# FreeBSD as hotspot



## usakhncit (Oct 14, 2019)

Hi
One of my FreeBSD laptops is attached to wired network. I want to share my wired connection with other devices via wifi, i.e. I want to make this FreeBSD box a hotspot. Kindly point me towards appropriate guide/documentation.
Also, if anyone of you already using your FreeBSD as hotspot, then kindly share your configs.
Thanks


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## double (Oct 14, 2019)

Hi!
I've readed https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-wireless.html
scroll down to 31.3.6. FreeBSD Host Access Points

I came here for same question. I have few old Core2Duo PC and I want turn them to WiFi AP. But since I don't have any WiFi cards, before I buy them, I'd like to know: is it worth to use FreeBSD as WiFi AP and what WiFi chipsets is better use with FreeBSD.


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## blackhaz (Oct 14, 2019)

My experience was not very good with pfSense. The wireless drivers for the various chipsets I've tried were often rudimentary or buggy - "stuck beacons" and random lock-ups. 802.11ac not supported. There are no interference mitigation techniques that some APs have. Eventually my organization decided to decouple wireless from pfSense and install stand-alone APs. Alas, FreeBSD has quite poor wireless subsystem.


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## usakhncit (Oct 14, 2019)

double said:


> Hi!
> I've readed https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-wireless.html
> scroll down to 31.3.6. FreeBSD Host Access Points
> 
> I came here for same question. I have few old Core2Duo PC and I want turn them to WiFi AP. But since I don't have any WiFi cards, before I buy them, I'd like to know: is it worth to use FreeBSD as WiFi AP and what WiFi chipsets is better use with FreeBSD.


I was reading it. Is related to converting a wired connection to wifi-hotspot? Because I cannot see any command related to ethernet card (em0). I may be wrong.


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## double (Oct 14, 2019)

As my poor knowing of this topic(not yet tried due lack of WiFi adapters) I can suggest that network subsystem should take care of redirecting packets(as you especially must put "hostap" keyword during WiFi interface initialising) or you can joini WiFi interface with wired interface via bridging.


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## Phishfry (Oct 14, 2019)

I am still using an APU2 as my WAP. I did convert my install into a NanoBSD image.








						Solved - Help plumbing a wireless AP
					

Greetings, I have 8 static (internet) IP's for my home network. The topology is thus: cable-modem




					forums.freebsd.org
				



You need to ensure your wireless card supports hostAP mode.


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## rootbert (Oct 14, 2019)

unfortunately I cannot recommend pfsense or FreeBSD as a wifi AP ... it is "good enough" for personal use, but I would avoid it for professional use. Using Linux with hostapd you will probably get 3x-5x the speed and number of simultaneous connections from my experience with 3 different cards (all compex based). I would love to use FreeBSD myself as a wifi AP, but I simply cannot recommend any of the BSDs, I have used Debian with hostapd so far, but I have heard great things about openwrt, will evaluate it soon


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