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In the house the internet comes in via my phone which rebroadcasts the wifi and through my wife's mifi. I have two devices a TV and a NAS which both have ethernet connections to access a wired network (which we don't have). Given that at any one time the internet could be coming in by either source with what device can I plug both the TV, NAS and possibly another wired device into such that they can seemlessly connect to whichever wireless internet source is available? All the diagrams I have seen indicate one source of internet and we have two.

I have a Galaxy S3 and the Mifi is a Huawei 5331. I am willing to co-locate the TV and the NAS so that only one device is required

In summary, two wireless internet sources into the house, of which either is broadcasting and two ethernet devices which need to link to either wireless network. Minimal faff and simplest solution possible.

I have searched the forums but have not found anything quite the same as this, any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,


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How do you plan to attach a physical wire to a wireless network? –  fpayer Dec 12 '12 at 20:19
Sorry for not even fully reading your question, but at a glance, it looks like something like openwrt or pfsense is worth a look for you. –  Doc Dec 12 '12 at 20:31
DazSlayer - I need to connect some sort of wireless ethernet bridge or access point to the TV and NAS, however many of these require entering a home page to change which network they connect to, whereas I need one which connects to two wireless networks with the internet arriving over both. Doc - pfsense needs to sit on a computer, whereas there isn't one in the loop. If I used it the devices would connect to the pc which would then route it to the correct internet network. I am really looking to buy a cheap stand alone box. –  Simon Ramsden Dec 12 '12 at 20:45
@Simon: Welcome to Super User. For your information, when you respond to comments (in a new comment), it’s conventional to mention the authors’ names, preceded by “@” symbols, as in “@DazSlayer, @Doc”. That way they get notified. See the Replying in comments paragraphs of the Comment formatting section of the Markdown Editing Help page. –  Scott Dec 14 '12 at 1:19
I'm not sure I quite understand what you're trying to achieve. It sounds like you have two internet connections through mobile phones, of which none, one or both may be available at any one time, and you want the NAS and TV to use whichever is available? At the very least, you need to set up a machine on the network (possibly the NAS) which acts as a gateway for any devices on the network. That way, they can all use that device and you don't have to change any more settings. After that you start getting into the realms of needing to bridge one network to two. Look at dual-wan/gateway setups. –  Jon Story Feb 6 '13 at 15:05
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2 Answers

Something like the Edimax EW-7228APn 150Mbps 11n Wireless Range Extender/Access Point with 5 Port Switch may be what you are looking for to help.

This should work with either network with no problem.

Your issue with a setup like you want is that both devices (mifi and S3) want to be the DHCP server. Overcoming this issue may be the real trick. I don't think either will provide a connection without also providing the IP address.

Likely you'll have to settle on having one device for a primary connection and use the second device for a connection when the first is unavailable.

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@RockyFord and OP:


If it is possible to configure the DHCP server (which I doubt, especially for the Galaxy, but I don't know) I would try the following:

  • have the two devices hand out addresses from two different (private) IP ranges (RFC1918)
  • set a pretty short timeout for the leases

So if either of the devices providing the network is around it will hand out an address and act as the default gateway. As long as it is on, it will renew the lease and all is good.

If the device is turned off and the other device is around too, the second device will hand out a new address once the lease on the NAS/TV expires (which is why the lease time should be short). From then on the second device will be the default gateway and connectivity is restored.

I am not saying it's a beautiful design, but it might just work...

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