Here's the scenario...
I have a mobile setup, including a couple of wifi printers/devices that are critical to what I am doing. In order to make things convenient I carry a basic [DLink or LinkSys] router (call it the RR router) that my laptop uses to talk to them. So far so good.
What isn't so good is when I want to connect to the internet on my laptop for research or whatever, and then print to one of those devices. In order to get the internet I have to disconnect from the RR router and jump on whatever wifi hotspot is available to me (including tethering via cell at times). Then disconnect from that wifi access to reconnect with the RR router in order to print, complete other tasks via the RR router. I'm constantly in different locations, and with very little overlap or repeat locations. Sometimes one day in a location, sometimes 2-3 days, rarely a week.
Question: Can I set myself up so that I'm not constantly switching wifi connections from my laptop in order to interact with things the way I need to? I'm happy to switch routers if necessary, or install DD-WRT or something of the like to make this happen. Part of me thinks that somehow the RR router (or something in it's place) should be able to be reasonably easily configured once during onsite setup to do the talking to the hotspot dujour, and then the laptop could simply access all the devices/internet I need through the single RR (or its replacement) connection. Am I looking for some sort of proxy mechanism or bridge mode or ? Sometimes the wifi hotspots are just open, sometimes I have to log in with credentials, etc. I almost never have access to a wired internet connection.
Any suggestions on how to make this work? In the big picture I can live with it like it is, but I'd like to smooth this process out if I can at all. There are times I forget and print to one of the WIFI devices and sit like an idiot waiting for the output or for the job to show up and not realize I'm still using the internet connection and not the RR connection.
Thanks in advance for any insight or pointers...
RR
I have a mobile setup, including a couple of wifi printers/devices that are critical to what I am doing. In order to make things convenient I carry a basic [DLink or LinkSys] router (call it the RR router) that my laptop uses to talk to them. So far so good.
What isn't so good is when I want to connect to the internet on my laptop for research or whatever, and then print to one of those devices. In order to get the internet I have to disconnect from the RR router and jump on whatever wifi hotspot is available to me (including tethering via cell at times). Then disconnect from that wifi access to reconnect with the RR router in order to print, complete other tasks via the RR router. I'm constantly in different locations, and with very little overlap or repeat locations. Sometimes one day in a location, sometimes 2-3 days, rarely a week.
Question: Can I set myself up so that I'm not constantly switching wifi connections from my laptop in order to interact with things the way I need to? I'm happy to switch routers if necessary, or install DD-WRT or something of the like to make this happen. Part of me thinks that somehow the RR router (or something in it's place) should be able to be reasonably easily configured once during onsite setup to do the talking to the hotspot dujour, and then the laptop could simply access all the devices/internet I need through the single RR (or its replacement) connection. Am I looking for some sort of proxy mechanism or bridge mode or ? Sometimes the wifi hotspots are just open, sometimes I have to log in with credentials, etc. I almost never have access to a wired internet connection.
Any suggestions on how to make this work? In the big picture I can live with it like it is, but I'd like to smooth this process out if I can at all. There are times I forget and print to one of the WIFI devices and sit like an idiot waiting for the output or for the job to show up and not realize I'm still using the internet connection and not the RR connection.
Thanks in advance for any insight or pointers...
RR
lol