WiFi at Sea (technical, sorry)

I looked at the specs and it seems interesting but I have not yet tried one or heard of any first hand reports.

The key with all of these ethernet units is the quality of the internal firmware which performs the network scan function and allows you to select/configure an access point. It is especially important that you can select by MAC address in addition to SSID because there are a lot of duplicate SSIDs in some harbors.

Reply to
Wayne.B
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Bill, does the firmware in the WRT54G allow selection of an access point by MAC address in addition to SSID?

Reply to
Wayne.B

The Wireless Mac Filter section of the router has the following options:

Prevent PCs listed from accessing the wireless. Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network.

And, it gives you the ability to edit the MAC filter list.

Here's the text of the help screen...

The Wireless MAC Filters feature allows you to control which wireless-equipped PCs may or may not communicate with the Router's depending on their MAC addresses. To disable the Wireless MAC Filters feature, keep the default setting, Disable. To set up a filter, click Enable, and follow these instructions:

  1. If you want to block specific wireless-equipped PCs from communicating with the Router, then keep the default setting, Prevent PCs listed from accessing the wireless network. If you want to allow specific wireless-equipped PCs to communicate with the Router, then click the radio button next to Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network.

  1. Click the Edit MAC Filter List button. Enter the appropriate MAC addresses into the MAC fields.

Note: For each MAC field, the MAC address should be entered in this format: xxxxxxxxxxxx (the x's represent the actual characters of the MAC address).

  1. Click the Save Settings button to save your changes. Click the Cancel Changes button to cancel your unsaved changes. Click the Close button to return to the Advanced Wireless screen without saving changes.

Not sure if that answered your question.

Reply to
Capt. JG

Does the same functionality apply in "bridge" mode as opposed to "access point" mode?

Most of the MAC filter logic that I've seen is to keep unwanted guests out of your wireless network. The issue here is how to keep your bridge from associating with unwanted access points.

Reply to
Wayne.B

I don't know.. you could try looking for this on the web.

Reply to
Capt. JG

But all these settings are on the LAN/Wireless side of the Router, NOT the WAN side of the Router which is the side that needs to communicate with the WiFi Access Point out in the WOLRD....... When using this router as a BRIDGE, to bring WiFi onboard......

Reply to
You

Going back to the original question, Skip said: "No amount of fiddling in the way I'd become accustomed, which is to just type the URL of the bridge in my browser, bringing up the setup pages, would do anything other than bring a signup page to the pay site. I grumbled but the other sites we had been using were a bit less than stellar..."

Do you mean to say that when you type in the "URL" [192.168.1.100 or something like that] of the bridge into your web browser, you get the paysite signup page rather than the bridge's setup page?? If so, you're going to have to climb back up and push a reset button.

Or do you mean that you Did get into the bridge's setup pages, but cannot figure out how to deny the offending paysite provider?

tom =-== p.s. Nice pics! Tampa at christmas time? p.p.s. I saw:

8 cranes abuilding; 7 gulls awinging; 6 slips aempty; 5...bosun's chair;safetyharness;halyardend;snapshackle Rings 4 stainless bolts; 3 copcars; 2 waterways; and a partridge in a pear tree. [video and imagination enhancing devices required for the last]
Reply to
tlindly

Hi, Tom, and group(s).

First, thanks for all the discussi> Go> "No amount of fiddling in the way I'd

I meant that originally, with the Vonage router acting as referee, my AP could communicate both to the outside world and enter the configuration pages of the bridge. Before that time, all attempts to have the two units directly connected failed producing IP conflicts regardless of the IPs set in the setup pages, all of which were readily available by connection to a NIC on the same IP class network. The way I was able to communicate with the bridge through the AP/router chain was to have the AP set to the same netclass as the router, which IP was not adjustable; it got the DHCP connection from the bridge and passed my URL access through. So far, so good. A nuisance to have to type in the specified SSID each time there was a change, but manageable - didn't have to take the ethernet to the computer - Vonage logged me into the internet and I could make phone calls and surf/mail on however many computers I wanted to connect to the AP, all was well with the world

Once Beacon was the stronger signal (now that the bridge and antenna were atop the mast), it redirected the bridge, forcing it to show the signin page rather than allowing me to interrogate the bridge. Reset would not change that - a power-off/on cycle will return me to the basic setup, which is that without a specified SSID, it associates with the strongest signal. Unfortunately, in Beacon's case, that signal is a redirect, not either an open or encrypted site where I enter my password. Accidentally I touched the factory reset button when I was fiddling the setup in the NEMA box; I just typed in the factory URL, reset it all to what I wanted, and it came back. However, that was when we were breadboarding it, and the Beacon signal was visible (only) and not dominant.

However...

I've spent yet another set of hours on the phone with a Vonage rep. We wound up going through a DLink router, which solved the communication problem for a while, and now it's back to plug-and-pray, as I can interrogate the bridge just fine over a configured NIC (not DHCP but the same netclass as the bridge), set it, and put it into a DHCP NIC and make my connection (still through the redirected signup page) and surf and mail (as I'm doing with this post) but not wirelessly.

As to the aiw bunch, I not only followed the given directions to the letter, I had another offline relationship with someone who had the exact same setup (Senao units in AP and Bridge mode doing what I wanted, rather on a ski slope, than our mast-top); we could not kill the IP conflict dragon. He and another offline correspondent recommended either a switch or a router between the units. That, indeed, solved the IP problem, and I was successful in making the connectivity work.

That I can - from the top of the mast, before I closed it up, just checking the setup - quote (from memory) the setup pages, and manipulate them with my totally computer illiterate wife at the keyboard below suggests I have a handle on how the unit works, despite the chiding I get in aiw. What I don't know, of course, is why it doesn't work later, after it's successfully worked - and I've very easily manipulated the setup pages - before (and in fact can still do so if connected over ethernet cable.

The conclusion, in any event, is that this unit is not suited to the purpose, and more, is a "b " only vs b/g or others, which is one of the gotchas which had me going nuts initially, as my b/g enabled unit could see and communicate just fine with a station which the bridge could see but not talk to. We presume they had their network set up as 'g' only to increase connectivity or packet throughput or some other internal reason, confusing me because of the success with the adapter and failure with the bridge.

So, I'm on the hunt for a plug-and-play, moderately amplified (don't want to be a bigmouth nuisance), point-and-click-to-associate (required, not go to strongest signal, also a benefit in the cases where there may be multiple iterations of the same SSID with different MAC addresses), bridge (12V, as I've already spent the bux to have the POE).

Yup - it was a real toad-strangler, as well as very high winds. We were at family south, so only got to see it on TV. Glad you like the pix. The electronics installations are nearly finished, with the radar, chartplotter and other stuff working. Pix to follow, as well as followup on the comms situation as I have something more than interim reports to communicate.

The aiw and seven seas folks know that I'm more persistent than a bulldog, so we *will* solve this challenge. The internet is perfectly (well, acceptably) workable now, if I am willing to be connected to a cable, and switch between NICs to make changes - which I'm not.

So, we'll have a new bridge, which will send down its static IP to the telephone switch/router. That unit will be assigned an IP by the host, and Vonage will then see the MAC of the base station to the two wireless handsets, and log me into the world. The ISP (the local AP, whether Beacon here, or something else elsewhere) signal will go on out to the AP, which will provide us boatside wifi.

So, that's my current challenge. Just because there may be other interest in phone connectivity, and this thread is pretty deep, I'm also starting a new topic with this name. Informed, or experienced, or knowledgeable, or otherwise contributions to this new thread encouraged. This is the challenge:

A bridge connected to an antenna atop a mast. Light amplification to get the signal back to whatever AP we're connected to ashore, whether free public or subscription access. If we're a long way out, even though we could hear them on the big antenna, we might not be able to talk to them. That bridge is powered by, and sends data down to the inside of the boat over, POE. We've proven that part of the system.

That data goes to a Vonage router/switch, via the WAN port. When it sees an internet connection, the MAC is visible, so Vonage logs me in, and I'm on the same telephone number as I've had for 30 years, having taken advantage of the LNP to move it to Vonage several years ago. That gives me a dial tone at the two wireless handheld phones. That component has been proven. The above was proven, briefly, as we successfully used the phone on two successive days when we were miles out of the marina. It passes data out through the LAN port to a computer or something else. That something else is

An AP which we set up to allow us to access the internet wirelessly. It's the same as having a wireless router in your home, if you were connected to the Vonage unit, and the Vonage unit were connected to your cable or DSL modem. At least one iteration of that has been proven. Whether I stick with the Senao unit is yet TBD; I'm pretty soured on them currently, and there may well be better solutions for our boatside stuff.

My objective is to 1) Use plug-and-play units which require nothing other than perhaps entries of addresses to set up, and perhaps firmware upgrades and 2) not have to mess with any wires (Lydia's absolutely ballistic over visible wires; she's spiral wrapping all the engine room and any other places where any exposed wiring might be visible) once it's set up. A power cycling should be all that's needed to start over in the event of challenges, but I'll make it so I can get to the cables involved in case I have to do some direct manipulation of the various units. Once I've made the shoreside connection, the telephone is active, and I don't have to have the computer running to achieve telephony; turning on my computer and the AP should provide me internet access. (Perhaps that's objective 3, but I think that should be a given; if the Vonage unit is receiving an outside signal and is logged in, turning on the AP will be the equivalent to your turning on the computer hooked to that LAN port at home.)

Thanks again to all who've contributed to the original thread, and for those looking in, I'm glad you like the pictures. I hope to make it so someone trying to do the same thing as I, later, will have a visual guide to what I did...

L8R

Skip, clueless in St. Pete

Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at

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Reply to
Skip Gundlach

Hi, Ian, and group(s),

The Bridge has a static IP (which I set to be outside the usual use range so as to avoid IP conflicts) - and the Vonage unit IP can't be changed - but, like the Bridge, the DLink can be set to whatever I want, also static. I have used it in DHCP, though, so it will get me on the air - and that on-the-air signal is what Vonage uses to find the MAC address to connect me to the phone grid...

That's possible, but highly unlikely, as I have more than one current, up to date, tool which checks weekly, and also notifies me of any attempt to intrude (very few) or insert malware (even fewer). Full virus and malware scans are done weekly. Oversight (active scanning) is on full time.

No. My router is easily accessible through my AP, which is set to the

198.162.(whatever the router uses).xxx class

Further, we are now at the point where only a direct connection (NIC) will allow any communication with the top of the mast or beyond.

We briefly had connectivity to the Vonage router by going to a DLink DI-614 (ancient tech, left over from my landside home) router WAN port with the bridge, and putting the Vonage unit on one of the LAN ports. I connected to the DLink over wifi and was able to interrogate it and the Vonage unit.

For whatever reasons, those abilities (vonage and bridge - I can still look at and configure the DLink) have gone away. Worse, and supportive of the thought that either the Senao is simply junk, or perhaps, also, just unsuited to the purpose, direct (over either configured NIC for setting up the bridge, or DHCP NIC for access to the internet) connection is currently the only way I can communicate.

That's not acceptable to me, but it does, at least, after lots of fiddling, as the Senao unit is becoming slow to respond in the main Beacon page (there are more than one; I can connect to lesser strength ones and get a login page more readily than the close, very high [100% link, 89% signal] one which got me started down this road) I've been using, allow me to be on the air, as it's how I'm posting this...

Thus, as mentioned elsewhere, I'm ready to replace it; finding a lightly amplified client bridge's - with my specification about how one connects - challenges have been described in other responses.

About to take all the yard folks out for a sail today in reward for all the assistance they've rendered in the past; 85, mostly sunny, 2-3 chop, 10-15S should make for a glorious trip to nowhere (we're coming back!) :{))

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at

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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Reply to
Skip Gundlach

This conclusion was drawn for you MONTHS AGO. You just refused to listen.

Reply to
Bill Kearney

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