Help setting up wifi in my vacation rental

July 11, 2013 7:11 AM

vacation home has an ethernet connection, but no wifi. My laptop dead. Can I bring and use a wifi router (for ipad) without having a computer attached to router?
posted by szg8 to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

As long as you know the default IP address to set up the router, you should be able to connect to it from your iPad. (Unless it's a model that requires setup over the ethernet connection.) I don't know of any routers that require having a computer attached via ethernet to function.

What is the router model?
posted by supercres at 7:13 AM on July 11, 2013

Response by poster: supercres, I don't have one yet. I am not messing with my home network, so I was thinking of buying one to get me through the week.
posted by szg8 at 7:17 AM on July 11, 2013

You might consider an Airport Express. You can download the configuration utility for free from the app store and it's really simple to set up.
posted by jquinby at 7:21 AM on July 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

This guy can repeat any wired or wireless access point out over wireless, and it can be administered wirelessly. Even has a USB charging port.
posted by ftm at 7:35 AM on July 11, 2013

Hypothetically, if you had a laptop and plugged it into the ethernet connection, what would happen?

If the laptop gets an IP address via DHCP and you have internet access without messing around with any captive portals, you should be good to just plug any wifi router with factory defaults in and connect to it with your iPad for further configuration (like changing the SSID, adding a password, etc) because from the router's standpoint it's no different than plugging into a DSL or cablemodem.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:14 AM on July 11, 2013

Most router configuration pages are accessed via a web browser, so your ipad would work just as well as a laptop.

*As long as you know the wireless SSID, password and default address to access it at. Should you be uncertain, this can be checked before you go - just plug in the power cable (not the ethernet) and check your ipad can access the configuration page.
posted by Ashlyth at 10:17 AM on July 11, 2013

I carry a small router in my laptop bag for just this situation at hotels. Works great. There are a plethora of similar devices available now, search on your preferred tech shopping site for "pocket router".
posted by Runes at 12:11 PM on July 11, 2013