In the past, if you wanted to connect computer-to-computer for internet sharing purposes, you could use Windows’ Internet Connection Sharing, which would create an adhoc connection between two computers. However, adhoc connections do have limitations – chief of which, certain devices cannot connect to it, and adhoc connections limit the number of connections you can have to a single computer.
Recently, I have gotten a new internet connection – a wireless, 3G-based data stick that cost me $29/month and promises HSPDA speeds of up to 7.2Mbps… in ideal conditions. However, one critical issue is that I couldn’t share the connection unless I bought a wireless router that supported USB devices. Being the poor back-to-university student that I am, I decided to stinge and save. But this is Netbookist.com, and all I can say is challenge accepted!
This tip will come in really handy if you have a new printer that has WiFi as one of its connection options and doesn’t come with a USB cable as standard, or if you are finding a frugal method to share the internet with other devices, or have a LAN party without a router.
In order to create a wireless access point using your computer, you need these programs:
Congratulations. Your $300 netbook is now a wireless access point.
Once you have Connectify, install it and follow the instructions. Most likely, you will have to manually select the connection you want to use under Internet as the Lite version does not support automatic selection of the connection. Otherwise, the Lite version works very well – just make sure that your wireless adapter doesn’t try to connect automatically to other networks while Connectify is enabled as it will cause you to lose your connection with other devices.
Once this is done, you need to configure your other devices to access this network, and then, you’re done!
Also, if you’ve noticed, I’m on Wind Mobile, here in Canada. It’s a new telecommunications provider, which also has an awesome data plan for $29/month. In total, I paid $66 (including taxes) for the data stick and one month’s connection. So far, it has been moderately reliable – works most of the time and speeds are acceptable.
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thanks, that’s cheaper than a router, but for some reason my android tablet can’t find the wifi network. works with my non-android smartphone though. google hates windows????
another annoying thing is that the program seems to use up 45MB of memory when idle, which is > 2X what windows explorer uses? not very memory effiecient(sp?). probably should shut it down when playing most games.