Need a PCI-E 1x Card or USB Adapter for multiple WAN links
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Can anyone recommend a PCI-E X1 or USB wireless adapter that is capable of carving out a minimum of 4 virtual adapters for connecting to several wireless WAN uplinks? The compatibility Google Sheet isn't terribly helpful as it says "Lots and Lots of Atheros Cards :-)", without listing chipsets, and there are tons of people here reporting issues with Atheros-based cards.
Oh, one last catch, I've got to be able to buy it from either Amazon (Prime) or some vendor that will reliably ship via Next Day/Second Day Air; no eBay sales.
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Looks like the TL-WN881ND should be supported under 2.1 and is available on Amazon Prime. I'll order one now and report back on whether it works or not.
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Ok, this doesn't look like it's going to work for me. It seems that I'm only able to create a single "Infrastructure" interface. I can create multiple "Access Point" interfaces though.
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Ok, this doesn't look like it's going to work for me. It seems that I'm only able to create a single "Infrastructure" interface. I can create multiple "Access Point" interfaces though.
You want multiple "infrastructure" (station) interfaces?
The FreeBSD ath man page says
Multiple station interfaces may be operated together with hostap interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
which leaves it ambiguous as to whether the station (infrastructure) interfaces MUST be paired with hostap interfaces or CAN be paired with hostap interfaces. Perhaps you have hit a limitation of the web GUI.
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Ok, this doesn't look like it's going to work for me. It seems that I'm only able to create a single "Infrastructure" interface. I can create multiple "Access Point" interfaces though.
You want multiple "infrastructure" (station) interfaces?
The FreeBSD ath man page says
Multiple station interfaces may be operated together with hostap interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
which leaves it ambiguous as to whether the station (infrastructure) interfaces MUST be paired with hostap interfaces or CAN be paired with hostap interfaces. Perhaps you have hit a limitation of the web GUI.
Yes, I want to have 4 of them to connect to 4 wireless networks.
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Ok, this doesn't look like it's going to work for me. It seems that I'm only able to create a single "Infrastructure" interface. I can create multiple "Access Point" interfaces though.
How are you attempting to create additional interfaces and what is reported when you attempt it?
On my pfSense 2.0.1 I go to Interfaces -> (assign), click on Wireless tab, click on the "+" button, and add an Infrastructure interface to the existing Access Points. Then I add another Infrastructure interface and the GUI reports:
The following input errors were detected:
Error creating interface with mode Infrastructure (BSS). The ath0 interface may not support creating more clones with the selected mode.
I ignored that report and click Save. That report was repeated the next time I clicked Save.
Is that what happened to you?
Update: I later noticed on the console of the pfSense box:
wlan2: changing name to 'ath0_wlan2'
ath0: only 1 sta vap supported
ath0: only 1 sta vap supported
ath0: only 1 sta vap supportedI have no idea whether this is a hardware or software limitation.
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Yeah, same message.