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I need to setup a VPN with a remote location which has no wired Internet access. At the most we can get a GSM Wi-Fi hotspot for Internet access. I am hoping to install a SonicWall TZ105W and put W0 in the WAN zone to use the Wi-Fi hotspot as the WAN.

Is it possible?

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If your GSM Wifi Hotspot has an Ethernet port you could connect X1 (WAN) there and it should work; that would be simplest. If NOT then you will need to put W0 (Wireless) into Wireless Bridge Mode:

https://support.software.dell.com/kb/sw11099

However, in both cases, you will need to ensure the correct ports within GSM Wifi hotspot router are open for VPNs:

IPSec uses:
IP protocol 50 for ESP
IP protocol 51 for AH
UDP port 500 for IKE Phase 1 and Phase 2 negotiations
UDP port 4500 is used as well if NAT-T is enabled

That's to allow the remote site to initiate the connection, you would need to publish/NAT inbound those ports to the W0 interface if you wanted to initiate from the central office to the remote site.

I would suggest testing this before sending any equipment out as the little routers inside those hotspots are often troublesome. If it works please post back with the make and model.

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  • If the GSM Wi-Fi Hotspot had an Ethernet port, I wouldn't be asking the question. We often do VPN from laptop using these Wi-Fi hotspots, so IPSec may work fine. But you have probably solved my problem, I didn't think about using it as a bridge. I should have, considering I have a half mile long Wi-Fi bridge between my home and office, setup using dd-wrt firmware on buffalo routers. I did that in 2007, still works fine.
    – Sharath
    Oct 19, 2015 at 15:21
  • Since some Hotspots have downlink ports and StackExchange is meant to serve as a reference to others as well I thought it worth mentioning (in case someone comes across this in the future). Good luck with the bridging, let us know the results!
    – PSaul
    Oct 21, 2015 at 14:10

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