Make Hotspot using PiTalk and Raspberry Pi

In this tutorial, you will learn how to integrate PiTalk (Raspberry Pi 3G Module) with Raspberry Pi' WiFi to make your personal Internet hotspot. It can be used as a router to connect to the internet and also host a local area network.

1. Connect your Raspberry Pi to the internet using WiFi or Ethernet.
2. Install the required packages:
   

   sudo apt-get install dnsmasq hostapd 

3. Configure 'wlan0' interface with a static IP. Open configuration file:
   

   sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

   and add the following line at the bottom:

   denyinterfaces wlan0

   Note: This must be above any 'interface' lines you may have added.
4. Now configure static IP using the command:
   

   sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

   and edit the file:
   

   allow-hotplug wlan0  
   iface wlan0 inet static  
       address 172.24.1.1
       netmask 255.255.255.0
       network 172.24.1.0
       broadcast 172.24.1.255

5. Now we need to configure 'hostapd'. Create a configuration file by using the command:
   

   sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

   and add the following content:
   

   # This is the name of the WiFi interface we configured above
   interface=wlan0
   
   # Use the nl80211 driver with the brcmfmac driver
   driver=nl80211
   
   # This is the name of the network
   ssid=PiTalk_WiFi
   
   # Use the 2.4GHz band
   hw_mode=g
   
   # Use channel 6
   channel=6
   
   # Enable 802.11n
   ieee80211n=1
   
   # Enable WMM
   wmm_enabled=1
   
   # Enable 40MHz channels with 20ns guard interval
   ht_capab=[HT40][SHORT-GI-20][DSSS_CCK-40]
   
   # Accept all MAC addresses
   macaddr_acl=0
   
   # Use WPA authentication
   auth_algs=1
   
   # Require clients to know the network name
   ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
   
   # Use WPA2
   wpa=2
   
   # Use a pre-shared key
   wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
   
   # The network passphrase
   wpa_passphrase=raspberry
   
   # Use AES, instead of TKIP
   rsn_pairwise=CCMP 

6. Open up the default configuration file using:
   

   sudo nano /etc/default/hostapd

   and find the line
   

   #DAEMON_CONF=""

   and replace it with
   

   DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf" 

7. Configure 'dnsmasq' configuration file:
   

   sudo mv /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf.orig  
   sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf

   and paste the following into the new file:
8. 
   

   interface=wlan0      
   # Use interface wlan0  
   listen-address=172.24.1.1 
   # Explicitly specify the address to listen on bind-interfaces      
   # Bind to the interface to make sure we aren't sending things elsewhere  
   server=8.8.8.8       # Forward DNS requests to Google DNS  
   domain-needed        # Don't forward short names  
   bogus-priv           # Never forward addresses in the non-routed address spaces.  
   dhcp-range=172.24.1.50,172.24.1.150,12h # Assign IP addresses between 172.24.1.50 and 172.24.1.150 with a 12 hour lease time  

9. Now enable packet forwarding:
   

   sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

   and remove the '#' from the beginning of the line containing:
   

   net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

   Now reboot your Raspberry Pi or active it immediately with:
   

   sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward"

10. Now we need to share our Raspberry Pi internet connection to our devices connected over WiFi by configuring:
    

    sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE  
    sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i ppp0 -o wlan0 -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT  
    sudo iptables -A FORWARD -i wlan0 -o ppp0 -j ACCEPT

11. We need these rules to be applied every time we reboot the Raspberry Pi, so run the command to save the file:
    

    sudo sh -c "iptables-save > /etc/iptables.ipv4.nat"

    Now we need to run this after each reboot, so open the 'rc.local' file and add the following line just above the 'exit 0'
    

    iptables-restore < /etc/iptables.ipv4.nat

12. Now to start the type of the services:
    

    sudo service hostapd start
    sudo service dnsmasq start

13. Now to cross check everything configured correctly, reboot the Raspberry Pi:
    

    sudo reboot

Find out more PiTalk Smartphone Kits online on SB Components Shop.