Broadband Sharing - A Step By Step Guide

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by snodvan

Stu
What I want to be able to do is
a. Sit at home and use the laptop to connect to the Net via IE and sometimes to deal with mail via Outlook (I use Outlook rather than OE). At home the main access would be to the Net because I would normally access Email on the base machine so that all the files are in the folders for the one account. I would normally be in the office area so a wire connection would be reasonable. There is still a spare slot on the main PC that connects to the STB. However, if there is an option to "roam" with the thing within the house ie use it in another room, then that would be wonderful.

A lot of the use of the laptop away from home will be mundane ie to run Powerpoint presentations to people, access my information files (many of which are in historic Outlook files) and to write Word reports - and to download video and still from the camcorder/ camera.

b. Be away from home with the laptop and be able to pick up Email (main requirement) or access the Net. I have done the Email "thing" before when I used the company laptop + triband cellphone. This worked even from some strange parts of the world. I still have the phone but now I have to pay the bill!! Access was of course real slow using a cellphone. I read about an ever increasing number of wireless accsss 'hotspots' within UK but sods law says thay will not be where I want them, espcially out of UK. I have no idea at all how you access the net at such places or what sort of connection speed is attainable. I have a lot to learn.

Regards

If you want to share the internet connection as described in point A. The there are two ways to go. 1. you can add another pci wireless card to the pc and set it up to use ICS or whatever software you are using to share the wired connection. 2. You can get a wireless router or access point. The wireless router would be the best option IMO. You could allso use an access point and connect this to the laptop cable. You would need a hub or a switch to do this though.....

Cheapest option is to add a wireless card to the pc and then share the connection. You must have the main pc switched on if you want to share the connection. You would then set the card up in whats called " adhoc " mode. This would allow the two cards to talk to each other...

BTW - what software are you using to share the connection ?

[snodvan]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

If you want to share the internet connection as described in point A. The there are two ways to go. 1. you can add another pci wireless card to the pc and set it up to use ICS or whatever software you are using to share the wired connection. 2. You can get a wireless router or access point. The wireless router would be the best option IMO. You could allso use an access point and connect this to the laptop cable. You would need a hub or a switch to do this though.....

Cheapest option is to add a wireless card to the pc and then share the connection. You must have the main pc switched on if you want to share the connection. You would then set the card up in whats called " adhoc " mode. This would allow the two cards to talk to each other...

BTW - what software are you using to share the connection ?

Stu
Interesting. Sorry if I am a bit slow responding but I have been reading lots of the threads about routers, wireless etc. Some amazing stuff in there.

Picking up your question - what software am I using to share the <present> connection between the main PC and slave? Pass! The system was set up for me and I THOUGHT it used only the standard Windows XP Home facilities. Whatever, it works fine. I "share" folders between machines and so after a session on the main PC I can back-up all important files into a folder on the slave (and very rarely vice versa).

Seems to me the quickest way to get the laptop connected with the desirable facility of being able to run it anywhere in the house is :- buy/ fit a Wireless Network card for the main PC. The minor disadvantage is that the main PC will need to be on for it to work - but that is a very minor point with my working set up.

However, that then raises another question - which Wireless Network card? I know that is a "how long is a piece of string" type question because there must be many types. Belkin and Linksys seem to come up most frequently. When I look at (say) the Belkin types I note that there is a Belkin 11g and a Belkin 54g - presumably all to do with the speed of data transfer. Now the card in the laptop is rated at 11MBits/ sec so am I right in presuming that I only need the 11g type (£30) rather than the 54g type (£45) ? I do not mind paying the extra if there is a logical reason why I should.

Cheers

[Jonboy]

hi stu all i wanted to know was
is their need to clone the mac address and if the answer was yes which one my mate recons its better to clone the mac address in the router as a saftey thing also it stops evil people doing evil things as all they see is a cloned mac address confused i sure am i have serched a few forums on this topic and get conflicting advice so thats why i posted here as we have more brain per bandwidth on here that is till we start being charged by the hour etc

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by snodvan

Stu
Interesting. Sorry if I am a bit slow responding but I have been reading lots of the threads about routers, wireless etc. Some amazing stuff in there.

Picking up your question - what software am I using to share the <present> connection between the main PC and slave? Pass! The system was set up for me and I THOUGHT it used only the standard Windows XP Home facilities. Whatever, it works fine. I "share" folders between machines and so after a session on the main PC I can back-up all important files into a folder on the slave (and very rarely vice versa).

Seems to me the quickest way to get the laptop connected with the desirable facility of being able to run it anywhere in the house is :- buy/ fit a Wireless Network card for the main PC. The minor disadvantage is that the main PC will need to be on for it to work - but that is a very minor point with my working set up.

However, that then raises another question - which Wireless Network card? I know that is a "how long is a piece of string" type question because there must be many types. Belkin and Linksys seem to come up most frequently. When I look at (say) the Belkin types I note that there is a Belkin 11g and a Belkin 54g - presumably all to do with the speed of data transfer. Now the card in the laptop is rated at 11MBits/ sec so am I right in presuming that I only need the 11g type (£30) rather than the 54g type (£45) ? I do not mind paying the extra if there is a logical reason why I should.

Cheers

Hi m8...

You are probobly using internet connection sharing (ICS) to share the connection. If you dont mind laeving the computer on then this is fine. Dont worry about the brand to much or the speed. Your broadband connection will only run at 1mb a second max so it wont make a difference if you use 11b or 54g. I find it best to stick to sonemake of card on the system to avoid compatability problems though these are rare. Stear clear of usb external wifi cards though !

HTH

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

hi stu all i wanted to know was
is their need to clone the mac address and if the answer was yes which one my mate recons its better to clone the mac address in the router as a saftey thing also it stops evil people doing evil things as all they see is a cloned mac address confused i sure am i have serched a few forums on this topic and get conflicting advice so thats why i posted here as we have more brain per bandwidth on here that is till we start being charged by the hour etc

You only need to clone the mac if you have a STB. If you have a stand alone cable modem then its just a case of sutting down the modem and router, restarting the cable modem and waiting for it to settle then re-starting the router. Cloning the mac address of your current pc/nic will have no efect on the security of your connection.

HTH

[Jonboy]

cheers stu i will stay as i am then thanks for your reply hope i can return the advice sometime in the future

[snodvan]

Nearly - but not quite

Background. Bought a new laptop (runs XP) which has an 802.11b wireless card supplied with it (Realtek) and would like to be able to use the laptop anywhere in the house. Does not really matter whether the main PC (also XP) connected to the set top box has to be running.

After reading lots of the threads about wireless connections and reading the replies to my posts and some others I decided that the best way for me to get my laptop with wireless connection was to fit a Belkin 802.11b wireless network card in the main PC that is connected to the set tob box via cable

OK, fitted the Belkin card/ software and the hardware was "seen" ok by Windows. The Network Connections page on the main PC showed the Belkin thing "present" and then right click on that = wireless network connection properties - select configure and under 'advanced' set network type to ad hoc and SSID (whatever that is) to ANY.
( I had help to get that far - but my help cannot go any further)

NOW the network connections page says the Belkin wireless network connection is "enabled". If I look at the Wireless Network Connect Status pop up it shows
Connected
11Mb/s
Signal strength = "all the greens"
Activity = packets being sent but none received.

Look at the back of the PC and the lights on the card are one steady orange and one 'blinking' green.

OK so far

Power the laptop with the Wireless network card in the PCMCIA slot and more or less do the same set up procedure as above. Lights on the wireless card are one steady orange and a 'blinking' green. Looks fine so far Belkin's own Profile pop up shows all the greens for "signal strength and signal quality" and the Windows Wireless Network Connection Status pop up shows
Status - connected
Speed - 11 mb/s
Signal strength = all the greens
Activity - lots sent but just a couple received

Err - excuse me but surely these two cards should be "talking" to each other so there should be sent & received activity on both cards in both machines???? They are only a yard apart.

Clearly there is something I have not yet "done" Point me in the right direction please folks - or better still hold my hand and take me through it REAL SLOW.

PS Debsy's approach of LOTS of Jaffa cakes may help!

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by snodvan

<snip>

The system may see the cards but you need to be able to pass data between them. Are you using internet connection sharing software on the pc ? If you are what one is it ?

There are a few programs that will do this for you. One is even built into windows.

[snodvan]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

The system may see the cards but you need to be able to pass data between them. Are you using internet connection sharing software on the pc ? If you are what one is it ?

There are a few programs that will do this for you. One is even built into windows.

Stuart

I "thought" I was using the XP ICS. That was the intention. OK, I have Stuart_W's guide to setting up ICS (thread of 21-01-04). That is for a wired system but I guess the ICS bit is more or less the same. If on tha main PC I go to My Network Places, right click, select properties for the wireless connection ..... then THINGS CHANGE. Now the Wireless Network Connection Status pop up shows packets SENT and RECEIVED. Looks good but the laptop still does not connect to the internet.

I feel I am 'ever so close' but not quite

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by snodvan

Stuart

I "thought" I was using the XP ICS. That was the intention. OK, I have Stuart_W's guide to setting up ICS (thread of 21-01-04). That is for a wired system but I guess the ICS bit is more or less the same. If on tha main PC I go to My Network Places, right click, select properties for the wireless connection ..... then THINGS CHANGE. Now the Wireless Network Connection Status pop up shows packets SENT and RECEIVED. Looks good but the laptop still does not connect to the internet.

I feel I am 'ever so close' but not quite

O.K. when you look at the adaptor properties they should look like this.

Connection to the internet - share this connection should be ticked.
Connection for the wired client - share this connection should not be ticked
connection for the wireless card - share this connection should not be ticked

Make sure that the firewall on the two internal connections is disabled and that both the wired and wireless adaptors have an IP address and subnet that are in the same range.

There is some other software that you can use that is better than ICS but its a bit more techy to set up. I not 100% sure that ics will support connection over two interfaces but I cant see why it wouldn't.

Can you send me a screen shot of the adaptor settings.

[snodvan]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

O.K. when you look at the adaptor properties they should look like this.

Connection to the internet - share this connection should be ticked.
Connection for the wired client - share this connection should not be ticked
connection for the wireless card - share this connection should not be ticked

Make sure that the firewall on the two internal connections is disabled and that both the wired and wireless adaptors have an IP address and subnet that are in the same range.

There is some other software that you can use that is better than ICS but its a bit more techy to set up. I not 100% sure that ics will support connection over two interfaces but I cant see why it wouldn't.

Can you send me a screen shot of the adaptor settings.

Prints Stu's reply and then sits to think what it means.
Wonders HOW to send a screenshot and what Stuart means by "adaptor". Remember, I'm thick.

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by snodvan

Prints Stu's reply and then sits to think what it means.
Wonders HOW to send a screenshot and what Stuart means by "adaptor". Remember, I'm thick.

LOL - sorry m8.....

O.K. right click on my network places and go to properties. Bring the box full screen. You should see your connections there. Click on view and select details. You should see all three network adaptors listed.

Now press the print screen button (top left of keyboard)

Click on start then programs then accessories then mspaint.

Click on edit and then paste. A box will apear asking if you want to enlarge the window - click yes.

Click on save as... Select .jpg from the file types, give the file a name and then click save.

Post the file on here.

[snodvan]

Stu

Well here goes. I have anyway always wanted to know how to paste screenshots. Seems to have been done as an attached file. Hope it works

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by snodvan

Stu

Well here goes. I have anyway always wanted to know how to paste screenshots. Seems to have been done as an attached file. Hope it works

It worked fine m8...

O.K. First thing to do is delete any and all network bridges. You dont want to use bridges on this kind of setup as it will confuse the ICS software.

Delete all the bridges and then try the connection again.

[snodvan]

Well, I've learned something today. Just for completeness (and to prove it was not a fluke) I have attached a screenshot of the laptop.

Please remember I have another PC linked (wire) to the main PC using ICS. That link seems to switch off when I enable the wireless link. I guess that is normal. Let me know before I (try to) disable the bridge