Set Up A Wireless Home Network - No Wireless Router Required
By Erin Kelley
It is possible to create a home wi-fi network without
using any sort of wireless router or access point. Any computer
equipped with a wireless adapter can be part of the network. This
kind of network is called a wireless ad-hoc network. In an ad-hoc
network, all wireless devices communicate with each other peer-to-peer.
A wireless ad-hoc network is not the solution for large network
setups but it's good enough for a small network of 2 or computers.
I run an ad-hoc network at home and I've found it good enough for
multiplayer gaming and sharing Internet access.
Follow the steps below and you'll get a nice little network up
and running in no time!
Set Up The Host Computer
The host computer is the computer which will be connecting directly
to the Internet (dialup or broadband). This is the 'gateway' computer.
1) Go to Control Panel -> Network Connections
2) Right click on Wireless Network Connection and click
on Properties. This will open the Wireless Network
Connection Properties window.
3) Go to Internet Protocol - TCP/IP and click Properties
5) Fill in the IP addresses and click OK. For this example:
IP address: 192.168.0.1
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
You can use the IP ranges 10.0.0.0 to 10.0.0.255 or 192.168.0.0
to 192.168.0.255
Set Up The SSID On The Host Computer
1) Still on the host computer. Go back to Wireless Network
Connection Properties. Click on the Wireless Network
tab.
2) Under Preferred Networks, click Add
3) Put in your desired SSID. In this example, it's myhomewifi
hoc) network; wireless access points are not used.
Don't check the WEP encryption yet until everything is working
properly.
Set Up The Other Computers
1) As in the host computer above, set up the IP addresses of each
computer on the network. In this example, I've got two other computers
on the network. So I give them 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3
respectively, and set the Gateway address to be the address
of the host computer, which was set to be 192.168.0.1. For
example:
IP address: 192.168.0.3
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
2) Once you've set up the SSID of the host computer correctly,
the other computers should be able to see the SSID (myhomewifi)
on the list of available wireless networks. Connect to it.
2) To check if the other computers can communicate with the host
computer ; for each computer, ping the host computer. To do this,
open Command Prompt (In Start Menu -> Accessories),
and type this command: ping 192.168.0.1
If everything goes well, you should get a reply like this:
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
At this point, your wireless network is up. You can play multiplayer
games and share files. Coming up next - sharing your Internet connection.
Share The Internet Connection Of The Host Computer
1) Go to Network Connections, right click on your Broadband
or Dial-Up Connection icon, and click Properties
Sharing, check Allow network users to connect through this
computer's Internet connection. Select Wireless Network
Connection from the Home Network Connection drop-down
list
If everything goes OK, the other computers should be able to access
the Internet.
If the Internet connection to be shared happens to be an AOL connection,
then you need to set up a proxy as well. For more information, read
this article: Share an AOL Internet
Connection
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About The Author
The author of this article is too poor to buy a proper router.
Source: AnotherWayTo.com