Hi, Ric, and Group, and answering another question about what gear I
have at the same time:

Cap'n Ric wrote:
You can order them at http://www.wlansolution.com/ although I'm sure there
are many other places.

Cap'n Ric

In fact, that is where I ordered my gear. I can't recommend them
unless you are totally familiar with networking protocols and whatever
else may be needed to make your setup work, as, despite being a nice
fellow, Basil won't help you set it up - he'll only direct you to the
Senao website for firmware upgrades, and if you ask him to configure
something which will do what I'm trying to do, he'll send you the same
stuff I got, which patently doesn't work without some intervention from
other gear - and when it doesn't work, won't take it back. (That's an
extremely long story, very technical for any but the techies, and not
the point of this discussion, so I'll not put it here.) It is
extraordinarily far from plug and play, and many network experts, even
a user with exactly the same setup as I was trying to make happen, were
unsuccessful in getting our setup to work as it was sold to me.

At that, even with the router in between (the solution to the IP
conflicts which were making the other not work), now, there's something
messed up with the Pay service (which hijacked my signal, redirecting
to their site, because, now, with the bridge and antenna high up, it
saw that as the best and locked on to it, as distinct shortcoming of
this particular unit, of which, more, anon) because I'm back to having
to put it directly into a configured NIC to set it, then transfer it to
a DHCP NIC to surf and connect. It will no longer talk to the Vonage
router, which means, of course, no phone, and also no AP for wifi
connectivity (defined as no wires between the computer and the outside
world), the point(s) of this entire exercise.

Now, before the folks in aiw get all exercised, I admitted long ago
that I don't even know enough to ask the right questions, let alone
have the answers, so I'm sure there's something I'm overlooking out of
ignorance. I'd love to be shown my error, but, again, it's an awfully
long story, and not the point of this post.

So, I'll say that it used to work very well. That it doesn't, any
more, is just another problem which I'll eventually overcome, I expect
-but I certainly hope that it doesn't take as long as it did to get it
set up the first time.

I was thrilled, especially after having spent literally more than a
year to get it to even talk to the outside world, let alone have it
work miles out in the Bay. I have two Senao 2611CB3 Plus Deluxe,
configurable to either AP or Bridge. I have an 8.5dBi omni stick from
Hypertech, just down the street from wlansolutions, as Basil walked
over to get it when putting this together, and a 5.5 duck for the AP.
I originally was going to have it all in one box up the mast, one power
supply, but as they would absolutely not talk together when joined by a
crossover, and the solution turned out to be a router in between, I
abandoned that, as seen in the pictures, and put only the bridge aloft.

I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the
strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to
redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I
could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the
available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or
one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited
to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal.

Were I to do it again I most certainly would not do that setup. There
are other pairs which will do the job more effectively, and not require
a router in between. However, as VoIP is a very critical component of
our connectivity, the Vonage router works out (the current
unpleasantness aside).

Thus the question about your bridge; a slight increase in power would
be nice, and a point and click selection would be even nicer,
particularly if I can avoid redirection in which I'm now embroiled.

Hope that was responsive to the couple of questions answered :{))


L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery!
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing,
messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Skip Gundlach wrote:

I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the
strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to
redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I
could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the
available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or
one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited
to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal.



If your browser home page requires *any* DNS access to get to it, you
will get redirected to the signin page on most commercial wireless ISPs.
Similarly, if the router has got the DNS server address from the ISP
via DHCP, and your bridge has a 'friendly' name for its configuration
page rather than a dotted IP address, you will end up at the signin page
again :-(

Set your home page to blank then try accessing the bridge by its ip
address rather than by name. The url should be of the form
http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/ fill in the correct numbers for your setup.

If that works for you, BOOKMARK the location in that format or maybe set
it as your home page.



--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

Check out Inscape Data Corp

http://www.inscapedata.com/AB54.htm

12 volt, weather protected bridge with optional antennas.

Ansley Sawyer
SV Pacem

Hi, Ian, and group(s),

Ian Malcolm wrote:
Skip Gundlach wrote:

I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the
strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to
redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I
could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the
available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or
one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited
to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal.



If your browser home page requires *any* DNS access to get to it, you
will get redirected to the signin page on most commercial wireless ISPs.
Similarly, if the router has got the DNS server address from the ISP
via DHCP, and your bridge has a 'friendly' name for its configuration
page rather than a dotted IP address, you will end up at the signin page
again :-(

Set your home page to blank then try accessing the bridge by its ip
address rather than by name. The url should be of the form
http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/ fill in the correct numbers for your setup.

If that works for you, BOOKMARK the location in that format or maybe set
it as your home page.


Would that it did - My reaction comes from merely typing in the URL
(the way I usually reach the bridge to configure it) in nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn
format, whereupon the pay site(s? - I've not been in an area with more
than one at the moment, though the readout shows many presumed pay
sites as well, some of which have more strength, but not as good a
communications level)) redirects to their signin page.

The bridge has no name - there's not a place to name it, even. In AP
format, I could name the AP if I wanted, as well as the SSID. However,
the bridge is notable only from its MAC address. Setting my home page
to a blank (no characters on the line) has no effect - and in any case,
unless I were to click the home icon, other than at startup, the home
page would not appear.

So, I'm looking into (don't really know where to look - one of the
cites in this thread looks promising but I have to say that I'm so gun
shy about Senao that I'd want to see one working before I went through
anything remotely like what I have with wlansolutions) some other
bridge which would see all available without selecting one for me, and
let me push a radio button rather than have to type in the actual name.
In this area, at least, while not so in my particular location at the
moment, there are many instances of duplicate SSID names.

The one I have (from the wlansolutions website "Multi-Client
Bridge/Access Point Module Prism 2.5 High Power (200mW) 2611 CB3 PLUS
MD" - the module, not enclosed version - 200, not 250mw, though Ric has
the same product name unit - perhaps in the desktop version - on his
boat) requires typing in the SSID - which, if there are more than one
of the same name, makes for pot luck in selection. If, as should be
possible, the scan shows two of the same name, a given MAC should show,
and if that one is selected, that should be the one for the bridge to
associate.

So, perhaps better covered in a different thread, are there any other
suggestions for client bridge replacement candidates - ones which would
allow me to click my bookmark/favorite/whatever to reach the
configuration page, and point and click on the desired connection point
- but also *not* connect to any until asked, regardless of strength??

BTW, at least at the moment, the link Ansley provided stalls and goes
nowhere when attempting any info other than the home page...

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)

Thanks for all the dialogue. I'm passing it along to various other
non-subscribers to see if there's a solution visible.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery!
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing,
messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats.

In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Skip - Working on the boat wrote:
Hi, Ian, and group(s),

Ian Malcolm wrote:

Skip Gundlach wrote:


I configure the bridge to a blank SSID, which makes it look for the
strongest signal. That's ok, but in this case, that caused it to
redirect to their signin page. Otherwise, were that not the case, I
could then go into the configuration page and specify which of the
available ones, even those not shown, perhaps from a hidden SSID, or
one I know to be available at less strength than the first (and limited
to) 8 shown, such as I did before the pay site hijacked the signal.



If your browser home page requires *any* DNS access to get to it, you
will get redirected to the signin page on most commercial wireless ISPs.
Similarly, if the router has got the DNS server address from the ISP
via DHCP, and your bridge has a 'friendly' name for its configuration
page rather than a dotted IP address, you will end up at the signin page
again :-(

Set your home page to blank then try accessing the bridge by its ip
address rather than by name. The url should be of the form
http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/ fill in the correct numbers for your setup.


Would that it did - My reaction comes from merely typing in the URL
(the way I usually reach the bridge to configure it) in nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn
format, whereupon the pay site(s? - I've not been in an area with more
than one at the moment, though the readout shows many presumed pay
sites as well, some of which have more strength, but not as good a
communications level)) redirects to their signin page.



If no DNS lookup is being done, there should be absolutely NO
oppertunity for a redirect. Its possible that the router you have put
in between your LAN and the bridge is causing this behaviour. You
*might* need to set up a static route.

Another possibility is you have one of the many varieties of 'search
assistant' or internet 'booster' malware on your PC that is trying to
reach its homepage and is therefore triggering the wireless ISP login
redirect. A full scan with a number of different spyware and virus
scanners is probably a good idea at this point.

Do you ever get this redirection when trying to access the Router config
page?

If you are goint to take this to a new thread I suggest dropping r.b.b
and *possibly* r.b.c due to the extremely technical content and tenuous
connection with boating.

You may also want to ask about this issue on the LOCAL newsgroups (they
are NOT part of USENET) at GRC. N.B. web access is currently read only
so to ask a question there, you will need to configure a newsreader.
You probably want the group grc.techtalk. Start by reading
http://www.grc.com/discussions.htm . . .

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:17:24 +0000, Ian Malcolm
wrote:

If you are goint to take this to a new thread I suggest dropping r.b.b
and *possibly* r.b.c due to the extremely technical content and tenuous
connection with boating.

I disagree with that advice.

There are *many* of us doing serious cruising and looking for ways to
enhance our internet WiFi connectivity. Skip is well into the
advanced course with what he is trying to do, and I for one follow his
networking adventures with great interest.

I think your recommendation to try and connect without the Vonage
router is a good suggestion towards isolating the problem.

So, perhaps better covered in a different thread, are there any other
suggestions for client bridge replacement candidates - ones which would
allow me to click my bookmark/favorite/whatever to reach the
configuration page, and point and click on the desired connection point
- but also *not* connect to any until asked, regardless of strength??

You've been told this info before, several times. You're trying to use gear
that plainly does not do what you want. Stop trying. Use gear that's known
to do what you're after.

It's trivial, get a pair of WRT54G routers, use one as a link to the shore.
Use the other as a on-boat access point, wired to the first one. Done.
Then it's just a trivial matter to browse to the shore linking device,
picking the on-shore SSID desired and you're done.

If no DNS lookup is being done, there should be absolutely NO
oppertunity for a redirect.

This is incorrect. A router with sufficient features can redirect whatever
it likes. It's quite common for hotspot types of setups to do just that.
So it doesn't matter if you have a static address, vpn or anything else.
Any packets that hit the router can be manipulated to return anything the
router dictates. Even at the ARP level. So your machine does an ARP lookup
trying to find your static address (or route) and it's given the router's
address; this is normal. But at the same time the router now knows your MAC
address (also normal). You use your browser and your MAC address then sends
other packets, the hotspot router understands this as HTTP traffic and
returns the redirected HTML content. Try any other static addresses and
you'll get the exact same thing.

Bill Kearney wrote:

If no DNS lookup is being done, there should be absolutely NO
oppertunity for a redirect.


This is incorrect. A router with sufficient features can redirect whatever
it likes. It's quite common for hotspot types of setups to do just that.
So it doesn't matter if you have a static address, vpn or anything else.
Any packets that hit the router can be manipulated to return anything the
router dictates. Even at the ARP level. So your machine does an ARP lookup
trying to find your static address (or route) and it's given the router's
address; this is normal. But at the same time the router now knows your MAC
address (also normal). You use your browser and your MAC address then sends
other packets, the hotspot router understands this as HTTP traffic and
returns the redirected HTML content. Try any other static addresses and
you'll get the exact same thing.

YES, but if Skip is attempting to access (port 80 HTTP) an IP address
LOCAL TO HIS ONBOARD LAN, *HOW* is the router at the hotspot
intercepting it? It shouldn't have any interest in any local addresses
on the LAN side of Skip's bridge. You obviously have a better than
obvious grasp of what's going on so can you provide an explanation or
suggest the next troubleshooting step Skip should try?




--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:46:55 -0500, "Bill Kearney"
wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote:

It's trivial, get a pair of WRT54G routers, use one as a link to the shore.
Use the other as a on-boat access point, wired to the first one. Done.
Then it's just a trivial matter to browse to the shore linking device,
picking the on-shore SSID desired and you're done.

I'm sure that the WRT54Gs work fine in your configuration,

but:

- I don't believe they are weather proof.

- I'm pretty sure they are not high power ( 50 mw )

- Do no directly support Power Over Ethernet (POE)

So although they can potentially do the job, they are not exactly
ideal for mounting up the mast in an extended range application.