Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 20:46 Post subject: Dual Wifi Setup for Travel Trailer?
Looking for a dual network setup in my travel trailer. One internal network for the smart TVs etc. and second to connect to either the home wifi or campground wifi to share to the internal network.
Joined: 04 Aug 2018 Posts: 1446 Location: Appalachian mountains, USA
Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 23:26 Post subject:
I do this using a Linksys WRT1900ACSv2 configured with dd-wrt as a travel router using the Client Mode approach detailed in the wiki: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Mode. I use the 2.4G wifi in Client Mode (Station Mode seems the new name for this, at least for some routers) to connect to the host system, and the 5G wifi then provides access for all my devices in the hotel room or RV/camper. I have to have a laptop along to use to put the host SSID and password into the Client Mode wifi interface in dd-wrt.
It works great with low-budget host setups like you find at campgrounds and at budget hotels. Corporate-chain hotels though are unpredictable.
Some of them, probably half of all hotels I've tried, use "captive portal" login procedures that typically defeat my attempts to connect my travel router. Occasionally I can get around the captive-portal issue by first connecting to the host with my phone. I note the MAC address of my phone's wifi as seen by the host, and then I set up "MAC Address Cloning" in dd-wrt to make my travel router appear to be the phone. I'm of course careful not to use the phone on the host system again. Don't want the same MAC appearing in their system twice! And I'm careful not to name my router anything like "MySneakyRouter" that might show up on someone's log! (I actually have the router name set to a single space, something you can do using the CLI.)
None of this is unique to me or original with me. Quite a few folks in these parts have done similar.
BTW, if management ever challenges you on why you are doing this, point out that you are providing your own firewall for safety, in case theirs is poorly configured or in case you accidentally connect to some hacker's lookalike "Guest" system by mistake. If you are set up to route your traffic through wireguard or OpenVPN to a VPN server somewhere, you are quite well protected, even if you are going through a hacker system on the way to the internet!
To clarify, I'm affirming the OP's goal as reasonable and advocating Client Mode as the technique to look into, but I'm not advocating the specific router I am using myself. It's a great router, but as pointed out below, it is overkill. (For me it doubles as the backup main router for my home.) More importantly, it's not available new or used anymore with any regularity. It's just too old now. _________________ 2x Netgear XR500 and 3x Linksys WRT1900ACSv2 on 53544: VLANs, VAPs, NAS, station mode, OpenVPN client (AirVPN), wireguard server (AirVPN port forward) and clients (AzireVPN, AirVPN, private), 3 DNSCrypt providers via VPN.
Joined: 18 Mar 2014 Posts: 12839 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:18 Post subject:
The Linksys WRT1900ACSv2 is perhaps a bit overkill in your situation, if you want something more portable and without external antennas then the E4200v1 is not a bad choice.
Probably overkill but was easier to find at a decent price. The ability to add upgraded antennas seem to be the upside for me. I could even mount external ones for better signal strength etc.
Took not much to get up and running. Curious to test it out on the first trip of the year.