I recently moved into an apartment and wifi is included in the rent; however, it is a public network for each building and is not secure. I currently own a router but I do not know how to use it to redirect the public wifi signal.

So, is there a way for me to capture the signal with one device, transmit it via an Ethernet cable to my router, and then broadcast a secure version that I can safely use?

Also, I don't have much experience with this so don't assume that I know something that may be obvious. It's likely that I don't. I found a similar question to this:

How to create a private wireless network off of public wifi?

but the question was never answered.

Feel free to let me know if you need more info before you can answer my question. Thanks!

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1 Answer

Yes, that should work – some Wi-Fi APs can work in client (station) mode, although I've seen it more often in dedicated APs ("range extenders") than in combo "wireless routers". Though OpenWRT should allow it in a wi-fi router as well. (I've once used a spare laptop this way.)

Though, as mentioned in comments, this will only give you a private LAN, but not a private connection to the Internet. Your neighbours will still be able to see which websites you browse.

(One way to avoid that would be by setting up a VPN connection on the router, although obviously that needs a VPN server elsewhere...)

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