Dual NIC access to ISY

[bfish]

I have a situation with my dad's ISY994i that I'm hoping to hear if anyone has come across and could provide me any insights.

He currently has a very standard setup (ISY994i, PLM, home network, ISY Portal for Alexa, about 20+ insteon devices).  All is well and has been for years.

He is in a community where they provide wireless Internet access for a reduced rate, but when I checked with them, they cannot handle providing an IP address to the ISY.

So, I bought a mini-switch and connected the ISY directly to his PC via an ethernet port (separate network from his typical WiFi/internet) in order for him to be able to program the ISY.  That worked well. 

Unfortunately, I forgot about Alexa / ISY Portal needing Internet access to the ISY.  I tried network sharing and binding the 2 NICs (wireless and wired) but neither solution was successful.

Has anyone tackled something like this with positive results?  TIA

[Geddy]

@bfish I’ve never tried this device directly, but either saw it mentioned here before or elsewhere for travel reasons and think it might work….please research before buying. 

https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNet-GL-SFT1200-Secure-Travel-Router/dp/B09N72FMH5/

This seems to be able to be used as a repeater, but I believe will allow the LAN ports to work. The issue becomes how the community handle IP assignment. You might not be able to get IPs assigned internally. 

Might find more info on the GL iNet site. 

[bfish]

Thank you!  Unfortunately, I should have mentioned that I suggested a wired to wireless adapter to the IT staff and they said it would be flagged as a rogue access point and automatically shut down.  So, I suspect this device would behave the same way.

[paulbates]

I'm not 100% clear on the setup... but what about this:

• Buy a wireless router with the multiple ET ports that has wireless bridge mode
  • I bought a cheap plug in the wall one for my wife's mother's retirement community for similar reasons, but she did not need ET ports.. probably a router in your case
• Log that into the community's wifi, that has to be their intention
  • If not, how will they know? just give them the internet wifi MAC address of the router
• The router will have a dhcp server to provide NAT IPs and internet to all of the devices you list
• Wifi or ET will all be on one local network and will talk to each other
• If you can't find something that provides wireless bridge with ET, get wireless USB Nic for the PC

My RV has a device called wifi ranger which is used for similar purposes.. it logs into campground's wifi and and provides a hotspot for my devices... though I don't think it will support ET port. 

A good community to get specific recommendations is snbforums.com (small net builder)

Edited Sunday at 12:48 PM by paulbates

[bfish]

Thank you!  I'll look into that!  Sounds promising.

[Geddy]

14 hours ago, bfish said:

a wired to wireless adapter to the IT staff and they said it would be flagged as a rogue access point and automatically shut down

My suggestion wasn't a wired to wireless adaptor. It's the same as @paulbates suggests that it would pickup the wifi signal AND enable the ethernet ports so they could connect to the ISY994. More than likely the facility IT staff is looking for rogue SSID (kind of like at my kid's university). They don't want conflicting wireless signals/networks to degrade their own setup. There needs to be some way for them to allow a wired connection, but if they're charging more for it then that might be the best option to go and just pay the additional amount to keep the ISY994 and ISY Portal "happy". 

[bfish]

Thanks!  Sorry, I thought that was a different device.