Does this sort of PC component exist?

[cleanup]

I'm looking for something that will take the Internet connection connected through ethernet on my PC and broadcast it as a wireless signal. I don't mean a router. I mean something that takes the computer's Internet connection and shares it. I'm doing this right now with a network card, but of course, it's just wired. I connect an ethernet cable from the network card to my MacBook, and thus my MacBook is leeching off my PC's internet connection.

I want the same thing except wireless. At my university we're not allowed to have wired OR wireless routers, which I think is ridiculous. Unregistered computers or computers owned by non-students and non-faculty can't even access the network in the first place, so why can't we have routers? /end rant.

Well the network card I have right now gets around that, as all it does is split the internet connection. To the network administrators, my laptop and my desktop have the same IP and are the same computer. I was wondering if this is possible to do with a wireless signal. I imagine that wireless PCI adapters can only receive wireless signals and not accept them. It probably requires a lot of hardware and power to broadcast a wireless signal, which is why wireless routers are the way they are...

but is there any way I can do this? Or can I get a wireless router, connect it to my extra ethernet adapter, and somehow hide it from the network administrators?

Thanks a lot.

[Edit] Or, I just had a thought, could I connect a wireless router to the extra ethernet port on my PC and it would simply broadcast the shared internet connection? Can I set a wireless router not to assign unique IPs to each user? As in, I don't really create a network, it's just broadcasting the ethernet input?

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I don't know what to do for your exact set up, but you can share your internet connection from your mac using the Airport card that's built in. Just go into sharing in system preferences and enable internet sharing.

 

[Bobdude161]

Two words, Access, point. It's basically a router without the routing and more like a switch with wireless on it. Although the admins may be able to detect that you're doing this.

 

[cleanup]

Two words, Access, point. It's basically a router without the routing and more like a switch with wireless on it. Although the admins may be able to detect that you're doing this.

That's what I thought. But they haven't detected my second network adapter yet.

It's a bit scary that in the Network info in System Profiler, my MacBook says "Router: xxx.xxx.x.x" which matches the IP of my PC... the IP of the MacBook is the same except with the last x repeated 3 times.

So I guess it's impossible to have multiple computers have the same IP address and appear as the same computer on a network...

And now I'm afraid I'll get banned for having multiple network adapters! Why are they so anal!

[Edit] Can I statically assign the IP on my MacBook to match my PC's?

 

[Bobdude161]

That's what I thought. But they haven't detected my second network adapter yet.

It's a bit scary that in the Network info in System Profiler, my MacBook says "Router: xxx.xxx.x.x" which matches the IP of my PC... the IP of the MacBook is the same except with the last x repeated 3 times.

So I guess it's impossible to have multiple computers have the same IP address and appear as the same computer on a network...

And now I'm afraid I'll get banned for having multiple network adapters! Why are they so anal!

[Edit] Can I statically assign the IP on my MacBook to match my PC's?

If you match the IPs bit by bit, it will not work. In the end both will not get internet connection. Best bet is to ask the IT dept. if there is ANY way to have wireless in your dorm, without revealing what you are doing right now. Kind of feel around and get an idea what is right and what is wrong at that deeper level.

 

[cleanup]

If you match the IPs bit by bit, it will not work. In the end both will not get internet connection. Best bet is to ask the IT dept. if there is ANY way to have wireless in your dorm, without revealing what you are doing right now. Kind of feel around and get an idea what is right and what is wrong at that deeper level.

That's the thing. I can't ask the IT department, as they're the ones who strictly don't want me doing this.

Campus wireless isn't available in our residence. Sometimes I steal it from the building over (which is actually a separate department in the University) but the signal is weak at best. If they don't provide wireless to us, we should be allowed to create our own wireless connection, IMO.

So how do I mask an access point from them? Any ideas?

 

[bradl]

If I'm reading this right, what you are looking for is IP Masquerading. It's sort of like your internet sharing, but your main machine would act as the router, serving out the network connection to something else.

What you could do, is something like:

Uni connection --> your 1st NIC --> your 2nd NIC (wireless) --> MacBook (wireless).

The two wireless NICs would need to be on a private network (e.g., 192.168.11.1 and 192.168.11.2, respectively). Your MacBook's gateway would be the 11.1 address, while your wired NIC from your uni would be the gateway for the 11.1 address.

This is similar to using masquerading via iptables in Linux. Macs should be similar.*

In theory, that should work (I know it works for wired NICs; I haven't tried it with two wireless cards).

BL.

*Haven't tried this on a Mac yet.

 

[cleanup]

Hey bradl, thanks so much for the reply!

What I have not is I just have my MacBook connected to my PC via ethernet. The MacBook recognizes the PC as a router with IP 192.168.0.1 and the MacBook is 192.168.0.111. My question is, can the network administrators see my laptop? Or only my PC? I would like them to only be able to see to the PC, and nothing beyond that, should I set up an access point.

Any other tips on how to set this up? I'm thinking of just getting an access point and then fiddling with it until I have the setup correct.

[Edit] Okay, so I hear that conceivably, they should only see my external IP. The ethernet adapter that shares the internet connection to my MacBook or to my future Access Point has the internal IP 192.168.0.1 and my MacBook also has an internal IP address. So conceivably, if I connected an access point or wireless router it will also have an invisible internal IP address located on my tiny little network inside my room? They should only be able to see what's directly plugged into the wall jack, am I right?

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Hey bradl, thanks so much for the reply!

What I have not is I just have my MacBook connected to my PC via ethernet. The MacBook recognizes the PC as a router with IP 192.168.0.1 and the MacBook is 192.168.0.111. My question is, can the network administrators see my laptop? Or only my PC? I would like them to only be able to see to the PC, and nothing beyond that, should I set up an access point.

Any other tips on how to set this up? I'm thinking of just getting an access point and then fiddling with it until I have the setup correct.

cleanup, why don't you just ask your admin an easy way to do this without causing any issues. Be polite and respectful, play dumb to the rules and suck up to him/her and they will maybe help you out.

 

[yg17]

cleanup, why don't you just ask your admin an easy way to do this without causing any issues. Be polite and respectful, play dumb to the rules and suck up to him/her and they will maybe help you out.

DItto. I worked for a university's IT department for 2 years and discovered that with the security and network guys, if you ask nicely, they'll be willing to slightly bend the rules for you and help you out so you get it configured correctly as to not screw up the entire campus network. Just ask nicely, explain what you want to do and why, and they might just help you out.

And if they say no wireless access points at all, whatsoever, no ifs ands or buts, nothing you do, save for make your room a faraday cage, will prevent someone from walking through the dorms with a laptop or PDA and detecting wireless signals and trying to locate the source of them.