Use your old android phone as a Wifi router/Access point for your home network to extend Wi-fi Signal

((((( Project RangeS3 )))))

Solution to Weak Wi-fi Signal propagation from old Wireless Router by using a Wi-fi repeater Application on the Android phone

Hello guys, Welcome to another technical blog in which I will show you a very interesting application that will extend your Wi-fi signal in your home with zero cost and minimum setup time. Without any further due, lets gets started.

In these Blog, I will discuss all of the following points below:

Why we want to extend our Wi-fi signal present in our home network and what are the benefits of doing it?

What are the reasons that I have used this method in this project instead of buying a new Wireless Router?

If Wifi signal is not the issue then why to use this App?

Why to use specific Wi-fi Repeater application VPN HOTSPOT by MyGodStudio on play store instead of all other Wi-Fi-repeater applications available?

Technical specs and conditions to satisfy before proceeding further?

How to Implement this project and how-to setup?

Where to place your Android device in your entire house for 99% signal connectivity and reliability?

Few hacks & Tips/ problem solutions I learned/faced in this project

Q&A / FAQs

Ending Statement & Conclusion

·      Why we want to extend our Wi-fi signal present in our home network and what are the benefits of doing it

We all have a wireless router in our house that is providing us with this never-ending scope of web so called The Internet. We do all agree with this fact that Wired connection is always the best connection possible for digital data communication. But due to the point that our smart devices are portable, we cannot have a wired connection. So, we always opt for wireless medium. With this medium there is a major drawback of Reliability and efficiency.

Let me come straight to the point, why to extend Wi-Fi signal. The answer is we do not have any other option if the Wi-Fi signal is only available in living hall and all other parts of home with a signal ranging from weak to very weak in strength and sometimes frequent disconnection, which is really annoying for all of us.

I faced the same problem but in a more interesting way. I own a I-Ball Baton Wireless router with 2x 5dbi omni-directional antenna with a max link speed of 300Mbps. It was working perfectly from all angles until now, when I noticed that the Wi-Fi signal is only reaching in living room with power between -80dbm to -90dbm which is not enough to exchange data packets between devices reliably so there is large amount of packet loss. So, you all can imagine, how the signal will be beyond living room. Therefore there was a necessity to either buy a new wireless router/ changing position of router for best coverage( that didn’t worked either) / setting up a Wi-Fi repeater device that will extend the wireless signal to all other parts of our house and the problem will get solved with zero cost and minimum time investment.

 

Below is the image of my wireless router with specs listed on it.

  

 

·       What are the reasons that I have used this method instead of buying a new Wireless Router

I believe in Three Golden R’s: Reuse, Recycle and Reduce. Necessity is the mother of invention and I totally agree. Instead of buying a new Wireless router, I looked for options on internet and found this technology called Wi-Fi repeater that convinced me to try this method first because it was free and we like free stuff a lot. So, I continued the research on this method and found success.

·       If you are getting a nice Strong Wi-fi Signal in your entire house then why to use Wi-fi repeater

Yes, that’s perfectly ok if you are getting a nice Strong Wi-Fi signal (range from -30dbm to -70dbm). You need not set up any Wi-Fi repeater device but if your router does not provide any additional functionalities like remote SSH, telnet, Data monitoring. You can integrate these services in your android device.

·       Why to use specific Wi-fi Repeater application VPN HOTSPOT by MyGodStudio on play store instead of all other Wi-Fi-repeater applications available

The Software/Application that is going to do this magic is “VPN HOTSPOT” by “MyGodStudio”. This is the best choice for our application because of this following reasons.

No Usage limit: Other apps on playstore offer same functionality but with limited time and data limit after which we have to purchase the application if we want to continue using it which is fine for some people but most people will prefer free stuff first so, yeah VPN HOTSPOT is free with unlimited data and time usage and many features.

Setup Simplictiy: VPN Hotspot app provides easy setup while other apps require you to setup proxy servers first before able to start repeater which is tedious if too many client devices to setup. It must be automatic just like normal wifi connection does.

·       Technical specs and conditions to satisfy before proceeding further

Android device minimum version: 5.0 +

Root access: YES

Android device must be placed in a close proximity to our router ( 3 to 15 ft)

If the above conditions are met, then we can start our setup process.

 

·       How to Implement this project and how-to setup

Step 1: Download VPN Hotspot app by “MyGodStudio” from the play store

Step 2: Install app and allow all permissions and root access

Step 3: Connect your android device to your primary router and follow the steps from GIF below

·       Where to place your Android device in your entire house for 99% signal connectivity and reliability

In my Scenario, I have to place my android device on top of my router because the router is not radiating more than 3 ft. But in your case, you can place anywhere in your house for best optimal signal coverage and have a reliable connection henceforth.

·      Few hacks & Tips/ problem solutions I learned/faced in this project

The android phone used in this project is Samsung Galaxy S3 which had an operating system Android 4.0 KitKat which was very old and invalid for our project because VPN Hotspot app requires minimum Android 5.0 and root access. So, I had installed custom ROM by Cyanogen mods and root was preinstalled with the android system 6.0.1

You might notice that your client devices are not connecting to the repeater device because it is unable to get an IP address (DHCP issue) but the app has the workaround in settings > DHCP workaround on. If then also problem sustains, then you have to manually assign your client devices IP address by configuring Wi-Fi network in settings.

In simple words, you have to toggle DHCP to static in Wi-Fi > network name > right click > edit > toggle > enter IP > Save. This was the biggest common problem you can ever have in this setup. Please check out this simple Guide shown in GIF below

Since the phone was too old (2013), the max Link speed achieved was 72Mbps instead of 144 or 300Mbps which is the running standard of 2020. But that does not matter as only 4 to 15 Mbps is needed for Video streaming. Therefore, that’s not the issue really.

Please keep in mind battery optimizations for this app must be turned off (Don’t optimize). App must be running in background at all times for consistent Wi-Fi connection.

192.168.49.x is the default IP subnet range for Wi-Fi repeater because this app uses Wi-Fi direct technology and hence the SSID DIRECT-S3.

·      Q&A / FAQs

Can this completely replace wireless routers and no need to buy new routers?

No, android phones cannot actually beat wireless routers in many factors. This project simply demonstrates temporary solution/ cost free solution to extend Wi-Fi signal by using Old android phones.

We all have old android phones which are not utilized in any way and just kept for showpiece, so this project shows how to utilize/reuse old android phones in a nice application/projects like this.

How much time we have to charge our phone to keep it running whole day/night?

In my case, The phone used was very old(Samsung galaxy S3), but it did pretty well. The UP time i got on average is 8 Hours on a single full charge. Keep the device on airplane mode if possible because Cell standby consumed around 30% without using it all. So i also Kept Airplane mode always on and saved 30% battery on average.

·       Ending Statement/ Conclusion

We can add additional functionalities in our android device using tasker automation app for querying device related parameters like Battery percentage, temperature, data monitoring, and the list goes on. By adding tasker integration, we can send notifications to other connected android devices when battery of repeater device is going to be dead below 10% so that we can put it to charge.

As the name of the app suggests “VPN Hotspot”, it’s an app designed specifically to work with VPN. So, if you have a VPN app installed on your device, just connect with a VPN server and start repeater, you will get a VPN enabled private home network with all the features of VPN on all the connected clients. No need to manually install VPN apps on all the devices. Just install on one device, start repeater and Happy private browsing on web.

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