Mobile WiFi Router

[genou]

I looking to set up a network for a local community effort. On the wish list is that connected machines should be attached to a "family friendly" DNS . Which requires that the router can be configured to use such a thing. The router that they have access to at the moment ( 4GEE WiFi Mini Router ) has no configuration for DHCP, so I'll have to replace it.

Any recommendations for a replacement, preferably unlocked? In an ideal world, as well as DHCP configuration, it would support dynamic IP updates to OpenDNS but I'm not holding my breath that such a thing exists.


It'll be supporting 3 chromebooks and an occasional phone.

[didds]

Im not entirely "getting" what the spec is but how about a cheap off ebay adsl router eg a netgear dg834g, which is connected to the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router appropriately, which is itself configured as a wireless access point?

I may have misunderstood what you are trying to do, so apologies if i am well off the mark!

didds

[genou]

Im not entirely "getting" what the spec is but how about a cheap off ebay adsl router eg a netgear dg834g, which is connected to the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router appropriately, which is itself configured as a wireless access point?

I may have misunderstood what you are trying to do, so apologies if i am well off the mark!

didds

I'm not sure I'm following you. There is no phone line, hence the Mobile WiFi.

[didds]

yers
the cheap netgear (as an example) works as a DHCP wireless access point. ie devzices connect to the eg netgear's wifi providing dhcp.


in effect if you like for the analogy the other gizmmo "is" the phoneline into the eg netgear.

[Urbandreamer]

At first I didn't understand the question, however I think that I do now.

The 4GEE described allows WiFi DHCP connections and routes them to the intenet via the 4G phone service. It also has NO ethernet connections.

It could be replaced with a different 4G modem, for example a Huawei modem with ethernet ports.
didds idea may then be possible. Simply using the cheap ASDL modem and router as a WiFi router and access point, communicating over ethernet to the 4G modem with it's WiFi disabled and from there to the internet. You would need to change the IP address of the netgear unit, but I suspect that didds knows that to be possible.

A bit of research shows that it's increadibly common for DNS to be locked down on these 4G modems. However research seems to indicate that parts of the Huawei modem control HMI can be turned on or off using console access. Hence allowing the DNS server address to be changed. That might save hardware costs.

That's about as far as I have got. I haven't found out how you use console access. It could be via telnet or ssh, but I can't find anyone who explicitly says so.

[didds]

Im still missing something - sorry!

Genou suggests that the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router has no configuration for DHCP - so I took that to mean it doesnt provide dhcp and any systems connecting to it need a static address in the internal subnet the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router runs on.

UD suggests that the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router does provide DHCP - and if it does then my 2ndary eg netgear is redundant. (Id also assumed there was a cabled connection from the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router, cos if not that suggestion of mine is null and void anyway).

I'm not getting why dns is important in this set up at all - unless the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router has no upstream dns service to use (surely not?). And in which case one could just configure everything to use eg 8.8.8.8 (google public dns service)

[Urbandreamer]

Im still missing something - sorry!

Genous suggests that the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router has no configuration for DHCP - so I took that to mean it doesnt provide dhcp and any xevices connecting to it need a static address in the internal subnet the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router runs on.

UD suggests that the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router does provide DHCP - and if it does then my 2ndary eg netgear is redunadnt.

Im not getting why dns is important in this set up at all - unless the 4GEE WiFi Mini Router has no upstream dns service to use (surely not?). And in which case one would just configure everything to use eg 8.8.8.8 (google public dns service)

I think that DHCP is a read herring, the manual for the 4GEE suggests that it does have DHCP but can't change the DNS. I suspect that it's central whitelisting-blacklisting that's important. So that those with dyslexia don't wind up at hotmale rather than hotmail.
ie

I looking to set up a network for a local community effort. On the wish list is that connected machines should be attached to a "family friendly" DNS . Which requires that the router can be configured to use such a thing.

Genous mentions OpenDNS.
https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

Check out the manual for the TP-Link M7350 Genous. I think that it might do what you want.

[GoSeigen]

My interpretation of the OP is that there is a specific "family friendly" [i.e. it blocks porn sites] DNS service they wish to use, but the router lacks the settings (DHCP?) to distribute this particular DNS server's IP address to clients. So [s]he wants a similar mobile WiFi device, unlocked so any mobile company's SIM can be used, and creating a WiFi hotspot serving the particular DNS details to connected clients.

GS

[Infrasonic]

https://www.lifewire.com/top-travel-wir ... rs-2377742

[genou]

My interpretation of the OP is that there is a specific "family friendly" [i.e. it blocks porn sites] DNS service they wish to use, but the router lacks the settings (DHCP?) to distribute this particular DNS server's IP address to clients. So [s]he wants a similar mobile WiFi device, unlocked so any mobile company's SIM can be used, and creating a WiFi hotspot serving the particular DNS details to connected clients.

GS

This is exactly the issue. I have muddied the waters. The 4GEE cannot have it's DNS configured, and its DHCP therefore supplies a fully open DNS to clients, which is not what is wanted.

Check out the manual for the TP-Link M7350 Genous. I think that it might do what you want.

Thanks. I'll have a look. Thanks to all for the contributions so far.

[Infrasonic]

Something else to bear in mind with DNS is testing each client/OS to make sure DNS is being resolved across the board the way you intended...https://www.routersecurity.org/testdns.php

[Infrasonic]

This is exactly the issue. I have muddied the waters. The 4GEE cannot have it's DNS configured, and its DHCP therefore supplies a fully open DNS to clients, which is not what is wanted.

You can still resolve DNS at the client/OS level or within the browser. It varies according to client/OS (see my above post).

With Chromebooks you'll have the added complication of ChromeOS (native)/Android container booting by default- plus the user initiated option of the Linux Crostini container with Debian.
ChromeOS network settings -- Android/W10 I just use the Cloudflare Warp app (1.1.1.1) and Linux is some bash command line.
(I've been through all this with my CB...).

OpenDNS has Android and iOS apps.

Sometimes there can be issues waking from sleep/hibernate with DNS apps (even though I have Wi-Fi left on in sleep on my CB), so I generally turn them off and on again after waking. Affects my Android phone too, sometimes overnight auto backups (WhatsApp particularly) fail due to sleep/DNS app issues - turn the DNS app off and it completes immediately.

I don't use the Cloudflare anti-malware/family filter DNS addresses but I've seen some issues highlighted about them being too draconian, so you might want to check that OpenDNS doesn't suffer the same problems?

[Infrasonic]

Another 'filter' option is uBlock Origin.
It's way more than just a 'browser ad blocker'.
You can customise it with user URL/JavaScript/other block and allow lists in addition to all the publicly available filter lists.

It also has a cloud sync facility, so if you have some control over the client devices you could set them up to sync and all operate from the same custom filter lists/rules which you could be the admin for.
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Cloud-storage

Run it solo or in addition to any DNS/Hosts file et al filter options, backing off their severity if too much (if possible).

[genou]

ChromeOS network settings -- Android/W10 I just use the Cloudflare Warp app (1.1.1.1) and Linux is some bash command line.
(I've been through all this with my CB...).

OpenDNS has Android and iOS apps.

And apparently also one that runs on Chrome OS. Part of my problem is that I have a Windows background. These are the first Chromebooks I've ever touched. It appears to me that there is no way to lock anything down, or pre-install anything, or force anything to run at startup. ( I am not going down Family or Enterprise - there's no money for the latter, and no intention of having management in place for the former ). I'm debating nuking the CBs from orbit on some scheduled basis.

So each user gets a vanilla OS, but at least set to use the network DCHP/ DNS setup. I suspect none of the end users will be savvy enough to alter the DNS settings on their account, which led me to think that configuring the DNS settings at the router level would get me most of the way. If I can get OpenDNS no-porn as standard that's a decent base line. This is all about being able to report to the funders of the Chromebooks that we are being as responsible as possible. The additional functionality that requires updating for Dynamic IP I'll think on.

The TP Link M7350 seems to fit the bill, as does the cheaper M7200. TP Link nicely give you an emulator https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/emulator/ , and if it is to be believed it looks like almost all their kit supports editing the upstream DNS settings. I've ordered an M7200 on the basis that if it won't play, I'll give it to CC#2, who is currently using an old phone as a 4G hotspot.

[Infrasonic]

There's an ongoing ChromeOS thread here with a fair bit of settings/flags tweak links...viewtopic.php?f=39&t=22090

I came from a mostly Windows /Android and minimal Linux background before getting a CB.
It has some quirks and sometimes the lack of granularity in settings can be a bit annoying but overall I'm enjoying the ChromeOS experience.
The Linux container has forced me to get much better at bash CL, If I brick it I just nuke it and reinstall - unfortunately the built in Linux back up facility has never restored properly, even after all the updates.

[genou]

There's an ongoing ChromeOS thread here with a fair bit of settings/flags tweak links...viewtopic.php?f=39&t=22090

Thanks for the pointer. I think managing shared CBs doesn't figure much there.

[servodude]

I've ordered an M7200 on the basis that if it won't play, I'll give it to CC#2, who is currently using an old phone as a 4G hotspot.

which was funnily enough what I was going to suggest you try
- most of the mobile/portable hotspots are similar under the covers to android (with limits of 10 devices attached etc)
- you can configure the DNS that it uses and then use it as a hotspot

It's been a long time since I have used it but i seem to remember that openDNS used to work on the IPv4 address to bind traffic
- so if/when that changes for your router you'll have to log in and tell it what it has changed to

-sd

[genou]

Just to report back- the M7200 does indeed allow me to configure the upstream DNS. The only issue with it is not losing it, it's smaller than a mouse.