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Context: I just moved and still have to wait a while until I get an internet connection from my provider. In the meanwhile, my neighbor allows me to use his WLAN.

Issue: Many of my network devices (e.g. NAS) are only connected via LAN. Is there any way, I can use a WLAN router (e.g. with DD-WRT) to route traffic from my LAN to the WLAN?

Essentially what I'm looking for is a way to simply use the internet provided by my neighbor as the "uplink" - but have my own network infrastructure. Thus, the WLAN router would have to route the other way, i.e. forward/NAT everything coming from the LAN ports to the WLAN.

Thanks!

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With common SOHO hardware, I doubt this is possible using just one unit - all WLAN adapters are usually bound to the the LAN side of the router.

Now, if you had a spare Wi-Fi router, you might be able to accomplish this. Build your personal network on Router 1. Set Router 2 to Bridge Mode and connect it to the neighbor's Wi-Fi. Then, connect a LAN port on Router 2 to the Internet port on Router 1. Of course, make sure the address space you're using on your personal network doesn't overlap the space used on your neighbor's.

You could also probably work out a solution if you have a spare computer with 2 Wi-Fi cards. Just set one Wi-Fi card to connect to your neighbor's network, set the other to serve as an AP to your network, enable DHCP and other essential services on the second card and configure routing between the two.

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  • Thanks Iszi! Bridge Mode was exactly what I was searching for! I had a second router - it now works as a charm!
    – Peter Albert
    Commented Jan 4, 2013 at 21:55
  • @PeterAlbert Note: If you like, you should be able to still connect wired devices to Router 2 and have them get Internet access. They just won't be protected by the NAT on Router 1, nor will they be able to access any resources behind Router 1. Access coming from Router 1 to resources on Router 2 should still work though, so you could e.g. set up a printer on Router 2 that both you and your neighbor could use without fully exposing the rest of your network to him.
    – Iszi
    Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 21:30
  • Thanks Iszi! That's basically the setup I ended up with - apart from the "shared zone" between Router 1 and router 2. So my full network is setup as always, only that router 1 is providing the internet access via the bridge mode. When I finally get proper internet from the telco (hopefully next week), all I need to do is to replace the router 1 with the cable modem.. :-) Thanks again!
    – Peter Albert
    Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 22:26

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