[Wil]

I'm in a situation where I will be spending considerable time in a location that has internet only from a mobile hotspot (happens to be a CoolPad Surf [EDIT: wifi only, in and out, no ethernet] with Sprint 4G LTE service on channels 25,26 and 41). I have run some tests at the location and by doing some tweaking the internet speed is tolerable for my internet needs, including streaming, downloading and Tivo service connections. All is well, or at least tolerable for short periods.

EXCEPT that I can't survive without my pyTivo server for my video library running on a pc, and the Coolpad sucks as a standard wifi router, I mean I generally hate wifi connections for internal traffic on a LAN but the pyTivo transfer speed over wifi from pc to Tivo using the Coolpad router is absymally slow. An obvious solution is to construct a setup where my Tivo (happens to be a Bolt at that location but I could substitute any Tivo) uses the CoolPad WiFi for service connections and such but uses the wired ethernet through a standard router for all non-internet internal LAN functions, e.g transferring shows from the pc via pyTivo.

My first effort, simply brute force activating both WiFi and ethernet on the Bolt, kinda works. It's a lot slower than I would get from pure ethernet but tolerable. But the Tivo is clearly not happy. It stalls for 5-15 minutes during a pyTivo transfer, simply does not repond. The transfer continues during the stall and it's proceeding well once I get control back, but I have to wait through that stall to start watching the show and I (we) don't have that kind of patience.

I know I could just leave the video library at home stream from it on Plex, but there are people with me who demand the Tivo interface only. Any ideas as to how to rig a configuration with both wifi and ethernet that the Tivo would be happy with?

 

[ThAbtO]

Nope, you can't. Connecting one way will shut down the other connection.

 

[Wil]

Nope, you can't. Connecting one way will shut down the other connection.

Well, you can select both, I mean, as I said, when you do it kinda works. I'm just trying to make it smoother, avoid the stall.

 

[Dan203]

Are the PC and the TiVo both close enough to each other to connect via ethernet? Is the coolpad thing also close enough and does it have an ethernet port?

If so then all you need is a switch. Plug all 3 into the switch and you should be fine. The PC <-> TiVo traffic will only go across the switch so the speed of the coolpad wont matter.

If you have to connect to the coolpad via wifi then you can still use a switch, but you'll also need a bridge. Once the bridge is setup just plug it into the switch along with the PC and the TiVo and you'll have the same situation. PC <-> TiVo traffic will go across the switch and only touch the coolpad when they need the internet.

 

[ThAbtO]

Or, you can connect a router that way, with the WAN port to the internet device. I think this is called a cascaded router.

 

[Wil]

Are the PC and the TiVo both close enough to each other to connect via ethernet?

Yes.

Is the coolpad thing also close enough and does it have an ethernet port?

Close enough, but no ethernet port. I played with its USB (kinda "tethering," or sharing the internet connection through another computer) but no joy so far.

If you have to connect to the coolpad via wifi then you can still use a switch, but you'll also need a bridge.

The bridge sounds promising. Thanks. Maybe I can construct a bridge using an old standard router flashed with DD-WRT.

 

[krkaufman]

Yeah, it sounds like you need a wireless bridge, with the bridge making the WiFi link to the hotspot and the TiVo and PC wired via Ethernet to the wireless bridge (directly or via a network switch).

 

[Wil]

Any recommendations for a reasonably-priced but decent wireless bridge to buy? Prices seem to be quite a wide range.

Or a more expensive one popular enough so it might be on eBay?

I may try to repurpose an old router, but if there's a decent inexpensive model around maybe I'll just make it simple.

 

[krkaufman]

Any recommendations for a reasonably-priced but decent wireless bridge to buy?

What wireless spec does your hotspot support? And how many antennas? (The user manual seems to indicate it may only support 2.4 GHz Wireless-N; no read on # of antennas.)

Or, search @JoeKustra's old posts for recommendations.

edit: e.g.;

The RE6500 has four Ethernet ports, so both Premieres can use it, as well as the Mini boxes.

Other wireless adapters: WUMC710, DAP-1650, EX7000 and TEW-800MB. Prices vary. The easiest to configure is the RE580D.

 

[Wil]

seems [the CoolPad Surf] may only support 2.4 GHz Wireless-N; no read on # of antennas

Yes, 2.4 only, and only an internal antenna. I'd park the CoolPad right next to the bridge (assuming I can locate both at a good reception point for the hotspot). But I'd want decent performance from the bridge as an ethernet router (which probably means a multi-band wifi anyway, needed or not) because as I'm researching it now I'd probably want all my devices connected to the bridge (through a switch), rather than feeding still another router for my other devices.

I just tried another pyTivo transfer with the Tivo set for both ethernet & wireless and this time the stall was only a couple of minutes. I think maybe placing the CoolPad closer to the Tivo helped, but not enough trials to say definitively. I think I may work on my original dual approach a bit more, for its simplicity. It looks like all Tivo processes continue during the stall, just the user control is locked out for some reason, probably the Tivo saying what the hell!?

 

[Dan203]

Since you'll only be using the bridge for the internet connection, and that's kind of slow anyway, I'd recommend a cheap one. I bought one a few years back to use for hotel wifi and it was like $20 and worked fine. I think it was a TP-Link.

 

[Wil]

Since you'll only be using the bridge for the internet connection, and that's kind of slow anyway, I'd recommend a cheap one. I bought one a few years back to use for hotel wifi and it was like $20 and worked fine. I think it was a TP-Link.

I have a TP-Link TL-WR702N around here somewhere that I also used to use in hotels. I'd forgotten about that. I'll try to find it. Thanks.