Smartphone to Wireless Router

[doco2279]

Hello everyone, this is my first post. A little background:

I live out in the middle of nowhere, so that greatly limits internet options. Currently I'm on a WISP, but they have old towers and I'm lucky to get .5 Mbps. I have a very good 4G signal through verizon and I'm on a grandfathered unmetered data plant. Consistently getting 20 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up.

So...what I'd like to do is use my smartphone for primary internet. How I wanted to accomplish this was to USB tether my android smartphone to an ASUS RT-N66U, providing "hopefully" full wireless connectivity to my house and running a Cat5 cable from the router to my home computer for greater stability, since my computer is on the east side of the house, and my verizon signal is the best on the west side of the house. Does anyone see any issues with this set-up? I'd like to know if anyone else has tried this. I'm planning on leaving my phone constantly hooked to the router, and adding another line with a tiered data cap, which would allow me to carry on with my day to day activities outside the house but still allow my wife and kids to utilize the internet when I'm not home. I appreciate any feedback in advance.

 

[stevech]

I know of four choices

1. pay the cellular company for WiFi access tethering. Hot spot or some such, based on the smart phone becoming a WiFi access point. Short range.

2. Pay the cell phone company for a MiFi or some such name for what is essentially the above, but it is not based on the phone. If you want to keep cellular data service on the phone, this approach would add the cost of a 2nd cellular service plan.

3. Same as 2, but instead of a MiFi or similar little black box, get a WiFi router that can use Cellular as its WAN, instead of a cable modem or DSL. Cradlepoint is one of several that make these. Look at their website and look for an good/used MBR900 on eBay. Problem with this is like (2) you need a second cellular service account. I have such a router- and plug my USB Verizon 4G modem in when (a) the cable modem system is down (rare), (b) I want to upload a lot- because Verizon's LTE upload/upstream is much faster than my cable modem (due to Time Warner's non-competitive pricing).

4. With a smart phone (Andriod), there's an app from the Android app store that allows Internet connectivity sharing via USB without having to pay the WiFi tethering fee. This USB can go to a desktop/laptop. With some work, you can make that PC be an access point for others, or even share the USB based connection on the Ethernet LAN. It's a PITA, but doing things on the cheap isn't easy.

Bottom line: A lot of us pay for both Internet on the smart phone and Cable modem or DSL for the home LAN. So #3 is what I recommend. ANd with the USB modem in #3, you have the option of moving it to a laptop for on the go, when no one in the home needs the Internet. I do that for vacations, weekend trips, etc. I have a Cradlepoint travel router that accepts the USB LTE modem and creates a WiFi bubble, in the car or in a hotel without free WiFi.

 

[doco2279]

Steve,

Thanks for the response. I've already purchased another cellular line for my wife, and we are going to utilize her existing smartphone (with unlimited data plan) as our primary internet. We are going to couple this with an ASUS-RT66U router, utilizing Foxfi to USB tether to the router. I think this is the easiest way for us to get the most reliable high-speed internet. The cost for another cellular line for my wife to use is $40.00 a month, which is cheaper than the $55.00 a month I'm currently paying for WISP that doesn't work in the first place (I don't consider 0.5 Mbps down and up as "working"). I'm currently just waiting for all the pieces to show up, which should be Friday. For anyone else considering this option, I'll post an update about how it goes. Hopefully the ASUS router will accept the USB tether. This is really the only thing that I'm concerned about, since I haven't been able to find any other example of someone doing this set up anywhere.

I suppose my question was....has anyone attempted to USB tether from a cell-phone into the ASUS router? If so, how difficult was it to set up.

I appreciate any input from anyone with experience.

 

[doco2279]

Update - Mifi 4620L

A quick update for anyone who's interested..... The phone I was using was not very stable. Not the fault of the phone, its just not meant to be a dedicated internet access point. So....I purchased a Jetpack 4620L from ebay for 18 dollars. Swapped out the sim card from my old phone and than used the Asus RT-N66U in repeater mode. Testing speeds last night, I was getting a consistent 24 mbps down and 7 mbps up. Latency of around 30 ms. Considering what I used to have, this is excellent. Showing around 75% signal on the jetpack. This signal is reliable and strong throughout the entire house (about 3500 sq feet, dual level). The biggest issue I was having with the previous set up was the stability of the cellualr signal. It would work great for a few hours, and than I would have to reset the phone. With the jetpack, it was rock solid when I tested it this morning. For anyone who lives out in the boonies like me, this is an excellent option (if you have a grandfathered Verizon plan). Awesome speeds, no data cap. For those of you who do not have a grandfathered plan, search ebay. There are people on there all the time trying to sell off their unlimited sims. Now, if I could just figure out how to get the USB tether to work. It would not work with the phone, and I haven't tried to USB tether with the jetpack yet. I'll keep everyone updated if I can get it to work.

 

[Student4Life]

Any luck doco2279?

I am trying to the same thing! I have ASUS RT-N66U (aka RT-AC66R) and I am trying to use my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 as an internet source for the router...

 

[sfx2000]

For LTE/3G - get a dedicated modem stick rather than tethering a handset... tethering/AP Hotspot mode in handsets is mostly for occasional use - I would say the same for MiFi type devices as well.

Cradlepoint makes some very awesome WiFi routers - they're the best at it when tying up WiFi to 3G/4G.

sfx

 

[stevech]

Cradlepoint routers are popular for supporting 3G/4G cellular as the WAN connection for the router, in addition to the connection to an (optional) cable modem or other ISP source.

The MBR95 is a great choice where you want cellular as your ISP. This router can be found on eBay at a discount. New, it's about $140. It accepts a USB modem. The Pantech '295 is a good choice. I've long used the older LG modem. I sometimes plug it into my PC/laptop USB.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/usb-modem

Verizon's 4G has far better coverage than any other. Cellular is never perfect. If you put the modem on a USB extension cord or two, active extension cords can go to 30 ft. or so, you can get the modem in a better signal reception area, e.g., near a window facing the nearest cell site. Or put the WiFi router where it helps get the best window, 2nd floor.