Help with 4G hotspot serving Internet to wired network

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Halloweenweed, Oct 28, 2012.

  1. Halloweenweed

    Halloweenweed Private E-2

    Hello, I am new to this forum. I need some help configuring a network for a future hotspot plan. Pardon my verbose, as my exact situation needs a lot of description and some explanation.

    My present network is: Wildblue satellite modem plugged into the "Internet" port of my D-Link DGL-4100 "gaming" router. Then I have a LAN W/the following items connected by wired Gigabit Ethernet:
    2 computers (both high-end gaming rigs).
    2 printers (one color laser, other one is a HP multifunction and scans).
    1 Tivo Premier XL.
    NAS (for data backup, Linux box).
    1 Wireless g/n router AP.
    Sometimes I also connect my new Asus Zenbook via Ethernet cable.

    It isn't really relevant, but we use one or two items on g/n wi-fi:
    Android tablet device.
    My new Asus Zenbook.

    What is relevant, is I have up to 5 devices to connect to Internet, the computers presently do not have wi-fi, the Tivo needs Internet, and supplying it via wi-fi would be a nightmare or PITA anyway. So I want/need to keep my Ethernet network LAN.


    The Samsung SCH-LC11 (USCellular) only allows 4 devices to be connected:
    http://www.uscellular.com/mobile-hotspots/index.html


    So I need a router W/NAT (Network Address Translation) to make all my wired Internet devices seem like a single device to the SCH-LC11. My DGL-4100 does this, and it has a good SPI firewall, but it doesn't receive wi-fi. I don't think I can receive wi-fi Internet from my present Wireless g/n router AP, D-Link DIR-600. It is designed to serve Internet to the wi-fi instead. So I've been looking at "client" wi-fi devices on the Egg. What about using one of these for the Wi-fi client Internet catcher:

    EnGenius N-EAP350 KIT Indoor Wireless-N Access Point with Gigabit PoE Injector

    EnGenius EAP9550 Wireless Access Point/Repeater 802.11 b/g/n

    These two units are designed W/802.3af PoE, for use W/security cams. I'm thinking it would give me an Internet source to my "Internet" port on my DGL-4100 router, and that router would do the NAT as long as I set them up W/different private network addresses. Of course, I would need to direct connect Ethernet to the EnGenius Ethernet port in order to configure the network addresses before connecting it to the DGL-4100.

    Or this cheaper unit:
    Netis WF-2403 Pocket-sized Wireless-N Mini AP / Repeater / Client

    It should work the same way, this one says can be used as a "client" and has a 4-port Ethernet switch.


    No matter which, in the end I would have the network map like this:
    The Samsung SCH-LC11 "mobile hotspot" receives the Internet and serves it to up to 4 wi-fi connections, one of which would be my client receiver unit. The output of that would go to my D-Link DGL-4100 router "Internet" port, this router would do NAT to act like a single connection to the wi-fi "client" unit. And the DGL-4100 would serve all my wired network on the LAN side. Theoretically, this would mean I could then have 3 additional wi-fi devices on the Samsung SCH-LC11 "mobile hotspot."

    Is this correct? :confused Any ideas/opinions? The latter unit is cheap enough to try even if there is a good chance of failure.
     
  2. Halloweenweed

    Halloweenweed Private E-2

    Perhaps I should mention as well, we can't get cable on my road, the Company refuses to serve our road, not enough ppl. DSL and other phone company wired Internet options are not available either. This just leaves Satellite, and now 3G/4G wireless. Satellite Internet is very laggy, with ping times around 1000ms, we cannot use it for gaming (we knew this when we got it). It's download speeds are decent, but upload is molases slow, and complex web pages take minutes to load (others just a few seconds). Our file download speed is just a tiny bit under 200KB/s, but typical upload speeds are in the single KB/s digits, often <2KB/s; and I administrate my own website. So you see, the 4G plan is a great step-up from what we have.

    I know I could just use a Windows Home Server for this, and it would replace my NAS, but:
    A. I don't need another Windows PITA to keep upgraded and have to work on periodically. I strongly prefer a NAS box.
    B. WHS units take much more electricity over time as opposed to routers (I don't leave my NAS on when not in use).
    C. The cost of a WHS is typically much greater than a simple NAS box (I also have off-site storage, I don't need hyper-reliable RAID storage).
    D. NAS boxes are smaller than WHS W/storage drives.
    E. Did I mention "A" above? This is really a big one, really A & B.
     

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