WIRELESS WAN opptions Jan. 2025
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if that would help someone.
Task was to find a WIFI dongle for simple WIRELESS WAN with PFSENSE. (client mode wifi)On PFSENSE docs it is advised to use Atheros chipsets, but as of Jan. 2025 I failed to find one available.
Bought that instead for 20USD from a local inventory - works great.TP-LINK TL-WN722N v4
chipset: RTL8188eu
FreeBSD14 driver: rtwnrtwn0: <Realtek 802.11n NIC, class 0/0, rev 2.00/0.00, addr 2> on usbus0
ugen0.3: <Realtek 802.11n NIC> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (500mA)
========================== Summary =========================
Vendor ID : 0x2357 (TP-LINK Technologies Co., Ltd.)
Product ID : 0x010C
Manufacturer String : Realtek
Product String : 802.11n NIC
Serial : 00E04C0001
USB Version : 2.0
Port maximum Speed : High-Speed (Companion Port 2-10 is doing the SuperSpeed)
Device maximum Speed : High-Speed
Device Connection Speed : High-Speed
Self powered : no
Demanded Current : 500 mA
Used Endpoints : 4 -
WiFi cards and USB adapters will be problematic, or only support older slower WiFi standards and vulnerable encryption options.
You will be better off with a travel router which supports faster WiFi standards and connect to pfsense via an Ethernet connection to eliminate the need to install any drivers which are not supported natively in FreeBSD.
https://www.gl-inet.com/compare/?series=travel-router
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@elvisimprsntr I haven't experienced any issues.
I'm aware about travel routers etc. My particular case hotspot from phone, directly to pfsense. that's for emergency only which is rare but happens few times per year. for that I can't afford to purchase travel router for hundreds of dollars and dedicated sim with internet package. that makes no sense. and about standards and speeds, again for emergency 30-50mbps is more than enough for browsing communications... that's exactly my case and solution is 20 bucks, ya?I wrote that post to clarify for others as it took me quite some time to figure out particular models which works out of a box