Inexpensive wifi network for the Southwind

Jodie got a new Amazon Echo Dot for Christmas to use at home.  Since we’re traveling on the road for the next few months, I decided to look into what it would take to add some “smart home” technology to the 20 year old Southwind.

The first thing I needed to do is build a wifi network that can support multiple devices, be able to connect to different internet sources, AND, it needs to be reasonably inexpensive, yet secure.

When we travel, I use an ATT Mobley for internet. The problem is, the Mobley is limited to 5 wifi connections, barely enough for our current needs, laptop, smart phones, tablet, ROKU, and my new WaiterECC controller. One solution would be to connect the Mobley to a router via USB and then use the router as the wireless source within the RV.

With this method,  anytime we change wifi source, i.e. connect to park wifi or use my smartphone hot spot, each device needs to be set to use that source.  By having a permanently installed wifi network in the Southwind,  the client devices all stay connected to the router and the only change when using different sources is the the router gets connected to the different source.

I ran across this neat little gem during my search. Its based on the OpenWRT router and supports several different methods of connecting to an internet source. I can connect the Mobley using a USB cable.  It can also tether to my Verizon smartphone, or even act as a relay for an existing wifi internet system.  This is the GL.iNet GL-300N-V2 wireless router from Amazon for $20

Setup instructions are straight forward:

• Power up the router with a wall charger or some other USB source using the included cord (power supply isn’t included). plugged into a wall wart, or some other power source for the router.
• On my laptop, connect to the routers wifi SSID – GL-MT300N-V2-xxx.  The password is “goodlife”.  (These basic instruction are shown on the router box)
  
• Browse to 192.168.8.1., the routers admin page.
• In the “WIRELESS” tab, click “MODIFY” near the bottom of the page . I then changed the wifi NAME (SSID) and the wifi key.
• In the “MORE SETTINGS”, changed the “Admin Password”.
• I kept the default LAN IP address as 192.168.8.1 and DCHP addresses *start and end IP addresses.
• In CUSTOM DNS SERVER,  Turn ON the “Manual DNS Server Settings”  and set the Server 1 to “8.8.8.8” and Server 2  to “8.8.4.4”.  These are the Google DNS servers.

Connecting to the internet:

Use a USB cable and plug the Mobley into the router.  The router should automatically find and connect to the Mobley and get an IP address from the Mobley.  At this point the router should be connected to the Mobley and the router should have internet access via the Mobley.  See below. The Mobley will be identified as AT&T 3G/4G USB modem. The Mobley wifi is still available for clients, but I moved all my wifi clients over to the new router wifi.  This way, if I need to change internet sources,  its a simple matter to make the change in the router, and all the wifi user remain the same,  they get their internet from the router, not the Mobley.

IIMPORTANT – SECURITY UPGRADE – After connecting the router to the internet via USB modem, tether, or repeater, come back into the routers Admin page and verify the latest firmware is installed.  This router is based on open source firmware,  “OpenWRT” and “OpenVPN”. As such,  the firmware is under constant review and modification to ensure latest advancements and features, but more unimportant, identify and resolve any security vulnerabilities.