802.11 Acccess Points with Dialup Capabilities?

timothy asks: "Since I like to visit friends and family, yet still be able to access the internet without hurting -their- access, I have purchased an all-in-one Linksys NAT box which combines firewall, NAT, 4-port switch, and 802.11b access in one cute little box. That's great when staying with people who have an ethernet network, but doesn't work for dialup. More and more people have DSL or cable, but Motel6 is still POTS! ;)"

"I'm thinking of either selling or supplementing the Linksys because it lacks a serial port for controlling a modem. In fact, despite the many brands of wireless AP right now, the only maker I can find with the ability to use a modem (besides Apple -- both generations of Airport have built-in modems) is SMC. One of their Barricade models has a serial port in addition to 3 hardwired ethernet ports and wireless, and a friend has demonstrated how it can be hooked up with an inexpensive 56K modem. This model has a decent web-based interface, but it's also not ideal for travel: sort of clunky to need a 2nd box (the modem), another wallwart, etc.

Can anyone suggest a box more akin to the Linksys (seems well-constructed, stacks, good indicator lights on front) but with a built-in modem? The ideal would be a single box I could set up quickly on any borrowed phone line to provide both wired and wireless access. The Apple Airport is the only one-box way to do this I can find, but I've heard only bad things about the Java setup utility necessary to make it work under Linux. (It also doesn't allow MAC address cloning, not necessary for dialup but often is when broadband is available) All suggestions welcome!"

Comments

Airport configuration

[Cadre]

Apple has also released a Windows utility to configure the Airport (it isn't Java). If you don't have Windows box, perhaps it will run under WINE?

MAC address cloning ... *or* DHCP Release

[Steve Cowan]

(It also doesn't allow MAC address cloning, not necessary for dialup but often is when broadband is available)

That is a nice feature in the SMC barricade, but is not usually necessary for broadband provided you can make what ever computer have plugged into your cable modem do a DHCP Release. This causes the remote DHCP server to "take back" your IP address and stop associating it with your MAC address.

Then you're free to plug any piece of hardware into your cable modem, and your connection should continue to work fine.

One warning though: if you do plug a network router that doesn't do MAC address cloning, make sure it is able to do this "release" prior to having it discover its first IP address. If it cannot release, then you may have trouble with your ISP if you try to disconnect the router and operate without it.

Re:Modem instructions for the Barricade?

[Steve Cowan]

The SMC Barricade will demand-dial a modem when the broadband connection goes down.

According to the instructions, you can set the modem to be the sole WAN connection, or you can have it only dial up when the broadband WAN goes down. Of course, you can also define basic PPP settings and modem init string.

Pick up a catalog or something.

[NetJunkie]

Orinoco (formerly Lucent) has a home gateway product that's an 802.11 AP with NAT and a built-in 56K modem. Orinoco's wireless products are great.

www.wavelan.com

Dlink has one

[mcmoyer]

I have a D-Link 713p wireless AP that has a 4 port switch, a serial port, and a printer port. That might suit your needs.

486DX2 66

[Calle Ballz]

It's called a 486 in a mini tower with an install of slackware 4. You need one (1) modem and one (1) ethernet card... configure ppp-setup to always stay on. Run IP Masquerading and you are set. You'll be able to plug your linksys AP into the ethernet card and you have every box on the network through 802.11b

I know it's kinda chunky, but it kept all my boxes online for months until I got DSL and a cisco router.

RG-1000

[rlangis]

I would suggest the Orinoco RG-1000. It has dialup, ethernet, NAT, is hackable, can be flashed with the latest Airport Firmware, and if you know the right People, can be had for $50 or so.

I've got one, and I love it.