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iPod touch Sharing wired internet connection through MacBook Wifi?

M

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 17, 2003
2,938
46
Los Angeles, CA
Hi,

It is possible to share a internet connection (ethernet, EVDO, etc.) from your Mac computer to an iPod Touch. This is useful if say you are at work and don't have a wifi network, and don't want to buy a router just to give your Touch a wifi connection.

The steps on the Mac are pretty easy and done through 'Sharing' in System Preferences. I can find the network on my Touch and connect. The problem is when I fire up Safari, I try to load a page and it hangs and never loads. YouTube and iTunes Wifi store don't work either. I've tried various security levels (including none at all), and can't get it to work.

Anyone else try this? I have read of others having similar problems, not sure why.

Thanks,
Steve
 
Lin said:
Well... how :confused: ;)
Click to expand...

System Prefs>Sharing>Internet

Then "Sharing Your Connection From"; should be "Built In Ethernet"

"To Computers Using"; should be "Airport".

However then go to Airport Options and configure those to your liking. I suggest putting a password on and even renaming the network b/c you are at work and they might not like it, so name it something like "internet" or "default" so they can't pin it on you right away :)
 
Great thanks, but... does it need the Airport hardware :confused:
Looks like it is possible to connect one Wi-Fi enabled computer (Mac or PC I don't know) and the IPT without extra hardware...
 
Lin said:
Great thanks, but... does it need the Airport hardware :confused:
Looks like it is possible to connect one Wi-Fi enabled computer (Mac or PC I don't know) and the IPT without extra hardware...
Click to expand...

Airport is what Apple calls the WiFi card in your notebook computer. All current Macs except the Mac Pro come with Airport built-in.

As opposed to "base stations," which is how Apple describes routers, such as the Airport Extreme Base Station or the Airport Express.
 
mkrishnan said:
Airport is what Apple calls the WiFi card in your notebook computer. All current Macs except the Mac Pro come with Airport built-in.

As opposed to "base stations," which is how Apple describes routers, such as the Airport Extreme Base Station or the Airport Express.
Click to expand...

In other words no, you are just making your computer a router.
 
Rhosfelt said:
In other words no, you are just making your computer a router.
Click to expand...

Exactly. So its good if you have a wired connection for your Mac, but don't have a wireless network. You're just letting wireless devices like the Touch piggyback onto your Mac's wired internet connection.

I know it should work, but I just can't get any actual data transferred after the connection.
 
madmaxmedia said:
Exactly. So its good if you have a wired connection for your Mac, but don't have a wireless network. You're just letting wireless devices like the Touch piggyback onto your Mac's wired internet connection.

I know it should work, but I just can't get any actual data transferred after the connection.
Click to expand...

that might depend on how you are connected. My friend at Pitt is having trouble going from an old powermac to a new MBP wired to wired... I couldn't figure it out but it might have something to do with 802.1x is that your security/connection?
 
I've tried everything from no security at all (just to try it), to 40 and 128 bit WEP. Same results every time- my Touch connects, but no data.

I'm wondering if it could possibly be due to a firewall in my office network or something like that.
 
madmaxmedia said:
I've tried everything from no security at all (just to try it), to 40 and 128 bit WEP. Same results every time- my Touch connects, but no data.

I'm wondering if it could possibly be due to a firewall in my office network or something like that.
Click to expand...


Can you connect and get data from the laptop? If you are getting internet access on there then it can't be the office network/firewall limiting it.. If you're not getting access on your laptop then thats probably it.

You can try entering your proxy info on your laptop.
 
DenniZ said:
MacPros do come with airport built in. I have one.
Click to expand...

You can choose a MP without Airport though...

picture19f7f6.png
 
mkrishnan said:
Sorry, I meant as a standard feature (as opposed to an option). All current Mac Minis, Macbooks, MBPs, and iMacs have Airport. Not all Mac Pros have Airport. Not that it's really particularly relevant to anything.
Click to expand...

hmm weird never knew it didnt have to come with it, although it helps alot tho :p ....

good thing is that all macs have the gigabit ethernet connections :p fastest way to get data from place to place.

anyways i'l try sharing my macbook internet (as soon as i find a network cable) to my ipod touch.
 
Works very spotty

I found by manually picking a channel on my MacBook, I can get intermittent internet access on my iPod Touch.

I might mess around with the difference channels and see if any work better than the others. Not sure why this works, but no matter...
 
madmaxmedia said:
Hi,

It is possible to share a internet connection (ethernet, EVDO, etc.) from your Mac computer to an iPod Touch. This is useful if say you are at work and don't have a wifi network, and don't want to buy a router just to give your Touch a wifi connection.

The steps on the Mac are pretty easy and done through 'Sharing' in System Preferences. I can find the network on my Touch and connect. The problem is when I fire up Safari, I try to load a page and it hangs and never loads. YouTube and iTunes Wifi store don't work either. I've tried various security levels (including none at all), and can't get it to work.

Anyone else try this? I have read of others having similar problems, not sure why.

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...

Dude, if you got a Macbook sitting right there, then why use it to get wifi on the touch? Just use the Macbook. It'll be faster seeing how it has a normal sized screen.
 
seanm924 said:
Dude, if you got a Macbook sitting right there, then why use it to get wifi on the touch? Just use the Macbook. It'll be faster seeing how it has a normal sized screen.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, if I'm at my desk... ;)

I don't need this to work, just curious why it doesn't. If I'm eating lunch elsewhere and want to quickly hit my email or something, it would be nice to be able to do so.

So yeah, you're right- I wouldn't even pay $20 for a cheap wireless router to get wifi. But since the MacBook comes with the capability, I wanted to try to get it to work.
 
Wow I had no idea you could do this.

We just got an airport express for our completely wired house. It only is for my iTouch and my dads macbook.

But anywhere in the house is near other macs and we could have just shared the internet connection. Maybe ill move the airport by the back door so we can use them outside.

I wonder if my iMac sends a stronger signal than the express?
 
I'd imagine the Express might actually be stronger, since it is expressedly designed to be a wifi router.

But you can test and post back with results. ;)

It's a pretty neat feature I have to say.
 
madmaxmedia said:
Hi,

It is possible to share a internet connection (ethernet, EVDO, etc.) from your Mac computer to an iPod Touch. This is useful if say you are at work and don't have a wifi network, and don't want to buy a router just to give your Touch a wifi connection.

The steps on the Mac are pretty easy and done through 'Sharing' in System Preferences. I can find the network on my Touch and connect. The problem is when I fire up Safari, I try to load a page and it hangs and never loads. YouTube and iTunes Wifi store don't work either. I've tried various security levels (including none at all), and can't get it to work.

Anyone else try this? I have read of others having similar problems, not sure why.

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...

I'm having the exact same problem with sharing my Internet from my MacBook Pro to my iPhone. It just doesn't work.

The problem is that iPhone gets a good strong signal, but it gets no IP information. I'm using this at work on a corporate network and iPhone doesn't get IP or gateway or Nameserver or router information from DHCP. My MacBook gets it fine, so something is missing.

Without bugging my network admin and possibly being told to stop trying, it just doesn't work.

If those that post their success could let us know what their network settings are, that would be useful.

Cheers.
 
I have tried this for many hours using my MacBook Pro connected to ethernet cable, but I have had no success. I think this is because the ethernet is still coming from a network that is 802.1X and the touch cant get that. I might be wrong, but i think that is the problem.
 
It's weird, I'll intermittently get a page to load, but then it doesn't work after that. My Touch is connected the whole time with a supposedly good connection, but no data transfer.

The problem is that iPhone gets a good strong signal, but it gets no IP information. I'm using this at work on a corporate network and iPhone doesn't get IP or gateway or Nameserver or router information from DHCP. My MacBook gets it fine, so something is missing.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's supposed to get anything from your main network. Your Mac basically creates its own separate network with different IP #'s. When I check my Touch, it lists the IP address as 10.X.X.X (don't remember the exact numbers), with a 10.X.X.X gateway address (I assume is the Mac.)
 
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