WDS issues with semi public wifi hotspot

My issue relates to using WDS function to connect a router to a caravan site wifi hotspot which has no password initially but requires users to login via their web browser through a portal. I'm having trouble getting that login page to appear on my devices with the WDS system. The router is a tp link

TL-WR841ND

The problem I have is that the service inside the Caravans can often be quite spotty due to the metal on the outside. There are 3 wifi routers on the site.

I tried to install a router with Wireless Distribution System WDS function in hope to spread the wifi from one part of the caravan to the rest. I have heard standard wifi repeaters may not work well in this case because they may not transmit client MAC addresses needed for portal login page authentication. I used the TP link router with an atheros chip inside. I have recently read that WDS does not have a defined standard so often different vendors and models don't work well together ( I think this may depend on the maker of the chipset). When connected by WDS a connection seemed to be established, with me able to see other users on the network from my own routers admin page. But when connecting to the network via my iphone to my new router the usual Airangel wifi login page does not pop up and the browser window loading bar just halts about a third of the way. I think there may be a problem with the MAC address authentication that is taken from my iPhone when I login with the portal.

edit:
I also did disable dhcp and set the new AP to have an IP address in the hosts subnet range

Some additional info:

As a temporary solution we have been using a windows 8 laptop with a program called Connectify. This turns the laptop into a wifi hotspot and shares the wifi under 'hotspot mode', with only the information of that laptop showing up on the network. Not the client devices. I can login on the browser of the laptop which then removes the need for the connected devices to login with air angel. Or If I don't login the login page will simply Pop up on other devices and work well. That program also has a WDS mode aswell which gives the same problems as the router. The laptop has a Broadcom chip.

any help to diagnose what is wrong would be a great help.

Michael

did you compare the advanced settings? Normally it is better to use a RADIUS server with WPA2-enterprise instead of hotspot since it works better with more devices. As long as the AP is only doing layer 2 the hotspot page should appear if DHCP from the router works. Connect using the problematic AP and look at your IP settings to see if they are what you'd expect for unlogged and logged sessions also for other APs too. Try to manually go to the login page too to see if it works and if whether or not the login page is bypassed from the problematic AP.

If they're all on the same network you should have the same IP when you switch between APs within the DHCP/session time. Do a trace by connecting from the problematic AP to see if it is doing any form of NAT or layer 3 routing. If it is than the problematic AP will appear on the trace list.

System Error Message said:

did you compare the advanced settings? Normally it is better to use a RADIUS server with WPA2-enterprise instead of hotspot since it works better with more devices. As long as the AP is only doing layer 2 the hotspot page should appear if DHCP from the router works. Connect using the problematic AP and look at your IP settings to see if they are what you'd expect for unlogged and logged sessions also for other APs too. Try to manually go to the login page too to see if it works and if whether or not the login page is bypassed from the problematic AP.

If they're all on the same network you should have the same IP when you switch between APs within the DHCP/session time. Do a trace by connecting from the problematic AP to see if it is doing any form of NAT or layer 3 routing. If it is than the problematic AP will appear on the trace list.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your response.

I no longer have the router so I am only using the Connectify program, which has a routing mode and a bridging mode. The routing mode produces the login page fine on the host pc or clients. Bridging mode not. I connected my devices to the bridge and yes the IP settings were all normal suggesting DHCP has worked. I could not access the router login page using the IP address that usually works. I am not in control of the network I am just a user, so I don't know what equipment they use. The site has 3 access points. The connectify help pages confirm that bridging disables DHCP and NAT. I only have access to the bridge from an Ipad as the laptop is the bridge. When i tried to use INet tools app on the ipad to do a tracert, no details except the number of hops shows up, it looks something like this:
Max 5 relative hops.
1***
2***
3***

When I do the trace connected to the site's access points I do get details. These all go through (logout.wifiportal.co.uk) IP ADDRESS OF ROUTER first.

The problem remains the same using connectify as the TP Link router, on Safari on iOS the blue loading bar stops about 1/7 complete (across the screen). The reason I want to use bridging is that I can set up a router and leave it here for when other people come, aswell as to help other site users do the same thing whose signal is effectively unusable inside.

Mike

Do you have ARP enabled on the network?
So you're saying you can browse the router fine but it doesnt automatically come up?
make sure the DHCP they get shows the router as the gateway and that the router is using a transparent proxy configuration to redirect users to login page.

Theres also the issue of https for hotspot in where hotspot will fail to redirect to https pages or fail to appear.