I have been using a 3G wireless Internet device to connect to the Internet. This connected to one computer has been sufficient for my needs. However, recently I purchased a new Blu-ray player which will connect to a wireless network. I purchased a wireless router with it so I could connect to my computer, which is set up as a DVR, to watch recorded TV shows. I now have a home network without Internet available to the network. I decided to share the 3G Internet connection on the network. I used the Windows help and Google searches to find how to set this up. I did not find anything that gave good detailed description on how to do this. I ended up trying a few things until I found the setup that works. This is how I setup my system:

What you need:

  1. Network Router.

  2. Computer with 3G or dial-up connection with at least 2 Ethernet ports.

  3. Two Ethernet cables.

Note: Sharing the Internet connection makes one of the Ethernet ports unusable for connecting to the regular network.

Setting up:

Note: It is assumed that your router has been setup as your home network DHCP server, and that your dial-up connection is setup.

Hardware:

  1. Connect one of the Ethernet ports on your computer to the “Internet” port on your router.

  2. Connect the other Ethernet port on your computer to one of the other free ports on your router.

Configuration:

  1. Open “Network Connections.”

  2. Open “Properties” on the dial-up connection you want to share.

  3. Select the “Sharing” tab.

  4. Check “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”

  5. Select in the “Home networking connection:” the network connection that corresponds to the Ethernet port you connected to the router’s Internet port.

  6. Click “OK”.

    Note: Windows configures the network adapter to use a static IP address of 192.168.137.1

  7. Open your router’s configuration page.

  8. Navigate to the Internet setup section.

  9. Select Static IP for the Internet connection type.

    Note: The Internet IP Address must be in the same Subnet as the Default Gateway. The Default Gateway must be the same as the IP address assigned to the network adapter used to share the Internet connection.

  10. Use 192.168.137.2 for the Internet IP Address.

  11. Use 255.255.255.0 for the Subnet Mask.

  12. Use 192.168.137.1 for the Default Gateway.

  13. Fill in the DNS 1. I used the Google DNS 8.8.8.8. Any valid DNS will work.

  14. Enable DHCP Server.
  15. The start IP address should be something reasonably below the max value allowed, (I believe that to be 255).
  16. The max users should be a reasonable for the number of network devices that will be connecting to your network through the router and automatically obtaining an IP address.

    Note: The default settings for the start IP address and Max users are what I use, and they usually will be fine for most situations.

  17. Save these settings.

Your Internet connection is now shared to all computers that connect to your router.

Dial-up connections are slow. Sharing this connection among several computers is not an ideal setup. I will be getting broadband Internet as soon as I can, but until then this setup will allow any device or computer on my network that needs an Internet connection to connect to the Internet. It isn’t good for gaming, or streaming videos. If I decide to get a 4G internet device I may continue with this setup. 4G supposedly has about a 6Mbs download which is comparable to an ok DSL speed.

Comments

  1. cc on 12.11.2010

    what do you set for DHCP server, enable or disable?

    if enabled, what range start and end do you use?

  2. Kevin on 12.13.2010

    I was thinking about putting that in, but then when I actually wrote this up I forgot about that step.

    I have DHCP server enabled because my router is the main ‘hub’ for my network.

    The range start and end do not matter. My is set to the defaults which start at 192.168.1.100 and goes to 192.168.1.150. This just means the router will support DHCP for up to 50 network devices.

    You can manually set IP address to something outside of this range and it will work fine.

    *I’ve changed the steps to include DHCP setup of the router*

  3. Rob on 06.27.2011

    Hi Kevin,

    I did not see step #5′s “Home networking connection:” on the Sharing tab. Is that where it is? I’m using Win7 Pro 64 bit.

    I’m trying to do something similar, but only have one ethernet NIC card in my PC. Since I only want to share the internet connection with my wireless router and don’t care if my PC is connected to the router for a home network, can I still do this? Or must I have 2 ethernet ports for it to work at all.

    Thanks,
    Rob

  4. Kevin on 06.27.2011

    I am also using Win7 Pro 64 bit. The “Home networking connection:” is the middle option in the Sharing tab in the network adapter properties. You should get a list of your network connections that correspond to your NICs. This is where you choose which network connection you want to share the internet connection through.

    Because I have 2 NICs and have set mine up with the 2 I cannot say with certainty that 1 will work, but I am sure it would work. You would connect your NIC to the internet port on your router. Set up the sharing properties of your internet connection to share through the network connection that corresponds to your NIC. Set up the IPs on the router as specified and you should be good to go.

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