Looking for a portable wifi network / media storage device for holidays

[Fat Tone]

So wifi is apparently now more important than sunshine on holiday, at least when you have teenagers and are abroad where mobile data costs more than your mortgage.

So, what I'm looking for is something that will pick up the neighbours wifi (with their permission of course) which can only be received usefully in the kitchen window, and will set up a new wifi network for all our mobile devices to access.

Bonus points if it also has storage and USB and SDXC readers so the photos can be shared and saved off easily.

As a slight aside, the number of holiday gadgets which are deemed essential travel equipment is scary. In a family of four that will be 3-4 mobile phones, 3-4 tablets (Android and a Surface Pro 2), 1-2 Kindles and a DS. We'll probably take two digital cameras, but in good light and for group shots our phones do a perfectly good job. At least the Surface Pro 2 means I don't need a laptop should something come up for work. And then there's the chargers...I've a solar powered device but it's not great, it's basically charge it all day then partially charge one device overnight.

T.

[Jammrock]

Lots of those on the market. Look for portable wireless storage online and you'll find a ton. Like this guy.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/voyager-air-2-mobile-wireless-storage-1-tb

The drive connects to an actual WAP, and then does wireless pass-through. Meaning anything not trying to access the local drive gets passed on to whatever wireless access point it's connected to.

Load up local storage with whatever media you want, and anyone with the password can stream movies, pictures, etc. They also come with battery packs for use on the road. No lugging around DVDs. just rip them to the drive and your tablets and whatnot can stream via wifi.

http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/media-drive/

There are portable battery packs for gadgetry now. I have a 8800 mAh pack and it can charge a smartphone and a tablet by itself. Get a couple of giant ones, juice them up at home and it should be enough to last charge things for several days on holiday. Just buy them from a reputable dealer, as there are a lot of shenanigans from bargain sites.

Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

[Fat Tone]

Thanks for the pointers, Jamm.

How does wifi passthrough work? Is it a rebroadcast of a network on a different channel?

[Umfriend]

So wifi is apparently now more important than sunshine on holiday, at least when you have teenagers

ROFL, being there and doing that.

As a slight aside, the number of holiday gadgets which are deemed essential travel equipment is scary. In a family of four that will be 3-4 mobile phones, 3-4 tablets (Android and a Surface Pro 2), 1-2 Kindles and a DS. We'll probably take two digital cameras, but in good light and for group shots our phones do a perfectly good job. At least the Surface Pro 2 means I don't need a laptop should something come up for work. And then there's the chargers...I've a solar powered device but it's not great, it's basically charge it all day then partially charge one device overnight.

We are "light" on equipment in a family of five: 4 mobile phones, 3 tablets, 1 laptop, 1 XBOX 360(!) with two controllers, headset, shitloads of cables for TV & headset. At least 4 chargers and 2 PSses. Micro HDMI cable, regular HDMI cable, one USB cable and two internet banking calculators. Still debating whether I'll take a UTP cable. No camera's, the phones will have to do. Of course, all the places we go will have wifi.

[VJ]

We gave my girlfriend's mother this wifi extender:

http://www.on-networks.com/products/extenders/n300re.aspx

It costs less than 25 euro, and basically connects to a wifi network, and just sets up a new access point. It also allows to connect a non-wireless device, which can be useful. There are similar devices from Asus, Dlink, ... and I think some also add usb port. Dlink has this:

http://www.dlink.com/uk/en/home-solutions/connect/access-points-range-extenders-and-bridges/dir-505-shareport-mobile-companion

Minor downside is that every device that connects gets a spoofed MAC address on the original wifi. So if MAC address filtering is switched on on the original router, you need to add more devices to the original router (this was the case on my girlfriend's parents router). It was not mentioned in the manual, but only in the FAQ on the website. I suspect similar such devices might have a similar behaviour.

I think OpenWRT also allows for it, so the same effect could be achieved with a router that can run OpenWRT.

PS: don't forget to pack converters to go from one socket to another...

[Jammrock]

Thanks for the pointers, Jamm.

How does wifi passthrough work? Is it a rebroadcast of a network on a different channel?

The mobile drive connects to the wireless router with Internet access. Just one connection between the devices, and the wireless router only sees one IP/device.

The devices connect to the mobile drive's built-in WiFi, which has a different SSID, password, etc. All the Internet-based traffic, stuff not trying to access media on the drive, gets forwarded to the wireless router.

It's like an wifi extender and NAT rolled into one. If you are familiar with DD-WRT it's like setting up a wireless connection in "Client" mode.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Mode_Wireless

We recently went to Florida on vacation. Had three tablets, two smartphones, two laptops, a DVD player (for the youngest), and a GPS stuck on the windshield. Had a 120W DC-to-AC converter run through the center console to power the DVD, smartphone and two tablets. Second smartphone from the car USB port. Second DC-to-AC converter with an extension cord run to the back seats to power the rest. Takes about 20-30 minutes to wire the car for a long family trip.

In about five years I'll have three teens and I don't even know how I'm going to handle long car trips then.

[VJ]

Remember that a repeater (like I posted) does not perform its own nat, so your computers and devices are visible from "the other side". A router that connects to a wireless network would solve that problem.