ZTE Bavo - client mode possible?

[svgjjc]

I posted this over in EVDOForums but the Bavo thread looks inactive.

I'm far from a networking expert but I have a need to set up a low cost wired LAN hub/router (with print server), that can get a broadband connection from either our WiFi hotspot or from a EVDO broadband card. Laptops will be wired ethernet.

Can the 802.11 section of the Bavo be configured in "Client Mode" or, can a wireless ethernet bridge (or client-mode configured router) be fed into the Bavo's WAN port?

The Bavo would be ideal if I could configure the WiFi section as client mode, connect to the WiFi hotspot, and share the broadband on its LAN ports. Then when no wifi is available, switch to the EVDO card in the Bavo.

If it cannot be configured in client mode, could I still feed it's WAN port with an Ethernet bridge or a client mode configured router, and switch to the EVDO card when needed?

Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

..........Scott

[thuor]

Sounds pretty knowledgeable to me in what you need for your application

Unfortunately the ZTE BAVO cannot be used as a WiFi client. Just to make it clear i'm referring to BAVO acting as a WiFi repeater (capturing WiFi and either rebroadcasting it or rerouting it to LAN ports).

The ZTE BAVO does have an Ethernet uplink port. You can connect this to the output of any 802.3 compliant ethernet device using a regular CAT5/6 RJ45 cable. This means you can connect it to the output of a DSL/Cable modem, the output of an Ethernet bridge or indeed the output of another BAVO or other cellular router for that matter. So theoretically what you have in mind would work and in fact we have customers doing just that especially for RV's and Yatch's.

One thing to note however is that the ZTE BAVO does NOT have seamless failover of Ethernet Uplink and WWAN (EVDO data modem). By seamless failover we mean that the connection should automatically switch when internet connectivity is lost in the alternate connection. Instead how the failover works is by voltage detection in the media interface e.g by physically pulling out the RJ45 WAN input or by turning off the bridge that is connected to the WAN input.

Finally keep in mind the networking challenges of what you are attempting to do. Many people get this and it works great for web surfing but when they attempt to do more complex networking functions like VNC, VPN or even file and print sharing they run into problems (many are easily solveable though). In general a good rule of thumb is to have one router per small network and if you need to connect multiple devices get a simple network switch.

One last thing, have you considered simply getting a wireless print server such as the D-Link Rangeboost Printserver and a regular cheaper cellular router such as the Kyocera KR1 (or the MB6800 if you still need the ethernet uplink)? Note that the D-Link printserver has an ethernet bridge so it acts as both a print server and a wireless bridge.

[svgjjc]

thanks for the reply thuor. That helps alot!

I'll take a look at those devices. If I understand you suggestion, I could configure the printer server as a bridge to the Wifi hotspot with an Ethernet connection to an EVDO router.

I assume that your point about switches is to simplify things by just switching broadband sources when needed. Simple is good

....Scott

[thuor]

I could configure the printer server as a bridge to the Wifi hotspot with an Ethernet connection to an EVDO router.

Exactly right on!

I assume that your point about switches is to simplify things by just switching broadband sources when needed.

Actually by switch just mean an "intelligent" hub vs a fully fledged router. These are quite cheap such as this Linksys 5port switch. Not sure what your application is but a lot of times what we see is that when people attempt to cascade the output of a broadband router to a cellular router or viceversa you run into problems when doing advanced networking applications such as VNC due to spi firewall port issues. In this case it's better to get a switch at the output of the cellular router and let the cellular router implement DHCP. This might not apply in your case actually. In any case if you have any issues with daisy-chained routers just let us know. For websurfing/email you should be fine.