View Full Version : How difficult is using the WL-500g with a USB WAN connection?
Hi,
I've ordered a WL-500g since it seemed to be the easiest way to deal with my needs. However, I really don't want to get in to maintaining custom firmwares, adding external USB storage, and so on and so forth. Part of the reason for buying the AP is to reduce the hassle of maintaining my own custom Linux firewall box on an old 486 notebook.
The one thing I want to do is connect to the WAN via a USB modem, initially a V56 modem connected to a USB to serial adapter, but eventually, when my village joins the 21st Century in May next year an Intel USB ADSL modem that I have lying around.
So how difficult is this? Is it possible to do with the standard 1.8.1.9 firmware, or am I going to need to start connecting USB hubs and flash drives as well? What steps would I need to go through in order to set this up? Is it even possible, or am I going to have to stick with doing the actual WAN access through my aging 486 notebook (which might become a problem, since I'm not at all sure I can get a PCMCIA (as opposed to Cardbus) USB card)?
Thanks a lot,
Christi
AFAIK you can't use an USB modem with the original firmwares from Asus. You should search the forum on this. Some users reported working WAN solutions over USB (Analog modem, USB ADSL modem, GPRS, etc.), but this will probably require a custom firmware and some customizing on your behalf before it will work...
In the Netherlands you will get a free ethernet modem with your high speed internet connection from virtually all providers.
My guess is that it will be a rather difficult exercise. First of all you will need linux "drivers", then get them on router and make your router understand that the WAN connection is on the USB port.
Note: Unfortunately USB to ethernet converters which will convert a USB DSL/Cable modems USB port to ethernet do not exist. The problem being basically that there is no way to load the necessary drivers onto a DSL/Cable modem to let it know how to talk to the converter.
In the Netherlands you will get a free ethernet modem with your high speed internet connection from virtually all providers.
My guess is that it will be a rather difficult exercise. First of all you will need linux "drivers", then get them on router and make your router understand that the WAN connection is on the USB port.
That's not good. I'm in the UK, and the people I will be buying ADSL from are selling me a wires only service. Of course I can solve the problem by buying my own ADSL modem with ethernet, but it seems a shame not to use the one I already have.
Like I said: search the forum. There are other ppl who use USB as WAN. So, it can be done...
Like I said: search the forum. There are other ppl who use USB as WAN. So, it can be done...
I've had a look at those posts, and they seem to involve using custom firmware and cross compiling kernels - and there's not very much in the way of documentation, just a ZIP file and list of shell commands without much context. Now maybe you experts don't need that context, but frankly I've little time or inclination to spend figuring it out by trial and error. I've worked as a sysadmin for Linux, Solaris, Windows, and IRIX and have been handrolling my own Linux kernels with custom patches for years, so I'm hardly a novice at this sort of thing, and yet the documentation on the custom firmware page and most of the howto posts on the forums is too sparse for me to be able to make sense of what's required.
All that is possibly a bit more effort than I want to go to to save myself 20 pounds or so (although given I already have the USB ADSL modem, it's galling to have to buy another one). What I was really hoping for was someone who could point me to a file I could download and a few simple steps to download and install it on the router and have stuff just work. Since that's not possible, buying an ADSL ethernet modem looks like it may be the most sensible way to go.
Well, I don't think I could figure it out myself too :D.
The point is: These ppl have been willing to put time and efford into the router to get things working. They shared their results and knowledge (however sparse) with us. With your above novice Linux experience you could try to figure it out too, it very rewarding to get things up and running. You could PM those members as well, they might be willing to guide you through this...
Let us know what you're going to do.
I've had a look at those posts, and they seem to involve using custom firmware and cross compiling kernels - and there's not very much in the way of documentation, just a ZIP file and list of shell commands without much context. Now maybe you experts don't need that context, but frankly I've little time or inclination to spend figuring it out by trial and error.
Right, there is no easy way to make unified things. Different USB ADSL modems use different chipsets, their firmware also differs from country to country, so if you have bunch of free time and want save your money, go ahead and start digging. Keep in mind, that any software development cost some money, free software are also, but it's provided to you as free.
Nobody has provided complete solution yet - have you tried to do it yourself? I suppose, you will answer - no, thank you. So why, do you blame others for that???
I've worked as a sysadmin for Linux, Solaris, Windows, and IRIX and have been handrolling my own Linux kernels with custom patches for years, so I'm hardly a novice at this sort of thing, and yet the documentation on the custom firmware page and most of the howto posts on the forums is too sparse for me to be able to make sense of what's required.
I'm very surprised. Everyone happy with your experience.
All that is possibly a bit more effort than I want to go to to save myself 20 pounds or so (although given I already have the USB ADSL modem, it's galling to have to buy another one).
Start digging, help others. Or donate 20 pounds for someone, who will do that for you.
What I was really hoping for was someone who could point me to a file I could download and a few simple steps to download and install it on the router and have stuff just work. Since that's not possible, buying an ADSL ethernet modem looks like it may be the most sensible way to go.
I've bought an ethernet ADSL modem due to the fact, that my time costs more than the difference in the price.
Regards,
Oleg.
Keep in mind, that any software development cost some money, free software are also, but it's provided to you as free.
Nobody has provided complete solution yet - have you tried to do it yourself? I suppose, you will answer - no, thank you. So why, do you blame others for that???
I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just saying that if I (admittedly not a hardcore low level hacker, but technically competent enough to have had patches accepted for Samba, GNU shellutils, &c.) find the instructions difficult to follow, then the instructions could probably be improved.
Which again is not saying that anyone *should* improve them, just that I couldn't work out how much work getting WLAN over USB to work would be from the available resources, which I had searched. Therefore I asked here. I got an answer, which was "more than I want to do", which is fine. I honestly don't have an issue with that.
And most of the reason I didn't just try it was that my router hasn't arrived yet - I was trying to find out whether it was worth doing when it did.
Let us know what you're going to do.
I'm currently going with begging an ADSL ethernet modem off a friend, I think. While it'd be interesting to hack it up to work, I have other things I'd rather be doing. In the mean time, I'll just carry on using my old laptop as a router, and use the WL-500g solely as a wireless access point until I can get ADSL.
Thanks for your time.