Wireless Repeater (OBSOLETE OLD INFO!)

[CortanaJPN]

I need to increase the range of my wifi network, and, rather than buy an expensive range extender or wireless bridge, I was thinking of doing this with the R-Pi.

Could anyone let me know if this is possible?

[SirLagz]

Yes, you can do it with 2 USB wifi sticks.
Don't expect great throughput from them though, even if they are N spec.
The most you'll get is probably 50mbit throughput.

[CortanaJPN]

Okay, do you know of tutorial or guide to do this?

[PS1981]

Are you sure this is a cheaper and better option? You need an extra stick, a pi, a power supply? I see this getting easily as expensive as a range extender or am I wrong?

[SirLagz]

I don't have an exact guide, but I'll write up a general guide here and do a more indepth blog post later

wlan0 - Connected to your existing wlan network
wlan1 - Broadcasting a new wlan network

wlan0 needs to be configured to connect via /etc/network/interfaces, or a variant of this method.
e.g. wpa-ssid and wpa-psk in /etc/network/interfaces

wlan1 needs to be setup to broadcast a network via hostapd
then wlan1 needs to be bridged to wlan0 so that when a client connects to wlan1, packets are forwarded to wlan0

Check out this post -> http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 27&t=17702

[EnzioBrK]

I also want to use my Pi as a wifi repeater, to increase the flying range of my drone. Any good tutorial? I could't find anything useful so far. many thanks in advance.

[bubblebobble]

I've been doing something similar and likewise couldn't find a guide. However, I've had some success, I'll outline the basic steps.

the first key thing was wireless adapters. I first used two TPLink ones. However, while they would connect to an existing wifi network they wouldn't work as access points. So I abandoned one of them and bought one from 7dayshop.com. (SKU: W-3S01BLK). This would allow me to create an access point. (using the guide : http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=19120 ) - thats WLAN0 in my setup sorted.

However, when now using the TPLink to connect to the existing network it now wouldn't work. Pulled my hair out for a whole evening before ordering a second 7DAYSHOP.COM wifi adapter and trying again. Interestingly it worked fine. I don't know if its some conflict between the chipsets or what but this now worked.

So my advice here is find one that works as an Access Point and when you've got that working get an identical one and connect it to your existing wifi network. You can do that by adding/modifying the following lines in your /etc/network/interfaces file

Code: Select all

auto wlan1
iface wlan1 inet dhcp
	wpa-ssid "the_sid_of_the_network"
	wpa-psk "the_password"

Last but not least you need to route between the network cards, I wrote a little shell script that I'd manually run (because it suits me to route sometimes to eth0, but passing wlan1 to the script will route between the two wifi cards

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

if [ ${#1} -eq 0 ]; then
	echo "You must enter the destination interface, e.g. eth0 or wlan1"
	echo " "
	exit -1
fi

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o $1 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -i $1 -o wlan0 -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i wlan0 -o $1 -j ACCEPT

echo " "
echo "Routed to $1"
echo ""

Anyway, it worked. It isn't perfect by any means (bit slow, may be routing or just having the wifi cards next to each other) and requires a bit more work, but its as far as I've got so I'm happy to share it and hope it progresses you a bit further.

[dspolleke]

an usb-extentsion cable should help ...

[pukster]

Does a wireless repeater mean I can log in from any node or does it mean I can walk around and still have connectivity? Because I am looking for the latter

[Gorrat]

it suits me to route sometimes to eth0, but passing wlan1 to the script will route between the two wifi cards

Would routing to eth0 effectively create a WIRED access point to your wireLESS network? I have an old XBox360 without a wifi card and I would like to cut the cord between my XBox and router without buying the Microsoft attachment. This seems like it would do the trick if I connected the ethernet ports of the Pi and XBox (through a switch), then connected the Pi's wifi stick to my wireless network.

[BBUK]

See also here http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 3&p=489189 which is a little script to turn an Arch installation into a repeater as requested.

Have fun

BBUK

[mrpurplenz]

I think people would underestimate the power of this concept.
By adding your own web-page served up to the access point and batteries to power it you can make ANY raspberry pi project completely:

• mobile
• wireless
• internet enabled
• handsfree

Imagine the projects:
Robots
Internet radio
mobile media server

Add a Qi charger, seal it in solid plastic and you've got an underwater rover (albeit with a limited range over wifi)
or
Add a weather balloon and not even the skys the limit


needless to say - I've bookmarked this page

[Mitchell.day.6]

This is exactly what I am looking for. Few questions.
1. If it were to go out of range of the main router then come back in, would it automatically connect again?
2. What stress is on the system, as I am looking to run a video server on the pi as well.

Mitchell

[mahjongg]

you do realise that you are replying to a post from 2014?!
none of the things said in this thread apply directly to a recent raspberry PI OS, or new hardware..