Typically in the average office there is ethernet ran to every desk providing a direct connection to whatever device may sit on the other end, including power to phones. With most people now working from home due to the pandemic ethernet may not be readily so available, so what can be done to provide a form of a connectivity to devices that need ethernet and power, such as a phone? If the user at least has 2.4Ghz wireless there is an easy solution: A Mikrotik and a suitable 48V power supply such as a PoE injector.
The Mikrotik mAP 2nD is a perfect device for a scenario where we may need a universal solution to power a phone at a desk with wireless connectivity to a home router. Accompanied with a power supply (or PoE injector) that can supply 48V, devices can be powered with its dedicated PoE port and provided network connectivity wireless using its built in 2.4Ghz wireless card.
The mAP 2nD can accept a range of power supply voltages ranging from 8 volts to 52 volts and pass it through via port ETH2 via Power over Ethernet. Most power over ethernet devices operate on 48V so a power supply of this voltage is required to power most devices out of the power over ethernet port.
It must be noted that the Mikrotik router does not come configured this way, and must be programmed to operate to bridge it’s wireless connection out of the ethernet port, a sample configuration is below:
/interface bridge
add name=wireless2wired protocol-mode=none
/interface wireless security-profiles
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk mode=dynamic-keys name=bridgenetwork supplicant-identity=MikroTik wpa2-pre-shared-key=NetworkKey
/interface wireless
set [ find default-name=wlan1 ] disabled=no frequency=auto mode=station-bridge security-profile=bridgenetwork ssid=NetworkName station-roaming=enabled wireless-protocol=802.11 wmm-support=enabled
/interface bridge port
add bridge=wireless2wired interface=wlan1
add bridge=wireless2wired interface=eth2
/ip dhcp-client
add disabled=no interface=wireless2wired
The configuration above will create a bridge to join two network interfaces together, the wireless network and the second ethernet port.
It basically allows any device plugged into the second ethernet port (ETH2) to communicate over the wireless network.
DHCP client will also be enabled on the bridge port to pick up an IP address on the local network to allow remote management.
If power over ethernet is not a requirement, and you’re just looking to connect a wired device to a wireless network, consider the mAP Lite.
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