Wifi to Ethernet Adaptor

[Dave Lister]

For anyone who is interested. If you have need for an ethernet connection but only have wifi available then the TP-Link AC750 Wifi Range Extender works well. I just got one. Although primarily for extending the range of your wifi, it also has an ethernet port which is great if you don't want cabling all around your house but you need a wired connection away from your router, or, as I needed, a wired connection to my smartphone Wifi Hotspot.

It has 3 methods to configure it, so the chances that you'll hit one that works are good, these are:-

1) WPS pairing with a WPS capable router.
2) Wired connection to a computer then access through your browser as you would to manage a router.
3) Smartphone app using wifi.

Though the WPS option didn't seem to work with the router I used even though it was supposed to be WPS capable, I got it configured both for a 5GHz router and my smartphones 2.4GHz wifi hotspot with relative ease directly via a browser.

Since Wifi and Blueooth don't always work out of the bag with a new install, having a wired connection available, especially if your router dies inexplicably, will always be handy to have around.

 

[Zagzigger]

For anyone who is interested. If you have need for an ethernet connection but only have wifi available then the TP-Link AC750 Wifi Range Extender works well. I just got one. Although primarily for extending the range of your wifi, it also has an ethernet port which is great if you don't want cabling all around your house but you need a wired connection away from your router, or, as I needed, a wired connection to my smartphone Wifi Hotspot.

It has 3 methods to configure it, so the chances that you'll hit one that works are good, these are:-

1) WPS pairing with a WPS capable router.
2) Wired connection to a computer then access through your browser as you would to manage a router.
3) Smartphone app using wifi.

Though the WPS option didn't seem to work with the router I used even though it was supposed to be WPS capable, I got it configured both for a 5GHz router and my smartphones 2.4GHz wifi hotspot with relative ease directly via a browser.

Since Wifi and Blueooth don't always work out of the bag with a new install, having a wired connection available, especially if your router dies inexplicably, will always be handy to have around.

Very useful. I have not been using FreeBSD (or anything much) for about 4 months, but now find myself having to run it off a wifi connection. Is this still the best / most reliable way or have things moved on with wifi adaptors? Also, I seem to remember someone got wifi to run using a Linux driver in some way which looked promising.

 

[SirDice]

Most wireless APs also have a "bridge" functionality. I've been using a cheap Wifi bridge upstairs for years. Can't get an ethernet cable there, and some of the devices in my bedroom only support 2.4GHz (too crowded here, connection sucks). So I bought a simple wireless AP, bridged it on 5GHz and it simply provides 100Mbit ethernet for those devices.

 

[covacat]

every method have some + and -
wifi repeater wont work on a laptop without ethernet
usb wifi dongles have bad/mediocre performance if they work at all
linux vms wont work on arm

 

[sko]

I carry around a mikrotik mAP lite as a (very) last resort if I need some special Ethernet/WiFi conversion or bridging (e.g. to configure some 'smart' crap that only offers wifi for initial configs). It can even be powered via PoE (or micro-USB) and is small enough to fit in every laptop bag.

True, given it's mikrotik it performs really bad and routerOS is the ultimate definition of 'dumpster fire', but for 1 or 2 very weird edge-cases I encountered, this thing was actually useful. And of course it is dirt cheap, so not much loss if it's only used a handful of times...

 

[Zagzigger]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. The TP-Link AC750 worked well, and I had my system up and running in less than 30 minutes. For me, the WPS method seemed to work well, and the speed is not too bad. The raw wifi speed near the router is about 200/45, and with the adaptor it's about 90/50 on the floor above. According to the lights on the adaptor, it is running both 50Hz and 2.4Hz, but I have no experience in this area and just pass it on at face value. Now all I have to do is try and remember how to upgrade to the current release.
Thanks again.