I need to set up a personal network from existing network. How do I do this? [closed]
I will soon be staying at a place that has existing wifi. I would like to be able to set up a personal network for my devices. I won't be able to put cables from the main router. My question is basically if I can set up a network with an old router that has a different ssid and password, but is piggybacked off another existing network.
43 Answers
Ideally you want some kind of non-wifi connectivity from the main router. It depends a lot on the cabling, but very often using Ethernet over Power adapters on each end can replace a WIFI drop.
If this is not an option, you can use WIFI, but it reduces the available WIFI spectrum and slows things down for everybody. There are a few ways to do this - but the key thing to know is that - as a rule - a WIFI modem either acts as an AP or an AP client but not both. A common work-around if you don't use 802.11ac gear is to reserve the 5 gig band for communication between routers and 2.4 gig band for clients.
Expanding on the last paragraph, the easiest way is often to configure an AP Client on one device, then connect its LAN interface to the WAN interface of your preferred router.
You should be able to do this with an Ubiquiti Rocket. You need to put it in Repeater mode and enter the existing Wi-Fi network and password.
You can the rebroadcast the signal as your own SSID.
The Ethernet Port on the rocket would then be internet accessible as well.
If I am not mistaken you could even plug a DHCP router with the Wan wire to the rocket and create your own wired network.
The problem with this setup is bandwidth is cut in half by every hop through WiFi and latency will be increased so you may not get the best speed or browsing experience.
It depends on your router (which you didn't describe). Many routers (e.g. all TP-Link I've seen) allow the WLAN to work both as access point (AP) and client (station, STA) at the same time, but only on the same channel. More modern routers may allow this even for different channels.
You usually cannot set up this with the existing firmware, but if you flash your router with e.g. OpenWRT or some other open source firmware, it's possible. You should have a bit Linux experience though, and not be afraid of the command line (or know someone who can do that for you).
A description of the necessary configuration is here.
