wireless dial-up internet

**dave154304** · February 13th, 2006, 10:57 AM

I have a customer who still uses dial-up for internet access. They recently added a 2nd PC, and would like to wirelessly network them together - and access the net from either machine. I've never worked with "wireless dial-up" but have heard it's possible. Can anybody point me to what hardware or software I would need for this situation?

Thanks

**Kodiak** · February 13th, 2006, 11:02 AM

Just google it, there is a ton of information out there on it. Remember, google is our buuuddddyyy.

**arch0nmyc0n** · February 13th, 2006, 12:47 PM

Why not do an 2-card network? just put a wireless network card in both of them... I've never done it but I assume it works... or if you wanna go more expensive for no real reason.... router, wireless access point and an external modem.

**BOB IROC** · February 13th, 2006, 01:09 PM

So they are going to share a 56K connection. WOW!. I also thought there was a way to share dial up connections using existing phone lines. Or is the 2nd PC not near a phone line. I guess if it was they could dial in independantly. I would suggest the customer look into DSL especially if they are gonna drop money into wireless network gear. I am not sure about other areas, but SBC DSL is only $12.99/month here in Chicagoland.

**dave154304** · February 13th, 2006, 02:11 PM

They were thinking more like the external modem route. My first suggestion was to dial up from each PC separately.

Yes BOB, they are planning to share a 56k connection. Obviously, they don't spend much time online...

Thanks,

***DonJ*** · February 13th, 2006, 02:36 PM

Using a wireless network is not a problem as long as each machine is wireless capable. If they are not, Lynksys or many other vendors makes these wireless cards. Then you can share files, Internet Connections, etc. Fairly common setup.

**arch0nmyc0n** · February 13th, 2006, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by BOB IROC

I would suggest the customer look into DSL especially if they are gonna drop money into wireless network gear. I am not sure about other areas, but SBC DSL is only $12.99/month here in Chicagoland.

While I share your enthusiasm for going highspeed, not everywhere is highspeed capable. While I don't know where Dave is located, or the specific reasons for only using dialup, it's what they've chosen for some reason or another. Where I work there a patches of highspeed areas... I have to call various local providers a few times a week checking whether or not the particular customer is covered...

**BOB IROC** · February 13th, 2006, 04:55 PM

I was only suggesting DSL because in most places (where available) is right around a dial up price and it would be a more reliable way to connect the two computers. I guess I can't fathom a dial up connection being shared reliably.

**PBase001** · February 13th, 2006, 05:02 PM

Other than MS own ICS, which is free, but you have to have the PC that access the internet on at all times, here is another alternative.

http://alwaysonwireless.com/index.php?page=productInfo

I found it by searching <router with dial up connection> via google and found it through this article...

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.co...le.php/3482466

Just in case you're interested in ICS check this article out...

http://www.ezlan.net/DialUp.html

**arch0nmyc0n** · February 14th, 2006, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by BOB IROC

I guess I can't fathom a dial up connection being shared reliably.

I've done it a few times around here... One family (with 6 kids) had 3 computers sharing dial-up access... It was slow, but stable. The three computers could all pull up websites at the same time no problem.

I've used this in the past (is the only model I've tested personally with an external modem):

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=59

with (used a v90 modem at the time)

http://www.usr.com/products/home/hom...p?sku=USR5686E

and maybe connect this:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=292

but as I said... a buncha money for dialup isn't the best thing... at least if they purchased this stuff, if they go highspeed, they'd be ready for it...

I suppose you could just use the router and the access point, but the connecting computer would have to be on whenever the other one was.

**3fingersalute** · February 14th, 2006, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by arch0nmyc0n

While I share your enthusiasm for going highspeed, not everywhere is highspeed capable. While I don't know where Dave is located, or the specific reasons for only using dialup, it's what they've chosen for some reason or another. Where I work there a patches of highspeed areas... I have to call various local providers a few times a week checking whether or not the particular customer is covered...

Exactly - I setup a shared dialup connection for a lady last year. She lives in a very rural area (actually, both her neighbors are amish), so dialup is her only choice, other than satellite, but who wants to pay those prices?? I just used XP's internet connection sharing, but instead of wireless, I went with the networking adaptors that run through the electrical lines, because she lives in a large farmhouse with lots of brick walls, so wireless was out of the question.

**slgrieb** · February 14th, 2006, 06:00 PM

Dave, doing the internet connection sharing is really easy. You can use 2 wireless NICS in Ad Hoc mode. If the computers are running W2K Pro or XP, on the computer that has the physical connection to the internet, go to the Properties menu for the connection, and click on the Advanced tab and enable internet connection sharing. If you let the client machine dial whenever it needs a connection be prepared to have it trying to connect everytime you turn around. You may prefer to disable this feature.

If they do simple web browsing and don't upload or download bunches of files, the shared connection will perform about as well as having a single machine online. Proxy server software can give you more options than Windows built-in Internet Connection Sharing, but I haven't set up a dialup proxy server in several years, and don't have any current recommendations. Check out Download.com, Tucows, etc, if you want more than basic connectivity for your shared connection.