifi tether app.. PC has wireless adapter connected to my phone.. Etherney cable from LAN port to the routers modem plug.. Ethernet cable from router to ps3.. I can't login to my router to change any of the settings for some reason.. I have a Netgear and my web browser keeps saying it can't find the page..
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Wifi issue. New findings?

Hello, been a long time reader from my G1 to my G2 and now my nexus 4.
I am unfortunately not able to use my device on certain wifi networks which is a real bummer.
Being that i have a background in diagnosing computer problems in my real world life, i thought i would post my findings as i found some interesting things!
First i will say that the network i will use as the demonstration is secured with WPA2 PSK AES security and encryption.
I can connect to it and often find i have problems on the first connect to the network. By this i mean if i have made my wifi settings 'forget the network' and then try to connect again.
On the first time it seems to indefinitely hang, showing the message 'authenticating' on screen next to the network and if i long press on the network name and press modify, the dialog shows that i have a link speed of 1mbps.
I can usually get past this by turning wifi off and on and then reconnecting, at which point it will connect straight away and have a normal link speed. (in this example 72mbps).
After i am connected, i find that the following does not load:
-browsing webpages through chrome does not load
-the wifi icon turns grey
-play store cannot load anything
I find that i get assigned an ip address by dhcp correctly too with the right gateway and dns.
I decided to download a network tool to have a better look. I use fing personally.
I found it very interesting what i found, which no other threads about wifi issues mention.
Network discovery found every device on the local wifi network.
I was able to scan the services of my computer which is also on the network and it found everything, including a http server which i run which i could browse to.
In fact i could do everything through wifi with this device and most others.
Again it got interesting when I then took a look at my gateway, the router.
I had discovered its mac address which i can verify through my computer is correct which to my understanding, being that i can communicate through the wifi, means that i have the information available to send information to that physical device?
When trying to scan services, i find nothing, which is not true, at the very least it exposes a http server on port 80 which my computer can access.
When trying to ping i have 100% packet loss.
So at this point it is only the gateway i cannot access.
So i figure i could setup another computer which is connected to the network with a wire to share its connection through wifi onto that network and then i have a standin gateway?
I connected this computer through wifi to the network and pinged it succesfully with my phone. I then turn ICS on my wired adaptor to share to my wifi adaptor. I ensure that the wifi maintains an ip address in the right range and subnet.
I then try to ping that ip with the phone and it then gets 100% packet loss.
Could this be that when a device is configured to act as a gateway something changes about how it handles any packets sent to it that the nexus 4 is currently in compatible with?

elltg said:
So at this point it is only the gateway i cannot access.
So i figure i could setup another computer which is connected to the network with a wire to share its connection through wifi onto that network and then i have a standin gateway?
I connected this computer through wifi to the network and pinged it succesfully with my phone. I then turn ICS on my wired adaptor to share to my wifi adaptor. I ensure that the wifi maintains an ip address in the right range and subnet.
I then try to ping that ip with the phone and it then gets 100% packet loss.
Could this be that when a device is configured to act as a gateway something changes about how it handles any packets sent to it that the nexus 4 is currently in compatible with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found a bit of a workaround that i can use!
When i said i turned on the wifi and ICS i did the following:
-Turned on wifi.
-Connected to wifi network.
-Turned on ICS on my wired network to share to my wifi
-Observed that my ip changed from 192.168.10.x to 192.168.137.1 with no gateway or dns.
-I decided to change my ip on the wireless to 192.168.10.x and gateway to my router 192.168.10.10
-I then tested.
I ran through this again but slightly different:
-Turned on wifi.
-Connected to wifi network.
-Turned on ICS on my wired network to share to my wifi
-Observed that my ip changed from 192.168.10.x to 192.168.137.1 with no gateway or dns.
-I decided to change my ip on the phone to 192.168.137.5 with gateway and dns as 192.168.137.1
-I then tested. And it works!
I know this doesnt fix the wifi issue itself, but for me, this makes a big difference as i can now use wifi at work where we also have poor mobile network coverage.
Edit:
Additionally i previously tried to setup this same computer to host a wifi network to share the connection using 'netsh' and creating a 'hostednetwork' but i found i was in the same situation where i still couldnt get the internet.

Tether to Router?

So I can use my standard USB cable and tether to the laptop and have net connection on lappy. Same with desktop. USB tether works just the same as wifi tether. What about getting a micro USB to RJ45 (ethernet) cable and tethering to the internet in jack on my router. Would that put the net signal on the router like a modem would?

Chopstix9 said:
So I can use my standard USB cable and tether to the laptop and have net connection on lappy. Same with desktop. USB tether works just the same as wifi tether. What about getting a micro USB to RJ45 (ethernet) cable and tethering to the internet in jack on my router. Would that put the net signal on the router like a modem would?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or you could get a wireless adapter for your Desktop. That's what I did. Now I can stream Amazon Prime on my Xbox 360, and PC game at the same time.This is what I have and works like a charm.
Good luck.

Oh my desktop is already wireless enabled, that's not an issue... Been running the house off the phones for a couple years... Just gave up a little bit when I got rid of cable interet. Whole house networking to other computers in the house, had to plug the wireless printer back into the desktop, it's no longer a network printer, etc.... was just toying with the idea and wondering if it would work is all.
Actually, in looking at the micro usb - rj45 adapters, I don't think it will work. Those are actually ethernet adapters, like adding a network card to a slot on a pc. Made for taking a net signal FROM a network, not sending one TO it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you just get a compatible wireless dongle (Something you would use for sniffing/injecting packets) and use it as an access point so you can broadcast the signal throughout the house?
Another thing you can do is pick up a router that you can install Tomato or DD-WRT on and use it as a wireless client bridge. It would connect to your phone, and again, broadcast that signal through the house.

Chopstix9 said:
So I can use my standard USB cable and tether to the laptop and have net connection on lappy. Same with desktop. USB tether works just the same as wifi tether. What about getting a micro USB to RJ45 (ethernet) cable and tethering to the internet in jack on my router. Would that put the net signal on the router like a modem would?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DJNads said:
Another thing you can do is pick up a router that you can install Tomato or DD-WRT on and use it as a wireless client bridge. It would connect to your phone, and again, broadcast that signal through the house.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. Assuming the phone would even operate in this manner (I've never tried but sounds like a great idea!), you'd need a router that is capable of operating in bridged mode/wireless bridge/access point mode (may be labeled as either of them). You'd then have to configure the router to said bridged mode. An easier route (and possibly more expensive) would be to purchase just an access point.

MrHyde03 said:
Correct. Assuming the phone would even operate in this manner (I've never tried but sounds like a great idea!), you'd need a router that is capable of operating in bridged mode/wireless bridge/access point mode (may be labeled as either of them). You'd then have to configure the router to said bridged mode. An easier route (and possibly more expensive) would be to purchase just an access point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may have an old WAP in my junk closet. A router that can bridge may work but first thing I think I would need is a router or WAP that has a USB connection on it.... I'm looking to plug the phone into the router to provide the internet signal instead of a cable/dsl modem, creating a typical LAN ... I can still use the LAN in-house sans the net connection. Just a pain to disconnect from one network (phone hotspot) and connect to another (netless LAN) for file transfers network printing etc ...

Chopstix9 said:
I may have an old WAP in my junk closet. A router that can bridge may work but first thing I think I would need is a router or WAP that has a USB connection on it.... I'm looking to plug the phone into the router to provide the internet signal instead of a cable/dsl modem, creating a typical LAN ... I can still use the LAN in-house sans the net connection. Just a pain to disconnect from one network (phone hotspot) and connect to another (netless LAN) for file transfers network printing etc ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't need to physically connect your phone to the router at all. Depending on what router you get, it should be able to pick up the wireless signal from your phone's hotspot and rebroadcast it as its own network.
Edit: And honestly, I'm not sure connecting the phone via usb to the router would even share the connection. That router doesn't have the drivers needed for that to work.

To the OP, off topic question but what did you have to do to activate wi fi tether? your sig, tells me that your on stock and can still do it, yes? thanks!

Side note, it's been awhile but when I moved into my apartment I had no internet for a few days.
I did the USB wired tether to a laptop, then the laptop I think I enabled ICS/internet connection sharing and then connected with rj45 to a router, and it shared that as the WAN connection.

motrinHD said:
To the OP, off topic question but what did you have to do to activate wi fi tether? your sig, tells me that your on stock and can still do it, yes? thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What part of my sig tells you I am on stock?

I've done both these things. I've taken my cell and flashed a router with dd-wrt and set it up as a repeater bridge but that means that only the computers near that router gets internet, unless your house is wired for ethernet (or using wireless). My current setup is having the phone tethered to a computer running Zentyal linux. This is a cool distro that can replace a 2008 Small business server in a work environment but it does the trick for my router at home. I had it running on an old P4 and recently graduated to a Zotac Zbox Mini ID41 which is tucked away behind my TV. I set up the computer to hand out dhcp and be the router and gateway. When i plug in my cell in tethering mode, zentyal recognizes it and i set that USB device as external WAN. It usually takes some getting used to and about a minute to normalize after the phone is unplugged and taken on the road. This has worked for me so far but when i'm at work, no internet at home. I'm currently attempting to talk my workplace into letting me subsidize a Verizon Jetpack i can leave home which will do the same job.
As a side note, i live in rural WI and we only have Satellite internet as a choice, which really stinks as both carriers have a bandwidth cap which we were constantly hitting two weeks into the billing cycle. They then throttle you down to less than a meg until your billing cycle renews.

We RV all summer most years and I use WiFiRanger gear to network our 5th wheel. That way we can grab a WiFi AP if one is available and the credentials are known or I HotSpot my phone and the Router grabs the phone's WiFi AP and we are good to go.
If you are stationary and only intend to use the phone's HotSpot as a WiFi AP then WiFiRanger's GO2 should do the trick. They are currently working on a firmware upgrade that will allow some great bandwidth monitoring and device usage controls. Their price is comparable to most full featured routers being offered but not cheap.
I am a satisfied user and Beta tester of their equipment, not an employee or representative. We use several of their offerings to maximize our capabilities on the road.