I have 3 computers in my home and recently have switched from satellite and wireless router for my internet to using a cell phone to connect to my laptop to access the internet. Can I connect my other computers to the internet simultaneously while I work on my laptop? My daughter is desperate for an answer so she can IM with her friends while I do my online college courses.
2 Comments Already
You can’t connect your phone directly to a router, but you could do something called “Internet Connection Sharing,” assuming you are running a version of windows that supports it.
The simplest way I can think of to get this rolling for you would be to
1) Purchase a router and connect your home PC’s to it via network cable, or wireless cards. Do not use the port labeled “WAN.” We only need a router so that it will hand out IP addresses to your computers using something called DHCP. Alternatively, you could purchase another device called a “switch” and allow windows to assign the IP addresses, but this can be problematic. A router does not cost much more than a switch and it will give you the option to go wireless.
2) Follow these instructions (http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_ics/networksetupwiz.htm ) to set up Internet Connection Sharing. You will want to set the connection that your phone uses as the “Internet Connection” and your network card as the “Local Connection.”
This is not the ideal set up, but it should do the trick. Note that the computer with your cell phone connected to it will need to be running and connected to the internet for the rest of the computers to get online. Also, your connection speed will be slower, as you are sharing it with more than one computer.
Leave Your Comments Below
Powered by Yahoo! Answers















yes… you can, as long as there’s a network card in the laptop.. which since you’re using an air card, there should be a physical NIC as well.
Internet Connection Sharing will work, but only if the laptop is powered on, and connected to the internet… if either stop, the other computers can’t access the internet.
For one computer, a crossover cable can be used.
If you have a network switch, you don’t need a crossover cable, but two plain old ethernet cables… which you can use 3 total to connect all three workstations/laptops together at once. The ICS will split out over the switch to both other computers and hand out addresses as long as DHCP is enabled on them. (which usually is by default, but just in case)