We rent an office in a building that has a powerful wireless internet connection. Unlimited access to the wifi is included in our rent. I have tried, and failed to figure out a way to create a mini network within our office based on the building’s wifi internet connection. Is there a way to do this? Most routers require a wired ethernet main connection. The reason I want to do this is that I want to be able to share a printer and other non-wifi devices within an office network.
You need what’s called a wireless bridge. It’s essentially a wireless router, but in reverse.
There’s a bunch of them out there. Not to promote anything in particular, but the Linksys WES610N is an example of these things. Give it the WiFi info, and it lets you plug in four Ethernet devices. Sells for about $90.
You can also do this with a standard Windows PC, by using the Internet Connection Sharing feature. You need to have a network port for each device you want to plug in, though. Most PCs only have one.
Couldn’t you use that port for a router? You might have to turn off DHCP at the router and assign IP addresses.
I’ve done this before; cheap and cheerful method is:
[ul]
[li]Buy a WRT54Gfrom eBay (older ones are best, as some of the later ones aren’t so configurable*)[/li][li]Replace the WRT54G firmware with DD-WRT[/li][li]Configure the router as a Client[/li][/ul]
*There’s a router database herefor DD-WRT - before buying a router, check it’s compatible.
Thanks, gotpasswords, I think a bridge is probably the simplest solution! It’s exactly what I need. I don’t think ICS will work with a wireless connection.
It does.
I’ll recommend Connectify again, the pro version does exactly what you’re looking for. I use it, for almost the exact same reason.