Using internet sharing as a permanent means of having Wi-Fi at home?

[StephenCampbell]

I have a wired ethernet connection going into my iMac, and we use internet sharing so that my wife can get on the internet with her laptop around the house.

Does internet sharing wear out the Wi-fi card in the iMac significantly? Is it okay to use this as a permanent means of having Wi-fi in the house?

Thanks!

 

[960design]

"Wear out", well maybe, but doubtful.

I'd think that picking up a dedicated router, something like Apple Extreme AirPort and having both connect to it wirelessly would be a better option.

 

[StephenCampbell]

"Wear out", well maybe, but doubtful.

I'd think that picking up a dedicated router, something like Apple Extreme AirPort and having both connect to it wirelessly would be a better option.

Well, the thing is we don't want Wi-fi. I'm always going to want a physical ethernet connection for the iMac. And this way when she's not using the internet we can just turn off internet sharing.

I was just wondering if the regular usage of the internet sharing feature is bad for the iMac.

Edit: I guess another question would be... if there are multiple cable jacks in a house, is it possible to use them all in conjunction with the same internet connection? We are only renting one comcast modem right now.. is it possible to have two modems that use the same internet connection at different jacks in the same building? Because there is another jack upstairs where she mostly uses her laptop.

 

[yjchua95]

I have a wired ethernet connection going into my iMac, and we use internet sharing so that my wife can get on the internet with her laptop around the house.

Does internet sharing wear out the Wi-fi card in the iMac significantly? Is it okay to use this as a permanent means of having Wi-fi in the house?

Thanks!

It won't wear out.

I've been doing this with my 2011 15" cMBP (chained to my desk most of the time) and I've always used Internet Sharing, and the card is still working fine today.

 

[AlterZgo]

Edit: I guess another question would be... if there are multiple cable jacks in a house, is it possible to use them all in conjunction with the same internet connection? We are only renting one comcast modem right now.. is it possible to have two modems that use the same internet connection at different jacks in the same building? Because there is another jack upstairs where she mostly uses her laptop.

If you want to avoid wifi, you can try something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PA..._sim_pc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JGT3GDDQFFPDWRVZ9F6

It routes the Internet connection through the electrical power lines in the house and you can then connect your wife's laptop to an Ethernet cable at another location in the house. The downside is it degrades the speed so if you are getting 50 megabits/sec it may drop to 10 megabits/sec. Fine for regular browsing, streaming music, online gaming, etc. but not for streaming HD or 4K video.

 

[26139]

Huh

I have a wired ethernet connection going into my iMac, and we use internet sharing so that my wife can get on the internet with her laptop around the house.

Does internet sharing wear out the Wi-fi card in the iMac significantly? Is it okay to use this as a permanent means of having Wi-fi in the house?

Thanks!

That should work fine, but it feels a little weird for your wife to be completely reliant on you and your computer to get online via hers.

 

[StephenCampbell]

That should work fine, but it feels a little weird for your wife to be completely reliant on you and your computer to get online via hers.

Well it's not 'my' computer.. it's just the one I had before we got married. She uses it whenever she wants, but she prefers to use her laptop upstairs.

----------

If you want to avoid wifi, you can try something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PA..._sim_pc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1JGT3GDDQFFPDWRVZ9F6

It routes the Internet connection through the electrical power lines in the house and you can then connect your wife's laptop to an Ethernet cable at another location in the house. The downside is it degrades the speed so if you are getting 50 megabits/sec it may drop to 10 megabits/sec. Fine for regular browsing, streaming music, online gaming, etc. but not for streaming HD or 4K video.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! This might work great for us.

 

[Genkakuzai]

I did exactly that for quite a few years when I was living in an apartment and as such not overly concerned with the range of it all. It works just fine, knock yourself out

 

[roadkill401]

why not just buy a cheep router? I have an Asus RT-AC52U that cost me a whole $75. It has your ethernet ports on the back that you plug your iMac into, and then it does the wifi G/N/AC that your wife's laptop can connect with. Then your iMac can be turned off and she can still connect. No additional consumption on your iMac. You can put it to sleep and it will not effect her.