My wife\'s MAC will not allow my pc on our Netgear WAP. Any help?

[DSBeck]

When my wife's mac is on our Netgear WAP, my PC can not connect to the internet but I do see the WAP. It has to be something in her computer as it only happens when she is on it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[eibgrad]

Do you get an error message?

 

[DSBeck]

Says I am connected to Netgaear but little or no connectivity to the internet

 

[eibgrad]

Are you using a wireless router or merely a wireless access point?

Because if it's NOT a router, that's your problem.

 

[DSBeck]

Just a WAP, but it was what I used to have at work whee we would have numerous computers on at the same time including these same two.

 

[eibgrad]

Your ISP normally only allows you ONE public IP w/ your home service. In order to share that one public IP w/ multiple computers, you MUST have a router! A router maps that one public IP to many LOCAL IPs on your own home network. What's happening is that each time one computer gets connected, it grabs the only IP available, the public IP. That locks the other computer(s) out.

The reason your WAP works at work is either because it's actually using a router somewhere else in the building you don’t know about or see, OR, the service at work supports MULTIPLE public IPs.

 

[DSBeck]

Both are Comcast Cable modems straight to WAPs. I just don't understand computers apparently.

 

[eibgrad]

Trust me, you MUST have a router.

As a temporary fix, if your Windows computer also has a wired network adapter, you could run a network cable from it over to the Mac, enable ICS on your wireless network adapter, and your computer will now share its wireless connection w/ the Mac.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306126

In effect, you’re using your computer as a router. Of course, only you know if that’s practical. And this is only a temporary fix. You should get a good standalone wireless router (or wired-only router and patch the Netgear WAP to it, works the same). Even if you only had ONE computer I would recommend a router since it provides great protection from Internet threats.

 

[DSBeck]

Went to the store this morning. Hopefully my new wireless router will do the trick. Thanks for your help!