[Q] Wifi Tether and DDWRT for a complete home network

[eghost57]

OK, my wife and I each have Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3's. We both have Wifi Tether TrevE mod installed and working and we also have a linksys router running DD-WRT.

I have wanted for a long time to create a stable home network with the router using our phones for internet. Reason being, We both have laptops that need access to our WiFi networked printer. And I also wanted to create a networked storage.

I started out trying to use the Router as a repeater bridge. The problem here is that in that mode there is no DHCP server in the router, so when you turn off WiFi Tether in the phone, there is no IP assignment taking place since it is handled by the phone. This is ok for the printer because we can set a static IP, but not ok for the laptops because they need to have auto ip assignment for all the other networks they might encounter. Plus I'd like to be able to have a friend come over and use the printer if need be without having to change his IP address. So this setup is unstable.

Then I tried the Router in Repeater mode. In this mode IP addresses are being assigned and everyone can see everyone else on the network. The problem here though, is that the Router and all connecting devices have to be in a separate subnet than the WiFi Tethering phone, i.e, Tethered Phone on 192.168.1.x and Router on 192.168.2.x (as far as I can tell anyway, I've tried putting them on the same subnet but fail to get internet access.) It's a problem because I have Samba Filesharing installed on the phones and the tethered phone is in a different subnet and not visible on the network. I want all devices visible.

So that's kind of where I am now, Wifi Tether on both phones (each setup with same settings so either phone can be used as our internet gateway) but they are on a separate subnet from the rest of the network while tethering.

How do I get all of my devices to be visible on the network?

Do I need a different setup in DD-WRT?
Currently it is setup in Gateway mode with DHCP server and wireless is in repeater mode with a VLAN setup with a different SSID from the WiFi tethered phone.

Do I need to usb tether the phone to the router? I have a usb port on the router but I've not found good instructions for getting the phones internet through to the router that way and I'm not sure that I would want it that way since I wouldn't be able to walk around with my phone.

Is there a way to make devices in different subnets visible to each other? Some kind of bridging or static routing or something?

Is it possible to have the phone connect to the router in a normal manner and for the router to then share the phones internet connection with the rest of the network? Then at least the router could run DHCP and be stable even without the phones.

Again, just to clarify, I want a home network with devices connecting to my WiFi router running DD-WRT and internet being provided by one of our phones, but with the network remaining intact when the internet provided phone is removed. Thanks for your help.

Bonus questions:
Is it possible to harness the power of both of our phones internet connections into one network by any means possible?
Are there any other wifi/tethering apps or another version of WiFi Tether that offer more features or the functionality of DD-WRT?

 

[pbmurdoc]

did you see this?
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1548844

 

[eghost57]

did you see this?
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1548844

Thanks. Not much new there other than Barnacle. Didn't know about it, tried it, doesn't work on my phone. I would like to see a version of WiFi Tether with some more options though, why couldn't we have one with the same options as DD-WRT?

I did some more reading and I think what I need to do is link the subnet created by the router to the primary router (the phone serving Wifi Tether) through static routing. Unfortunately the static route needs to be done through the primary router and WiFi Tether doesn't include features like that.

I'll do some more experimenting and see what happens.

 

[jheide44]

[A] Cellular Phone/USB Modem As WAN Connection

Answer is in the DD-WRT Wiki, here (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Cellular_Phone/USB_Modem_as_WAN_connection).

Or just google "DD-WRT Cellular Phone/USB Modem As WAN Connection", it should be the #1 result.

Their WIKI is a great resource.

Good luck!

EDIT:
In retrospect, I am unsure about linking to the DD-WRT site... external and all. If this is a no-no just let me know and I will delete the link.

 

[nlounds]

DD-WRT Client Bridge worked for me

I was able to do what you're trying to do by configuring my DD-WRT router as a Client Bridge.
I can't post the link, but there are directions I followed exactly on the DD-WRT wiki in the section:
DD-WRT wiki mainpage / Linking Routers / Client Bridged

I'm connecting my router to the tether via wifi, and connecting my wired devices to the router. I haven't had it working long, but so far it has been great.

 

[eghost57]

Got it, sort of

Just to update this thread. The client bridge is a great way to connect a wired network to the bridge but loses out on creating a stable wi-fi network when the phone tether is turned off.

Anyway, the final setup I managed was having the DD-WRT router set as a wireless repeater with a computer connected to it running a DHCP server. The computer takes care of the IP addreses so that we have a stable wired/wi-fi intranet when the phone is not sharing it's internet connection.

 

[jheide44]

Update: I founde another solution/project based on OpenWRT
http://ofmodemsandmen.com/

my exploits using a Linksys E3000 have been documented here:
http://tweakedrom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7

I kind of like the USB tether thing. The E3000 Router USB power charges and maintains my SCH-i605 (Verizon Samsung GN2) running CM12.1. I use this as a backup connection or in the event of main cable modem service disruption at the house. It is also great for traveling (hotels) or camping (car 12v adapter for router, or power inverter)

 

[Mike7143]

I just bought a used Asus RT-N66U router. Out of the box it supports USB tethering with android phones and dual WANs for failover/load balancing. ROOter also works, tested the x86 build on an old PC. I'm looking to cut out my ISP completely and just use 4G from the phone for internet. The issue I have run into is that I can't appear to do DDNS or port forwarding. My wireless carrier (verizon) appears to be employing a double NAT. If I perform a speedtest on the ookla app, I get 2 IP addresses in the results, an "internal" and an "external". Both are in the public range but I can't DDNS in with either of the IPs, nor can I get any kind of service working.

Anyone have a solution for this? I'm not 100% sure but I wonder if using the SIM card in a dedicated USB 4G modem (not tethering via the phone) would get me a direct IP? I suppose I could also sign up for a VPN service and run OpenVPN on the router but that'd cut down on speeds I think. I've also heard about punching holes for ports but I'm not 100% sure how that works, I assume I still need some 3rd party public IP for relaying or something.