I currently have this wifi enabled laptop hard wired to my router so basically i'm using the wired network. While at the same time I have this several other PCs far away from the router but has a wifi card. I would like to know if there's any way for me to configure this laptop as my access point? I know of the wifi connection sharing (ad hoc) but it needs configuration from the host and clients too, whereas if I make my wifi laptop to act as access point, there will be no need for me to configure newly arrived PCs (clients) to share the internet as they will automatically detect the access point. There will just be one configuration which is making the host to act as access point. Any help is appreciated ;-)
2007-04-20 19:03:29 · 8 answers · asked by Frank Abagnale 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
There are two answers to your question. Yes and No.
Some info first.
The WiFi card in your laptop is designed to only communicate with one wireless connection at a time, unlike a wireless access point which is designed to communicate with more then 100 devices at a time.
This said, you can set your laptop wifi connection to AD-Hoc mode and communicate with one other computer via your wireless connection. But this will take a bit of manuall configuration of the IP and Subnet addresses.
But no there is no way to turn it into a AP to communicate and act as a DHCP server for multiple computers.
And contrary to what was stated above, you cant do this in linux either. The wifi card is only designed for one connection at a time. That is why you can only connect to one wifi signal at a time also.
2007-04-20 20:20:54 · answer #1 · answered by Taba 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i have been trying to do some thing similar to this for years.
when fixing pcs i have always wanted to use the wifi on my laptop to feed the wired ethernet on another pc. have tried everything, bridging, static ips using the pc wifi as the default gateway.
i dont think that ics (internet connection sharing- built into xp) works with wifi- might be wrong though)
nothing has ever worked. sorry. i guess that it is not possible using windows- not sure about linux.
dont understand why you dont buy a wireless router- they are soooo cheap these days. if range is a problem then buy two with wireless repeating options so that the second will relay the network thereby almost doubling the range
2007-04-20 19:15:36 · answer #2 · answered by imaginarynumber 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ok this is what you will have to do. In oder to get this to work correctly. I have done this to setup a temp solutions at some clients. Basiclly you will have to bridge both the wireless and the cable NIC together. The simpliest way to do this, is use the "set up a home or small office network" in my network places. On the laptop you want to click on start and then click on my network places. Once the screen opens up on the left hand side click on Setup home or small office network. go through the wizard. there will be a question somewhere that ask Does this computer connect directly to the internet and other computers connect through this one. that will create that computer as a gateway. Then on the others. you will want to set the same thing up, but select this computer doesnot connect directly to the internet but connect throught another computer on the network. Once you get all of this setup you should be able to connect to the internet once you have connected to the laptop.
2007-04-21 02:33:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What you would need to do is to use 2 (PMCIA) cards and the one nic that came with your laptop.
That would take care of the routing if needed on your laptop to your other computers depending on the Operating system you are using. There is software out there, and its not FREE, that would make it easier for you to accomplish the transmit and receive for a wireless signal. The antenna is seperate and you would still need to BUY one of those PMCIA cards that is compatible with the software. Too much money and thought into the idea, but if you got the money and the time, let us know how it turns out.
If you don't have the money, just go to Fry's or Best Buy and get a router for less than 30.00 and spend a week less getting it to work.
2007-04-20 20:13:43 · answer #4 · answered by mountainlvr65 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I use the Linksys WRT54GL wireless router and it works great! If you need to set up the router a great distance from where you will be using the laptop wireless-N would be worth looking into. The speed you should expect will be basically the same as your internet connection speed. 128Kbps does not sound like broadband speed! No downside. Just be sure to set up your router with a good strong password. Piece of cake!
2016-05-20 01:32:12 · answer #5 · answered by margaretta 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
your router is the access point. you probably are using WEP
find out how to get into your router then disable WEP. it will then be a public access point. you wil probably read posts telling you this is really bad. but my opinion is sharing is good. and supplying a public access point helps your friends and neighbors get a jump on new knowledge.
I use fon: http://www.fon.com/en/
the internet was meant to be free.
2007-04-20 19:14:30 · answer #6 · answered by dubertman 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
nope...just get a Wi-Fi router and set it up as an access point. you can get a DLink 524 for $30
2007-04-20 19:30:07 · answer #7 · answered by lv_consultant 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in linux yes
2007-04-20 19:09:49 · answer #8 · answered by topcats r 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋