Wireless Joey without Dish WAP

[U235]

Hi all,
I've got a long-term visitor coming in, and I plan to buy a Wireless Joey from Amazon or eBay. I also want the wireless one so I can move it around and use it outside from time to time during BBQs, etc. I called Dish, but they want an installation tech to come out and it costs quite a bit more, I presume because they provide a WAP, etc.

I actually work in product management for a large (famous brand) manufacturer of residential and small business wireless routers. As such, I have a pristine wireless network that utilizes a Broadcom based 802.11ac 3x3 solution (marketing zealously called AC1900), which is the same chipset technology in the Wireless Joey. I also live in Texas on a large lot without interference from neighbors' Wi-Fi systems.

All that said, I'm sure the signal quality and interference of my system is in the top 99 percentile of all other Dish network customers. I also have a 200 Mbps Internet connection to which I have no problem achieving over wireless connections with modern 11ac clients (Macbook Pros, 3x3 Bridges, 11ac Android devices, etc. etc.).

I've read so much contradictory information about using a Wireless Joey on your own network. Both my Hopper and MOCA Joey are Internet connected and have IP addresses from my IPv4 network (not using the self-assigned 169 MOCA addresses).

So am I correct in thinking that I can purchase a Wireless Joey from the Internet, activate it with Dish (paying the $7 / month fee) and connect it to my Wireless Router and be able to view TV and access DVR content through the Hopper (using Hopper's tuners)? I'm assuming I do not need to use the second Ethernet port and a separate WAP for the Wireless Joey and that I can instead use my existing Infrastructure Router?

Finally, I have an earlier Hopper, maybe 2-3 years old. It is a Hopper 2000. I also have the USB Sling add-on (not that it should matter).

Please advise before I pull the trigger here.

 

[ChadT41]

I have heard many people try, but each story I have seen has been a fail. The WJ requires the use of the Dish WAP. You can purchase both 3rd party from different satellite supply stores for a decent price. I forget the name of the one I was looking through, as it has been quite some time, however I am sure someone on this board can throw a few names of websites out there. Also, you can check out eBay and Amazon.

 

[TheKrell]

How about a regular Joey and a wireless dongle?

 

[KaptainRandom]

With the robustness of your network,
I would go with a regular joey with dish's wireless dongle

 

[U235]

Thanks all. I have various 11ac 3x3 Ethernet to Wireless Bridge clients, could I use those with a regular Joey? That would be Ethernet into a Joey and I'll handle the Wi-Fi connection? This assumes a regular Joey can stream over a Wired network?

If not, is this the Wi-Fi adapter? Is there an 11ac one:
Amazon product ASIN B004Z0RBXK

 

[ChadT41]

That does appear to be it. Netgear WNDA 3100v2 wifi adapter.

 

[peggy97850]

Just recently purchased WJ & WAP, best price for WJ was at Solid Signal, bought WAP from someone that had cancelled Dish & had no use for it. Working flawlessly, took all of 5 minutes to install/set up & I've moved it to different rooms as needed.

 

[U235]

I guess my issue is it seems redundant to have two separate 11ac networks operating in my home. I'd have to make sure they weren't stepping on each other's channels, etc. Do you know if the WAP is configurable as to which channel it uses? Can you disable the 2.4 band altogether, etc?

 

[ChadT41]

I could be wrong on this, but I thought I read somewhere that it Is 5 only. No option for 2.4

 

[peggy97850]

There is no option to make any changes to network settings, all automatic.

 

[Brussam]

Good chance the Dish WAP is using a 5GHz band to be separate from 802.311ac

 

[TroubleshooterMike]

The WAP and wireless joeys do use 5 GHz. Using the wireless adapter and a regular joey is not a Dish supported installation method but people here have reported it works just fine for them.

 

[JM42]

I guess my issue is it seems redundant to have two separate 11ac networks operating in my home. I'd have to make sure they weren't stepping on each other's channels, etc. Do you know if the WAP is configurable as to which channel it uses? Can you disable the 2.4 band altogether, etc?

There are some threads of success over at dbstalk. IIRC, the joey needs to be activated, then connected to the router via WPS. There is no option to select the access point, enter a password, etc. No idea if they have tightened things up since those posts.

If you have an AC network with WPS enabled, may be worth trying.

Treat this as unconfirmed hearsay.

 

[ChadT41]

There are some threads of success over at dbstalk. IIRC, the joey needs to be activated, then connected to the router via WPS. There is no option to select the access point, enter a password, etc. No idea if they have tightened things up since those posts.

If you have an AC network with WPS enabled, may be worth trying.

Treat this as unconfirmed hearsay.

Are those for the WJ, or with the Joey 1.0 and a wifi adapter? Every report I have seen, the WJ requires the Dish WAP. The Joey 1.0 just needs to be on the same network as the hopper.

 

[JM42]

Are those for the WJ, or with the Joey 1.0 and a wifi adapter? Every report I have seen, the WJ requires the Dish WAP. The Joey 1.0 just needs to be on the same network as the hopper.

Wireless Joey.

 

[U235]

That makes sense. As someone from the industry, I doubt they are using any proprietary connection method. Why re-invent the wheel, why not just use WPS. I'm sure Echostar is OEM'ing this equipment from another maker.

802.11ac is 5 Ghz only, but many chipsets also cover 2.4 GHz hence my curiosity of the WAP also has a 2.4 GHz radio, whether it's disabled, etc. It probably is in the product but just disabled. I might go the USB route which would limit me to 40 MHz wide 802.11n 5 GHz on 2 channels (limited to 600 Mbps PHY) which isn't so bad, but I'd rather have the 1300 Mbps PHY of the WJ.

 

[Straybeat]

Thanks all. I have various 11ac 3x3 Ethernet to Wireless Bridge clients, could I use those with a regular Joey? That would be Ethernet into a Joey and I'll handle the Wi-Fi connection? This assumes a regular Joey can stream over a Wired network?

If not, is this the Wi-Fi adapter? Is there an 11ac one:
Amazon product ASIN B004Z0RBXK

I recently bought a wireless Joey off Ebay and hooked it up without a WAP. I just had to call Dish to activate it.

I also have a regular Joey that I put a dongle on. It was very s-l-o-w. So bad that I regrettably went back to the wire.