Wireless over a dial-up connection because I'm poor

[frivolousme]

I've come extremely close to pulling this off but (no surprise) haven't succeeded completely. Read on . . .

I'm poor right now but I have an Android tablet and wanted to figure out some way to share my slow dial-up internet connection with my Android WI-FI tablet for the few occassions when I want to use it live and don't want to have to drive down to the library just to (for example) update my Android apps. I don't surf on my Android, but I do play games on it, and I'd like my scores to be tallied so I can earn points to get game add-ons & customizations free.

Where I live has CAT-6 jacks installed instead of normal phone jacks (long story), so I long ago got hold of a crimper in order to make my own telephone wires and use my landline service with standard phones. I crimp one end of the line to an RJ-45 jack (these are the fatter ETHERNET jacks just for the uninitiated and the other to a standard-sized landline telephone jack. An old guy at Home Depot taught me this, and said to just feed in the two inner wires to that RJ-45, it'll be kinda loose (cause it's looking for a bigger wire) but it will work. It does!

My old PIII has a serial 56k modem that works like a champ for my browsing needs, so I made one "combo" line (as described above) for the WALL-TO-MODEM connection, and a second combo line for a MODEM-TO-ROUTER connection. I bought a cheap little Sapido WI-FI router for this experiment.

I fooled around with my little Sapido while on the internet through my desktop serial modem (over the dial-up landline connection I described above) and to my astonishment actually got into what they call their AP Mode & WI-FI AP Mode . . . on my little Android tablet. I couldn't believe it when my tablet not only recognized Sapido's IP address, but let me get in there and set up my Station ID, Password etc.

You have to understand I know nothing about networking. Zip. Nada.

So where I'm at right now is that my Android Tablet shows the little SSID I created -- and recognizes my password -- but then just kind of sits there lol. It shows me on the network, but the desktop internet connection doesn't pass through to my tablet.

Have I finally reached the limits of this experiment? Was it just too much to hope for that I might be spared having to constantly go down to the library for their free WI-FI just to update my little tablet? I'll take a deep breath and wait to receive my answer, but man this has been fun.

fm

 

[Emerald]

does the computer have a network card?

if so look into ICS (internet connection sharing)

if you are planning to use the router, you need to set it up as an AP

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point

 

[eibgrad]

This is why old guys end up working at Home Depot.

You're making this way too complicated. First of all, you can't just pass a phone signal over a wired ethernet connection and have it magically work. The protocols are completely different and incompatible.

All you need to do is setup the PC as a wifi hotspot. You could do that w/ a simple wireless adapter. Some support it natively, others you may need some third-party software (e.g., http://connectify.me ). But since you have the wireless router already, that will suffice.

You will also need a wired ethernet adapter on the PC. You then run an ethernet cable between the PC and the router’s WAN. Finally, enable ICS on the dialup modem and share it w/ the ethernet connection.

[rj11 outlet]<-- phone line -->(modem)[pc - ics enabled](lan)<-- wire -->(wan)[wireless router]<-- wireless -->[android tablet]

Now get rid of those crazy devices before you hurt something or someone.

 

[eibgrad]

does the computer have a network card?

if so look into ICS (internet connection sharing)

if you are planning to use the router, you need to set it up as an AP

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/36406-43-convert-wireless-router-wireless-access-point

Emerald, you make a good point about the AP, but the double NAT (ICS + router) probably isn't worth worrying about in this particular case. Just easier to have him use the WAN and not need to reconfigure the router. It's just his Android tablet, no remote access issues here.

 

[Emerald]

would be interesting to know how well it will work

 

[frivolousme]

Hi guys, I don't have a network anything installed on my old PIII, and certainly not ethernet. I guess what surprised me was that my tablet saw my SSID without one heh heh.

So, I need an ethernet . . . what, adapter? software? card? which is the cheapest?

And just to confirm, I'm not plugging anything into my modem? This is just seriously weird!!! :lol: I love it! Let's do it. Lead on.

fm

 

[frivolousme]

Okay, I'm gonna get this Realtek Chipset ZONET Gigabit Ethernet PCI Network Controller Card for 6.98. Very decent reviews at the 'egg here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=33-130-004&SortField=3&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=100&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29#scrollFullInfo

Most of the criticisms are related to Wake-Up (and something called RPL/PXE Boot-Rom whatever the hell that is lol). I'll report back as soon as I have it installed. What a hoot.

 

[eibgrad]

What's the operating system on that PIII?

PIII is pretty old, are you sure it has PCI? At some point there was a transition from ISA to PCI, I'm just concerned you *might* have a compatibility issue. Any specs available for the PC?

 

[frivolousme]

Now now, let's not get personal! (j/k) Yes it has PCI. XP Pro. Supermicro P6DBS SCSI motherboard. For under $7 I'll give it a spin and report back later.

 

[frivolousme]

Okay guys, I'm back. The ethernet card installed like a champ but I am clearly in over my head!

Um . . . someone like to walk me through this? As before, my tablet sees the Sapido and "connects" but there is no internet. To refresh:
The SERIAL MODEM is plugged into a Cat6 connection which I dial up through Windows XP's dialer over a landline.
The SAPIDO ROUTER is plugged into the Ethernet card.

I feel like I'm so close!!! Thanks guys!

fm

 

[eibgrad]

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

 

[sijumon]

I've come extremely close to pulling this off but (no surprise) haven't succeeded completely. Read on . . .

I'm poor right now but I have an Android tablet and wanted to figure out some way to share my slow dial-up internet connection with my Android WI-FI tablet for the few occassions when I want to use it live and don't want to have to drive down to the library just to (for example) update my Android apps. I don't surf on my Android, but I do play games on it, and I'd like my scores to be tallied so I can earn points to get game add-ons & customizations free.

Where I live has CAT-6 jacks installed instead of normal phone jacks (long story), so I long ago got hold of a crimper in order to make my own telephone wires and use my landline service with standard phones. I crimp one end of the line to an RJ-45 jack (these are the fatter ETHERNET jacks just for the uninitiated and the other to a standard-sized landline telephone jack. An old guy at Home Depot taught me this, and said to just feed in the two inner wires to that RJ-45, it'll be kinda loose (cause it's looking for a bigger wire) but it will work. It does!

My old PIII has a serial 56k modem that works like a champ for my browsing needs, so I made one "combo" line (as described above) for the WALL-TO-MODEM connection, and a second combo line for a MODEM-TO-ROUTER connection. I bought a cheap little Sapido WI-FI router for this experiment.

I fooled around with my little Sapido while on the internet through my desktop serial modem (over the dial-up landline connection I described above) and to my astonishment actually got into what they call their AP Mode & WI-FI AP Mode . . . on my little Android tablet. I couldn't believe it when my tablet not only recognized Sapido's IP address, but let me get in there and set up my Station ID, Password etc.

You have to understand I know nothing about networking. Zip. Nada.

So where I'm at right now is that my Android Tablet shows the little SSID I created -- and recognizes my password -- but then just kind of sits there lol. It shows me on the network, but the desktop internet connection doesn't pass through to my tablet.

Have I finally reached the limits of this experiment? Was it just too much to hope for that I might be spared having to constantly go down to the library for their free WI-FI just to update my little tablet? I'll take a deep breath and wait to receive my answer, but man this has been fun.

fm