Port Forwarding on Mobile Hotspot?

[mcmahon.pt]

Hi there,

I have my open sprinkler running in a remote location where my only web access is through 4G LTE. I bought a Verizon MiFI 5510 to leave in my irrigation shed to create a network for OS and my Weather Station to run on. I was getting ready to set up Port Forwarding for Remote Access when I discovered Verizon doesn’t allow port forwarding on it’s hotspot devices. :(. Do I have any other options for remote access with a device like this? It does have Port Filtering – would that be helpful?

Ray suggested maybe a reverse VPN or something like that?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Ray]

This is a bit beyond my knowledge. I have never played with reverse VPN before. I think there are some posts on the forum that discussed nginx reverse proxy? Not sure if that’s for reverse VPN or it’s just a dynamic DNS kind of service. Worth doing a search and check them out.

[951calguy]

Did you find a solution to this issue? Let me know I may be able to help.

[mcmahon.pt]

Hey there,

No – Ive actually given up. I did try and setup up a VPN connection to my Verizon MiFi hotspot, but the router wouldn’t run in VPN mode when connected to a 4g access point. I’ve pretty much thrown up my hands. Hoping for a OpenSprinkler cloud service in the future.

If you do have any advice, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks,

Patrick

[ygreq]

So I guess nobody knows how to set this up? I am also trying to figure out a solution. My only internet connection is also a 4G smartphone left on location.I solved a few of the hurdles, but I am stuck at setting up port forwarding.

For now this is what I set up so others might follow, considering it is the right way to go, that is. 🙂 I am also considering setting up a hotspot for people coming to the garden. So here goes:

1. Share my 4G mobile data via a WiFi router

-I found this great tutorial for setting things up: https://youtu.be/4ykqFgJi-ZE
-Open your 4G mobile hotspot on your smartphone
-Connect to your router via a pc and navigate to Wireless Settings and tick mark on ENABLE WDS
-Now click on survey/scan. A list with all the available wifi networks would now popup.
-Click on the connect button corresponding to the network you want to bridge. Note the channel.
-Now enter the security key of hotspot wifi and see that the channel is same as of the host router. If not, manually change it from drop down list to the channel you’ve noted down instead of auto. Use WifiInfoView windows app to check channels for all wifis including the host router.
-Set password for newly created wifi
-Go to DHCP and disable it
-Reboot router (button is on the DHCP page)

Now you can connect to the internet via router wifi. (Not possible to connect to the internet via ethernet)

2. Setup fixed local IP addresses.

To setup fixed local addresses, you have to make DHCP available and to do this, you need to add another router. More info here: https://youtu.be/4ykqFgJi-ZE?t=385

-Connect another router to the first router
-Enable DHCP for new router to setup fixed IPs
-Connect ethernet cable from host Router (LAN port) to extended Router (WAN port)
-Disable Broadcast SSID of root router

3. Setup Android so that you always have the hotspot on

-Activate Hotspot
-Set password and SSID
-Turn off Hotspot Timeout
-To start Hotspot with Android do the following:

-Install Tasker app (there is a trial, but you can buy as well)
-Create a Profile which allows triggering of the Task after boot:
-Go to Profiles Tab and click “+”
-Event → System → Device Boot
-Tap back to exit from this window
-You will notice as soon as you exit, you will be prompted to link this Profile to a Task;
-Scroll all the way up the Task list select “New Task + ”
-You can name this Task AutoTethering or anything.
-Click “+” to add new Action: Net → WiFi Tether (Set On)
-Press back the way all back until you exit Tasker (your profile is now saved and is ready for execution)
-Extras: Give Tasker more priority (allow auto-start for Tasker, exclude from battery optimisations, task killers etc)
-Explanation: Soon after boot, the first action turns on Wi-Fi tethering (note: Tasker already has a built in WiFi Tether variable which is capable of handling tethering state)
-At the end, Set on and Keep Wi-Fi when turning on Check

4.Setup port forwarding for the 4G Mobile Network

And now I am at stuck. Any ideas on how to solve this? BTW, do you think it is overkill?

Let me know!

[ygreq]

Has anyone tried setting up a 4g router with a SIM slot? Like the TP-Link TL-MR6400?

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