Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 We've just moved into a new flat and won't have broadband until the end of the month. It was liberating at first, until you realise how much you rely on it. We've got some temporary mobile broadband action going on via a dongle, I'd have prefered a wireless pointer but didn't want to buy a wireless adapter for my PC. The Spud in the T-Mobile shop sold us a dongle and said we could connect all our devices (ipad, phones etc) via a tethered phone but I haven't been able to suss it out, can anyone help? I do have a Netgear wireless router which I can hook up to the pc - maybe I could connect the other devices to the mobile broadband via this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy78 Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 This might help: http://lifehacker.com/5369381/turn-your-windows-7-pc-into-a-wireless-hotspot You should then be able to connect all your other devices to the newly created network. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 This might help: http://lifehacker.co...ireless-hotspot You should then be able to connect all your other devices to the newly created network. Thanks for the link Paddy, I'm reasonably tech savvy but this confuses me a bit. The article says I need a wired internet connection or a wireless card. Obviously I don't have a wired connection, or a wireless card - just a mobile broadband dongle feeding mobile 'net to the PC via USB. As I understand it the mobile broadband dongle can only connect the pc to the 'net, so I'd need to connect other devices via something else (my wireless router ideally). The T-Mobile guy said that we could manage connection of the ipad etc to the mobile broadband through a 'host' phone. Surely the phone would need a wireless connection for this to happen? I assume the usb interweb dongle won't do this? Cheers in advance for any top tips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 I meant to say, the speeds the usb broadband dongle puts out are immense - much more impressive than the tortoise pace of SMD's latest fandangly connection - I get a WHOPPING 2mbps!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Ok so you have 2 connections that need setting up 1. PC to the internet - sorted 2. Other devices to PC The best way to achieve this is to set up an ad-hoc wireless network on the PC and then bridge the connection to the net. If you do a Google for "ad-hoc wireless network" then you should be able to find out how to set it up on your PC, or give us more info on the OS you're running (WIndows I assume) and we can give you more instructions. This assumes you have a wifi adapter in the PC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 You might find this helpful - http://lifehacker.com/5369381/turn-your-windows-7-pc-into-a-wireless-hotspot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 (edited) .....give us more info on the OS you're running (WIndows I assume) and we can give you more instructions..... I'm old school - Windows XP! This assumes you have a wifi adapter in the PC? Nope, that's where I'm stuck - the T-Mobile guy said we could use a mobile phone to manage other device connections (ipad etc). He was aware that we have no wifi adapter in the pc. Otherwise, all I have is a Netgear Wireless Router Edited January 11, 2013 by Leeroy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Hmm that makes it a lot more complicated. What phones do you have? If you are on locked down Apple hardware you wont be able to share the connection and even then you'd need to have the Apple device serving the internet connection, which it is not, the dongle/PC is. I'm sure you could make the PC share the connection to the other phones, but I'm unsure as to how it would work as I havent done it before. In theory you should be able to get the PC to bridge the connection between the dongle and hard wired network and serve up the internet connection to the router. The problem is the router will want to control the connections too, so you need to tell it not to (disable DHCP, this will be controlled via the PC), and then it should act purely as a network switch rather than a router and allow the Wifi devices to connect to the PC. I'll see if I can have a bash when at home, but instructions to get it to work might be quite lengthy. Fortunately you have a Netgear router which I also have so instructions should be the same! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Thanks Chris, I appreciate your time. If this isn't an easy fix I might get my other half to take it back to mobile - it's cheap enough at £30 for the dongle including a gig a month for 3 months but if I can only connec tthe PC I'd rather have mifi and buy a cheapie pc wireless adapter off the 'Bay. Le tme know if there's a fix for the dongle though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Leeroy your not that far from me you could have borrowed a mb or 2 while I am away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Thanks Chris, I appreciate your time. If this isn't an easy fix I might get my other half to take it back to mobile - it's cheap enough at £30 for the dongle including a gig a month for 3 months but if I can only connec tthe PC I'd rather have mifi and buy a cheapie pc wireless adapter off the 'Bay. Le tme know if there's a fix for the dongle though Mifi and cheap Wifi dongle would be the best option TBH. Could possibly even get you a wifi dongle from someone close on the forum. I have an old USB one but its a bit flakey now, if that were in better nick I'd have given it to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 (edited) Thanks Chris, I appreciate your time. If this isn't an easy fix I might get my other half to take it back to mobile - it's cheap enough at £30 for the dongle including a gig a month for 3 months but if I can only connec tthe PC I'd rather have mifi and buy a cheapie pc wireless adapter off the 'Bay. Le tme know if there's a fix for the dongle though Mifi and cheap Wifi dongle would be the best option TBH. Could possibly even get you a wifi dongle from someone close on the forum. I have an old USB one but its a bit flakey now, if that were in better nick I'd have given it to you. Thanks again Chris, I just looked at the pointers again and it'll cost about £60 for the pointer and 30 days webbage. We only have about two weeks to wait for the BT line to be sorted so I'll persevere with the dongle for now - let me know if you have any brainwaves Edited January 11, 2013 by Leeroy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Leeroy your not that far from me you could have borrowed a mb or 2 while I am away A meg or two - you tight git! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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