USB WiFi Access Point

Alex53

Alex53

Alex53

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Joined
3 Jun 2003
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I am not sure if this exists, but say you dont have a wireless router/access point at home or in an office, but your PC is connected to the network via ethernet.

You then have an iPod or mobile with Wifi.

Is there a device that is small (say a dongle) which connects to a PC say via USB and which creates an access point? So the PC becomes your access point and the beauty of it would be its a portable device you can move around with and install (obviously on PCs you have admin rights on).
 
After a lot of googling, a way to do this is to use a standard wireless adapter to create an ad-hoc network with your iPod (the wireless equivalent of an ethernet crossover cable going PC to PC.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bowman_02april08.mspx

I did that just fine, , but then the next step was to connect to the internet, and thats the fiddly bit. Internet Connection Sharing insists that you change the ip of the shared connection (i.e. not the wireless adapter but your PCs ethernet that goes out to the internet). This simply HAS to be 192.168.0.1

I tried and it indeed assigned 192.168.0.1, after which my PC could not communicate with the rest of the network...so there goes the chance of making that work in an office.

I took off the sharing, and after I changed my IPs at home to accomodate that, the bit** insists that 192.168.0.1 is already in use and won't enable ICS. Its obviously not in use but its somehow got its knickers in a twist.

Already more trouble than its worth. Some manufacturer please make a usb-dongle Access Point with its own connection sharing software. Maybe a virtual device/software bridge.
 
You don't even need ICS - just bridge the two connections and the wireless device should work as if it were directly connected to the network...
 
Thanks for that, worked straight away. Feel a bit stupid now. :)

Well, on another front my search for a usb dongle access point revealed the 'Wifi MAX for PSP and DS'.

It looks like a decent product and although its marketed for DS and PSP owners, it is compatible with any wifi enabled stuff like mobiles, ipod touch, PDAs, etc. It looks interesting as something to take to hotel rooms that just have ethernet, etc.
 
Some wireless adapters already come with software to turn them into proper APs as well, like the Asus card you can get for some motherboards.
 
I think I might go for either the Wifi MAX or one of those Asus.

The ad-hoc solution is just too fiddly. Got it to work fine, then after a restart its a new adventure every time to get it going again. Just cant be ar*ed.
 
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