Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

My Windows XP laptop connects to the internet via a wireless router through a USB wifi adapter.

Now I what to connect my n810 to the laptop's internal wifi and connect to the internet.

Is this possible?

Just to make it clear...

Internet - wifi router - usb wifi adapter - laptop - n810

Thanks, Dave.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Yes.. I don't have step by steps but Windows makes it pretty easy for "Internet Sharing".

I think you just right click on the USB Wireless and say "Share Internet".. when it asks which interface to share to select the internal Wireless.. it should then ask if you want to setup an Ad-Hoc network, which you'll do.

So basically your N810 would not be connected to your Wifi Router.. it would be connected to the Ad-Hoc network created by your laptop.


My only would question would be - Why?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

No, afaik you can't use your laptop's WiFi as both incoming (from router) and shared (to other devices) connection. At least not in Windows/Mac OS X. Well, at least not with the tools these OS provide by default. :) Oops, my bad, didn't notice laptop has two wifi interfaces!

Why won't you connect your N810 to router directly?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Well, if he's doing what I've tried doing, he's essentially making his laptop an improvised WAP. I've looked into doing that too. Or at least I did before the Mifi came on the scene. The idea is that the laptop can connect to the web via the router or wired connection, but the tablet can't for whatever reason. So you essentially take either a wired connection, or a second wireless connection and create a bridge. It can be done, but if you're traveling and need wifi on both devices, you may want to wait for the Mifi to come to Sprint and be released this spring. I don't know the pricing or data throughput, but if you're traveling, it'll be a good solution to your problems.

If not, and you're at home, just use the local wifi router. :D

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I connected my N810 via Ad-Hoc WIFI-Network to my Laptop which has a wired (LAN) connection to teh internet. but for some reason the N810 only lets me choose WEP to secure the connection (instead of my preferred WPA or WPA2). Can anyone confirm that?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

The tablet is dependent on the security features provided by the router it connects to. In this case, your laptop. If all the laptop provides is Wep, then that's all your tablet will be able to use.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Nope, the laptop also provides WPA and WPA2 for ad-hoc networks, i checked that.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Yeah you can do this, I've done it with XP before, you just have to have two different connections to make it work (i.e. wired and wireless), or two wireless cards. I don't have XP anymore but I do remember that basically you have to go into network connections and setup your wireless with a new ad-hoc "preferred network" which is actually the new network you want to create, then just setup your device to connect to that network. Search around there are some good tutorials for how to do it. :)

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I'm still working on it, but I have found that to share an internet connection, "File and Printer Sharing" needs to be activated.

So maybe it should be called "File, Printer and Internet Sharing" !!!

Thanks to all, Dave.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Would you be kind enough to point me to a tutorial?

Thanks, Dave.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Could I do this using a Bluetooth connection between Laptop and n810? Would it be easier?

My laptop doesn't have a bluetooth connection but I could get a USB Bluetooth dongle.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

davehuge: If you get a usb dongle, be sure to get one that's at least a class 2, and uses the nub style head instead of the traditional dongle design. I say that because you're less likely to break it should you accidentally brush it.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Here you go Dave, this looks like it's what you want: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...tup/adhoc.mspx

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Thanks for the advice...but would this work over Bluetooth?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

If you have a wireless router anyway this all makes little sense. The N810 will work with the wireless router -- no fuss -- no muss. If you insist on the hard way, make sure the access point software you'll need properly supports the power saving saving protocol used by the N810. If your trying to break the rules at work be aware that your laptop based access point will raise red flags in the IT department -- they will know what you're doing.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I'm staying on a campsite in Europe, my laptop connects to the campsite's wireless router via a high power adaptor and antenna, there's no way my n810 could connect to it. Hence I want to connect through my laptop.

Could I share the wifi connection from my laptop to my n810 via Bluetooth?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I gave up on MS many years ago -- converted to Linux.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Sorry, I wasn't comparing MS and Linux, did I miss someting....?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I think he's just pointing out that Linux > MS :D. It's sort of a standard response to any M$ question.... "Use Linux" :).

I don't think you'll get very far networking with bluetooth. The N810, AFAIK, does not support PAN... and I don't even know if you can use forwarding in PAN (no experience).

Your best bet is what I said at the beginning and many others have reiterated.

1 wireless device is setup as an "Shared Internet" device..

A different wireless device is setup as an ADHOC.

That should be all you need to get it to work. I've done similar before using a Hardwire network to the internet, and a vista laptop sharing wifi to the N810.. it worked fine. I just don't have the exact step by steps for you..

Something like this may help.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

What I was saying was that I know nothing about MS and can't help. Personally I don't give a damn what other people use. I use what I please and that is Ubuntu.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Fragos: lol. That's a good response. A bit crass, but it does hit at one Linux fundamental, and that's to use what works best for you. :D

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Well, I'm making progress (slowly). I've set up an ad-hoc connection between my laptop and n810, using the laptops internal wifi.

I've created a Shared Folder on my laptop and using the n810 been able to copy a file from the laptop to n810.

One problem is that sometimes I can see the Shared Folder and sometimes I can't, seems a bit flakey. Can anyone help with this?

Thanks, Dave.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

OK, I got it all working now. My wife's been using Skype on the n810 whilst I've been surfing the web on the laptop. Working well so far.

So my laptop is connected to a campsite wifi router with a high power usb adaptor and antenna and now I'm sharing the connection to the n810 via the laptops internal wifi.

(You don't have to install 'File and Printing Sharing' on XP to share the internet connection as I stated in a previous post, my apologies)

Thanks to all, Dave.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I have downloaded bzeek.com software to my laptop. This software upgrades my laptop to become a router while the laptop is connected to the Internet in any way. This actually is free wifi router. With any wifi enabled device I connect through it to the Internet. The new wifi network is being called Bzeek Free Wifi. Try it.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Thanks, I'll have a look at it, sounds interesting. Is it similar to the FON system?

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Yes in a way. Fon router transmits 2 SSID (2 networks). One is the private and the second is open to the public. Bzeek solution is software, while you do not need the router. You can connect the laptop to the Internet in any manner. Then your laptop becomes the router. The situation is even better, as when you are with friends and you want to connect to the Internet via WiFi, you just have to ask your friend to download this bzeek software, and a new WiFi router is established. Look at their site bzeek.com .

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

I downloaded and installed Bzeek. It looks good but I think it only supports one wifi chipset at the moment and it's not mine!:(

I'll have another look at it in a while to see if they've extended the range of supported chipsets.

Re: Sharing laptop wifi with N810...
 

Anyway, back to sharing wifi using Windows XP...it seems to work well the first time I set up the connection, my n810 connects straight away, I'm able share files with the laptop and connect to the internet without problem.

But...if I switch the n810 off/on, it reconnects to the laptop however I can't access the internet or shared files....not looked into it much further...suspect it a "Windows thing"....