Can I connect a 25dBi 2.4GHz Wireless WLAN WiFi Antenna RP-SMA for Router to my a Netgear DG834?

PhoenixUK

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Dec 6, 2013
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Hi All,

We're going away in the caravan often enough and have a problem with either the mobile signal not being strong enough or lack of stable enough wireless from "site" provided that you pay for.

Therefore I'm looking in to whether I can add one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-25dBi-2-4GHz-Wireless-WLAN-WiFi-Antenna-RP-SMA-for-Modem-PCI-Card-Router-/221398336876?pt=UK_Computing_Boosters_Extenders_Antennas&hash=item338c5e856c to a spare Netgear DG834 that is just missing it's original antenna.

The main site we stay on have free wifi that you can use in the kids indoor play zone, then you can use the BT WiFi App on your smartphone to log in to your own home wifi account, and legal to boot.

So, if I can add one of these 25dBi RP SMA antenna's to the Netgear DG834, put the antenna on a pole on the side of the caravan, plug the antenna to the router and then switch the router on... will it then pick up any available WiFi points to connect to and then I simply connect and voila I'd have internet in the caravan?

I suppose it's all down to whether or not this will work in a certain required configuration, as ultimately the DG834 won't be getting a direct connection to it, as you would do at home plugged in via the normal home configuration.

Also, would other family members in the caravan be able to connect to the same connection from their phones or tablets via the router or will I have to do some tweaking do you know for this to happen etc?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Rob
 
Solution
Yes if that device has a option to run as a AP which I doubt since it is a DSL device. Any router can be a AP by turning off the DHCP and making sure the ip assigned to the device does not conflict.

It "should" be that simple but some wireless devices will not support multiple devices behind a single connection so you may at times need to mess around with the settings. Most times this is called client bridge with WDS. WDS is not a standard and some hotspots refuse to use it. You don't want to use just normal client-bridge mode if you have more than a single device.

The nice thing about commercial bridges like the engenius or the ubiquiti is it can also run in router mode allowing multiple machines to share a single ip/mac...
No it won't work you need something that looks like a PC to the remote location you are connecting to. A router only talks to end user device not another router.

You need a specialized device called a client-bridge. You could I suppose buy one and then connect it to that antenna but cost wise you are better off getting one of the newer devices that have the antenna and electonics all in one unit. Something like a engenius enh200 or maybe a ubiquti airgrid if you wanted to go farther.

Both these unit use ethernet cable to attach and are designed for outdoor use. You would then take the ethernet cable and plug it into the LAN port on your netgear device and use it as a AP to give wireless to devices inside as well as provide a couple of ethernet ports.
 

PhoenixUK

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Dec 6, 2013
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bill,

Thanks for the reply.

So in effect either the engenuis enh200 or ubiquti airgrid would both connect to the campsites hotspot from a pole on the side of our caravan, wired directly from the device and in to the inside of the caravan via ethernet cable, then plug in to the spare netgear dg834 router we have, then I'd simply make the switch in the routers admin centre to an Access Point and other devices could then connect to this same signal via wifi within the vicinity of our cvan?

Regards,
Rob



 

PhoenixUK

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Bill,

Also may I ask, this wireless antenna: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rocket-An...osters_Extenders_Antennas&hash=item4ad2cb8aae other people are commenting on caravan forums extensively, as using this exact one but just a way to locate the sites hotspot from a further distance that normally your laptop, phone etc wouldn't pick up, would this truly be possible with clear line of site and inside the distance which I'm sure it is?

However, I assume this would only allow connection via the mentioned BT hotspot app on a smartphone / tablet and not be able to be used on a laptop, as I don't think BT provide a laptop version of their WiFi App.

Regards,
Rob



 
Yes if that device has a option to run as a AP which I doubt since it is a DSL device. Any router can be a AP by turning off the DHCP and making sure the ip assigned to the device does not conflict.

It "should" be that simple but some wireless devices will not support multiple devices behind a single connection so you may at times need to mess around with the settings. Most times this is called client bridge with WDS. WDS is not a standard and some hotspots refuse to use it. You don't want to use just normal client-bridge mode if you have more than a single device.

The nice thing about commercial bridges like the engenius or the ubiquiti is it can also run in router mode allowing multiple machines to share a single ip/mac address. If your router happened to be a router that had a WAN ethernet port it could also perform the sharing. You would set the bridge device to client-bridge without WDS and then let the router get the single IP and share it. If I read correctly though the router you have does not have a ethernet wan port.

The antenna you first post is actually used to directly hook up a end device like a PC. Many pc wireless cards hard antenna you can remove so you just put this larger antenna on. It is simple for someone who has no technical skills and only needs 1 device hooked up.

I tend to never recommend that solution even for single PC anymore. The cable use is very expensive if you need to go more short distance and you take signal loss even in the very best cable.

All these solutions are line of site if you can not easily see the antenna you are connecting to it will not work. If you read the specs on the antenna or the bridge things I listed both claim they can go many miles. This is true but only if you put them on very tall towers...ie like 50ft or more. But pretty much if you can easily see the antenna without binoculars or something it will work fine from a short pole.

I think the way BT works is it uses a non encrypted wireless signal. You then must open some web page to start and it will intercept this and take you to BT log in page. The app they have you load just hides this.

When you share a connection with multiple machines each machine will still need to log in when you run in bridge mode since each has its own IP. When you run in router mode then it hides this since all the device share 1 ip. The very first machine that uses the service will be prompted for the userid and password and the rest will work without being asked. This is how you get something like a roku box on a hotel system. Since a roku cannot put in a userid and password there is no way to connect it to a public hotspot. BUT if you put it behind a router you can use a laptop and log in first and then the roku will work fine... the hotspot thinks it is talking only to the PC it does not know there is a router in the path.
 
Solution