[DeathMan]

I've got a neighbor who has a 1 mb/s dsl connection that he is sub-leasing to 4 or 5 guys in my apartment complex for pretty cheap. He has a wireless broadcaster up on a pole. We' re going to test out the signal tonight, and see if it works for where I'm at.

So here is my question: What is the best approach to setting up a lan at my house that connects all the computers here to the wireless network.

I have a linksys router and a hp switch here that is currently connected to a cable internet connection, and this works really well. How could I simulate this situation? I have people coming over to play games/work etc, who don't have wireless access, and we've just been pluggin into the switch.

Can I just connect my powermac to the switch, drop the router out (assuming my "isp" has a decent firewall setup, which I think he does) and share the connection that way? I'm not sure how this stuff works.

any insights would be great? does anyone have a better idea on how to set things up?

[engage1000]

DeathMan,

It sounds like what you want out of the deal will be fairly difficult and expensive if you want it the way you describe.

If this guy is sharing his DSL connection through a router, and networked via an access point with users being able to access it, then all you can do is be a user to access that (okay, give me a bit of time to get to my point lol).

This is really only good for a single computers, instead of sharing. What the ideal solution would be is to have a wireless access point over at that guy's place and one at your place, both operating in ad-hoc mode. That simulates a one line connection. You would then use your Linksys router (connected to your access point) to share that connection through your switch. There are numerous problems with the scenario however:

1. Your friend over "somewhere" won't want his access point in ad-hoc mode because you cannot have multiple users having access. Ad-hoc is only for access-point to access-point. He must run in infrastructure mode.

2. If you use up your access point for the ad-hoc connection, you will have absolutely no wireless at your place. No ability to connect to it, not that it would do you any good.

3. You must buy additional equipment... (second access-point if you want wireless at your place) that is costly. Completely defeats the purpose of trying to save money on this idea to begin with.

4. Really the problem is this guy won't run ad-hoc. He wants to share.


So what we are left with is (so far as I can see) the option to buy a secondary computer and attach a wireless card/wireless usb connection to it. This would feed off of this guy's connection, and you would use a form of Internet Connection Sharing to route this internet connection (i am being very simple here, just for a general idea) to your router. Actually no, you wouldn't even need the router. You would set up a DHCP server on your new server box, then connect your switch to it, and your access point to the switch. Voila!

You have yourself access to a 1mbit DSL connection (depending on how good of a signal you get to this other guy's access-point) piped into your server, with your server acting as a gateway/router. Every computer that connects to your network via cable or wireless would be set to revieve an IP address automatically via DHCP... and away you go.

WHEW!!!

Let me know what you think.

-John

[engage1000]

Ahh godammit. I misread your post. I assumed you had a notebook of sorts with a wireless card and access point, as well as a switch and router. Grr... I feel like a bit of an a**.

I really have no idea how you would work this on your PowerMac. The ideal would be for you to put an airport card in your PowerMac... if you can even do that (the other option is an external device connected via USB). Using that to connect to your neighbour's broadcast station, you have your PowerMac internet access.

If you wished to take it a step further (This is where I don't know what to do when it comes to a mac. I network in the windows world... Oh yes I know lol) you could (theoretically) set up a DHCP server on your PowerMac, and share your internet connection over your HP switch. You really wouldn't need your router for anything. You could sell it to recover some of the cost of a wireless peripheral to connect to your Mac.

Oh, I hope that takes care of it LOL.

BTW I use PC's on a daily basis at our school, and I've got a few at home too. However I am a Mac fan too. I can coexist on both platforms, which is nice. I use a PowerBook G4 as my day-to-day portable.

Anyways, I have to take care of some stuff. Hope to hear from you.

-John