WifiSocks Router OS Documentation

WifiSocks Router OS is a dedicated gateway operating system built on OpenWrt. It provides centralized proxy routing, independent per-device traffic isolation, and hardware-level DNS/WebRTC leak prevention directly at the network gateway layer.

This guide walks you through connecting your WifiSocks router, logging into the web admin dashboard (via local LAN or upstream WAN IP), activating your software license, and completing your initial network configuration.

The Proxy Routing tab is your central hub for managing how client devices connect to the internet. From here, you can assign proxies to specific devices, distribute proxies automatically from a pool, rotate IPs periodically, test proxy health, and inspect connected devices.

Under the default Fail-Closed security policy, WifiSocks blocks outbound internet on connected devices until a proxy route is assigned. This safeguards client devices against unintended public IP exposure.

When administrative devices (such as management laptops, internal NAS file servers, or network printers) need unproxied internet access, grant them Direct WAN Access.

When browsing websites using HTTP proxies or TCP-only SOCKS5 proxies, modern web browsers can attempt to establish WebRTC video/audio connections over UDP. Because the proxy does not handle UDP, the browser may send discovery packets directly through your physical home/office internet, leaking your true public IP address.

WifiSocks eliminates this risk directly at the router with the WebRTC Leak Shield and Block UDP Leakage features under IETF RFC 8828.

On standard home or office routers, every connected client device observes the exact same gateway MAC address in its local ARP cache. In high-density QA automation labs, multi-tenant development environments, and isolated enterprise subnets, sharing a single physical gateway MAC can cause infrastructure identity conflicts and ARP cache cross-talk across test groups.

WifiSocks provides Virtual Gateway Isolation (VGI) to assign an independent, unique virtual router MAC identifier to each connected device at Layer 2.

Sending 100% of your network traffic through proxies can use up proxy bandwidth quickly on video streaming, system updates, or local services. WifiSocks provides Domain Routing Rules so you can decide which websites should bypass the proxy and which servers should be blocked entirely.

WifiSocks gives you full control over your local network address range and device isolation. You can change your router gateway IP, adjust DHCP lease timing, and prevent connected phones or computers from scanning or communicating with each other over the local network.

The WAN Network Management screen lets you manage how your router connects to the upstream internet. WifiSocks supports wired Ethernet cables, wireless Wi-Fi Relay (repeating an existing Wi-Fi network), automatic Dual-WAN backup failover, and custom DNS settings.

The Manage Wi-Fi Networks screen gives you complete control over your wireless broadcasting. You can tune your radio frequencies, broadcast up to 32 independent Wi-Fi names (SSIDs), and assign distinct BSSID MAC identifiers directly in the dashboard.

When using desktop proxy client software (such as PIA Proxy, 922 Proxy, or other SOCKS5 forwarders) running on a Windows PC to distribute proxy endpoints across your router, you must bind the forwarder to your local LAN IP and configure firewall rules.

[!NOTE] Neutral Tool Notice: WifiSocks is an independent, software-only routing platform. WifiSocks does not provide, sell, or affiliate with third-party proxy services. Third-party names are mentioned solely for technical compatibility illustrations.

When running local proxy apps (such as SOCKS5 desktop clients or port forwarders) on a Windows PC to share proxies with your WifiSocks router, Windows Defender Firewall must allow incoming local network connections. This guide walks you through creating the required firewall rule in Windows.

[!NOTE] Neutral Tool Notice: WifiSocks is an independent routing software platform. WifiSocks does not operate or sell third-party proxy tools. Users configure their own network environments.

WifiSocks Router OS is built upon the OpenWrt open-source router platform. This document outlines our architectural segregation and license compliance under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPLv2).

This document outlines the core legal framework, End User License Agreement (EULA), and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) governing the use of WifiSocks Router OS.

[!NOTE] Official Terms of Use: For the authoritative legal agreement, visit wifisocks.com/terms-of-use.