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I'm using a borrowed wifi signal from my neighbour, all the devices in my apartment receive IP addresses from his router. Once I was having some connecting problems and I decided to try using what they call static IP addresses (big ignorant mistake), all my devices connected right away, but my neighbour came to complain. I fixed the problem, came back to asking the IP addresses via DHCP.

Can I use another router to receive his signal and provide own IP addresses to my devices?

I wish I could have internet in all my six devices but using only one slot in my neighbour's router. I tried enabling the DHCP in my router (normally disabled), it successfully provided own IP addresses to all my devices, but none of them connected to internet. The IP address of my router is 192.168.0.1 (a TP-LINK router), my neighbour's is 192.168.1.1 (a MERCUSYS router) so no chance of conflict in assigned IP addresses.

My router is a TP-LINK model No: TL-WR740N. In this screen t.ly/M-4C my router takes the wifi signal and produce another one. At this point I can manipulate the signal, do some parental control, bandwidth control, etc.

I feel like it should be an easy task, but all my attempts has failed.

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    How're you connected to his router? You need 'client mode' to do that - and that's a uncommon thing
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Commented Apr 30, 2023 at 3:03
  • 1
    get a so-called travel router (GL.iNet make decent ones for cheap if budget is a concern)
    – Jaromanda X
    Commented Apr 30, 2023 at 3:28
  • @JourneymanGeek: My router is a TP-LINK model No: TL-WR740N. In this screen t.ly/M-4C my router takes the wifi signal and produce another one. At this point I can manipulate the signal, do some parental control, bandwidth control, etc. I dont think this is so uncommon. What I want to do is positively possible, I've done it already, but I dont remember how, and I can't replicate the process.
    – Shirley Temple
    Commented Apr 30, 2023 at 4:28
  • is your router supported by OpenWRT - very easy to make a so-called travel router with that. I think the OpenWRT package you'd want is called travelmate
    – Jaromanda X
    Commented Apr 30, 2023 at 11:42
  • @JaromandaX: I dont think I'll use your suggestion to solve this problem, but I want you to know that I find it very very interesting all what I just read about OpenWRT. Thank you for drawing my attention about this topic.
    – Shirley Temple
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 9:51

2 Answers 2

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+25

You are looking for what's called WISP mode, which stands for "Wireless Internet Service Provider".

In this mode, a Wireless port of the WiFi router acts as the WAN port, connecting to a remote Wi-Fi hotspot and sharing this Internet connection between the client devices connected to it via WiFi and Ethernet. This mode usually creates a private network, where IP addresses are are local only to this network and are not seen by the router and computers in the network supplying the internet connection.

Graphically, this looks like this :

enter image description here

Reference article : What is a WISP on my Wireless Router?

Because I don't know your router's TP-LINK model, this is a summary of the article How to configure the WISP Client Router Mode on the TL-WR710N. As I don't have a TP-LINK router, some of the text below is by (educated) guess, and might be in error.

  • Connect the router to your computer, preferably via cable, with no other network or internet connection, reboot the router and then the computer
  • Open a Web Browser and go to http://tplinklogin.net or 192.168.0.254
  • Enter user name and password (default admin)
  • Go to Quick Setup and click Next
  • Select Wireless WISP Client Router and click Next
  • Choose the WAN Connection to your neighbor. Your neighbor's preference is Dynamic IP.
  • Click Survey
  • Find your neighbor’s SSID and click Connect
  • Enter the connection parameters for your neighbor and click Next
  • Click on Reboot and wait for it to reach 100%
  • Go to the Status page and check the information under WAN to see whether you have successfully connected to your neighbor.

See the article for more information with screenshots.

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  • Regardless of model, the parts about PPPoE or "parameters provided by neighbor ISP" do not apply here if OP isn't connecting to their neighbor's ISP – they're trying to connect to their neighbor's own router, which will not be providing PPPoE (and OP is specifically trying to avoid "static IP" as well).
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 16:09
  • @user1686: Yes, the word ISP was superfluous - deleted. The "Static IP" part is because that's what the article said, but I'm also doubtful about what it's used for, as the connection to the neighbor is done with Dynamic IP. The poster will have to find out by trial and error, but it might be the router's own IP in the created local network (again just a guess). Hopefully the router's firmware will add more inline help.
    – harrymc
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 16:13
  • Well, "Static IP" would work, technically, but OP already got told for using it when connecting their other devices, so they likely won't be able to use it when connecting a router as well. (These two options are not something unique to WISP mode, it's the same kind of IP configuration as in a PC, so OP needs to use "Dynamic IP" which is just straight up DHCP client mode.) "PPPoE" on the other hand isn't going to work at all when connecting to a consumer router, except in very rare cases.
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 16:22
  • @user1686: Hell's bells, I think I understand now - the article presents two possibilities and I listed both by mistake. The "Dynamic IP" option leads directly to the "Survey" step. So you're right, PPPoE is not involved at all. Thanks for your help - I deleted the superfluous part.
    – harrymc
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 16:27
  • FROM OP: No "WISP Client Router" option available in this router.
    – Shirley Temple
    Commented May 9, 2023 at 8:23
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Technically, you can use your own router to receive your neighbor's WiFi signal and provide an own DHCP-Pool to your devices. However, you need to configure your router properly for it to work correctly.

The way you want to use your router is called "WISP"-Mode.

Normally, at your TP-Link Router-Interface you can just switch at Quick-Setup from "Access Point" to "WISP Client Router", tick "Dynamic IP" and then you can choose the SSID from your neighbour's router.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-KGlVwAFhs

That way, you are not longer using the DHCP-Pool from your neighbour.

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  • FROM OP: No "WISP Client Router" option available in this router.
    – Shirley Temple
    Commented May 9, 2023 at 8:22

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