Creating a “travel” router
Thursday, November 19th, 2009When I travel, and it seems like that happens WAY to much, I like to carry a MikroTik Router with me. Â I use this router to simplify many of the problems I encounter with various “free” wifi spots in hotels. I might not exactly be making money, like this Traxplorio | Make Money Traveling blog professes to be possible, but I certainly am not losing any on internet connection. Â In this article, I will describe how my “travel” router is configured.
First, I’ll explain some of the options and types of hardware you can use to build a router suitable for travel. In most hotels, you will have available 2.4GHz wifi access. The access speeds will, of course, vary in different hotels, but there are a couple of things you can do to improve the chances of getting a good strong signal as well as increase the odds of having at least usable access in the worst of hotels. At a minimum, you will need a router with 2 wireless cards. One of these will be configured as a client device that will connect to the strongest “visible” access point. The second card will be configured for your use as an AP inside your hotel room. I use a RouterBoard 433 for my travel router (you can find one HERE). I use 2 of the R52 radio cards (available HERE). Add an indoor case, the right pigtails and you’re all but done. For me, I like the option of using a larger directional antenna (small 13dBi antenna is what I carry) in case the hotel I pick has really bad RF coverage (or if the hotel across the street has better internet access). Because of this, my “client” radio has an N-Female bulkhead pigtail. I keep an adapter handy to convert that to SMA, so that I can connect my smaller range extender antenna if that is enough antenna.
(more…)