The "Jankiest" Internet Solution

[Nikolithebear]

Hey all,

 

Currently at home we're stuck with ATT 10/1 internet speeds and paying about 90 a month for it.. I know right?

 

What we want to do is purchase a Verizon hotspot that is basically a wifi hotspot to a local cell tower to get around 15-20 down and 1-3 up.  This will then be load balanced with either a PFSENSE or TP link solution to add up to a now redundant 35ish down and 5ish up.  Thats still to be tested.

 

How would I connect a wifi AP (Such as a ubiquiti AP) and hard line that to my WAN port on my router, thus making the verizon hotspot connected to my home WAN.

 

Save me from ATT... SAVE ME.  

 

(Other ideas or solutions accepted) 

[brwainer]

The normal means of doing this are to use a USB modem with a router that supports it (most USB ports on a router are meant for a hard drive or printer, but routers exists that specifically are meant for use with a modem). A USB modem usually can be given the same type of contract as a hotspot - they are treated the same by a cell network. Since nearly all routers run a form of linux or BSD or similar, you are really just connecting a USB modem to a computer, and that computer happens to then do other stuff that routers normally do, like NAT and DHCP. 

 

If you really want to go the hotspot route instead of a modem, then what are are looking for is a Bridge device - that is a device that connects to a wireless network and the bridges that wireless network with an ethernet port. You can buy devices designed for this, or you can buy a cheap router, put DD-WRT, Tomato, or similar open source firmware on it, and set it up in "Client Bridge" mode - meaning to use the wireless as a client instead of host, and to bridge the wired and wireless together.

[Nikolithebear]

Just now, brwainer said:

The normal means of doing this are to use a USB modem with a router that supports it (most USB ports on a router are meant for a hard drive or printer, but routers exists that specifically are meant for use with a modem). A USB modem usually can be given the same type of contract as a hotspot - they are treated the same by a cell network. Since nearly all routers run a form of linux or BSD or similar, you are really just connecting a USB modem to a computer, and that computer happens to then do other stuff that routers normally do, like NAT and DHCP. 

 

If you really want to go the hotspot route instead of a modem, then what are are looking for is a Bridge device - that is a device that connects to a wireless network and the bridges that wireless network with an ethernet port. You can buy devices designed for this, or you can buy a cheap router, put DD-WRT, Tomato, or similar open source firmware on it, and set it up in "Client Bridge" mode - meaning to use the wireless as a client instead of host, and to bridge the wired and wireless together.

Unfortunately hotspot is the ONLY way to go. I have an old watchguard router then I could test and flash with DD-WRT.  Good idea! Testing will ensue...   Thank you! 

 

More ideas still welcome  

[luigi90210]

You need to buy Verizon's home internet router then hook that into the WAN2 port on your pfsense box for load balancing. Those mifi don't have Ethernet Jack's so you can't use it for what you are doing. 

[argyle]

netgear makes a dock for mifi devices to turn it into a wired/wireless router for home use. Not sure if there is one compatible with verizon, but i have looked into the ATT ones.