Share WiFi connection to another laptop

Question

I have a wireless router (TP-LINK WR-702N) and 2 laptops. There is a WiFi connection that I can only connect to with one of the laptop (Acer Aspire 5810TG older model, Windows 7), due to it extraordinary strong signal receiving capability. I wish to share this connection with the other laptop (Asus X450J, Windows 8.1), through the router or not.

I have tried some of the solutions but they don't work.

1. Connecting 2 laptops directly with Ethernet cable (I don't have a crossover cable, and I am not buying one)
2. Using the new driver from Microsoft (Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter) that claims to be able to share WiFi connection. I guess that the reason that this didn't work because the same adapter is used to receive and share WiFi
3. Connecting the Acer laptop to a router through the Ethernet cable, configure the router to be AP, and connect to it using my another laptop.

The only other solution I have found is bridging the WiFi adapter with the Ethernet adapter and then connect the laptop with my router. What do I need to set on my laptop? (Window 7) I may have got something wrong in the above attempts. It would be appreciated if you can tell me the correct way of doing it.

Solution

To address a few things:

1. A crossover cable and configuration of Internet Connection Sharing would enable you to share the wireless but since you are NOT buying one we move on to

2. Your physical wireless card would need to be able to send and receive at the same time. Many cards cannot do this but those with an Atheros chipset normally can so you may want to invest in a USB or PCMCIA Atheros card

3. You would need to properly configure Internet Connection Sharing and plug the Ethernet cable into a LAN port not the WAN on the router and properly configure the wireless router as an Access Point to the shared network from the laptop.

Due to the fact that your second laptop cannot receive the signal from the router I would suggest moving the router to a better location to reduce interference and distance or getting a Wireless repeater or 'range extender' in order to broadcast the signal such that both laptops can connect. Another option is purchasing a better wireless adapter for the older laptop if these options do not meet your needs.

Comments

[Matthew Williams]

Hi. If the issue with this system is the second laptops ability to receive the signal how would bridging through another laptop help matters? If you wish to connect via ethernet cable why don't you just plug laptop 2 into the router? No signal problem them.

[Kung Pao Chicken]

I may be explaining this badly. I do not have access to the router tat gives this signal, and the TP link router is another router I own that I tried to connect to the laptop to "take" its connection.

[Matthew Williams]

Right. Give this a try then. wikihow.com/Bridge-an-Internet-Connection

[Kung Pao Chicken]

Thanks for the link, but it obviously need a crossover cable, which I currently don't have. :(

[Kung Pao Chicken]

My WiFi adapter is Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN on my Acer. Sorry to tell you that connection is not mine, it is public. And I have tried to configure my router to the repeater mode, but it also cannot detect the Hotspot.

[Mike Naylor]

Then you may want to look into a stronger wifi adapter for the second laptop. If not, then I would recommend looking into setting up Internet Connection Sharing on the laptop and either connecting it to the router as stated in option 3 or biting the bullet and buying a cross-over cable and skipping setting up a router.

[Kung Pao Chicken]

I have tried to connect the laptop that can receive the signal with my router, but then the WiFi connection stops working. It is still connected though. I've tried bridging the WiFi connection with the Ethernet adapter in Windows, but that doesn't help either. Could you please tell me the specifics of what and where should I change the settings? The crossover cable is still an option, but I prefer to leave it as the last one since I don't have other uses for it yet.

[Mike Naylor]

In reviewing this, when you say the other router is public, please explain. A shared office router, coffee shop, etc...

[Kung Pao Chicken]

Sure. That public router is a government free wifi service along the streets. I have quite good reception on the streets, and I live on the third floor facing the streets.

[Mike Naylor]

Being that it is a public wifi there are most likely safeguards in place to prevent other routers from being added on the network, as a misconfigured router can cause severe issues. This includes repeaters. I would highly recommend using Internet Connection Sharing in order to share the connection to your home router/access point or directly connected via cross-over to the other laptop.

[Kung Pao Chicken]

The Internet Connection Sharing setting won't work. Also tried bridging wireless adapter with LAN adapter and connect via LAN cable. Not working either.

[Mike Naylor]

Then most likely their network prevents this type of setup. I would recommend purchasing either a USB or PCMCIA wireless adapter for the second laptop that is strong enough to pick up the signal.

[Kung Pao Chicken]

So this is the only to go. Kind of ironic just to buy a wireless adapter for a free WiFi connection. But yeah solution accepted. Thanks for all of your help. BTW I think it is something within Windows that make ICS setting not working. Windows is really complicated to use :(

[Mike Naylor]

It may be a setting in ICS, but in most large-scale public network deployments I've seen there are measures in place to prevent rogue routers from showing up on the network and causing issues. The measures in use on the particular network you are on may block ICS as well as routers/bridges. There are a lot of variables on that end of it as well. Sorry that worked out that way.

[Kung Pao Chicken]

This is not that related, just a guess. Sometimes, I just cannot detect a open WiFi connection with open SSID even if I am very close to the router (The signal only comes up once in a while). And my friends and others can use it very well. I started to wonder if that's the problem of region code since the laptop is bought from another country. Does this maybe affect my reception?

[Mike Naylor]

Being that the laptop is from another country it may not support the channel or frequency that the wireless network is broadcasting on, as the standards differ in some countries. You would need to cross-reference the standards for the two countries and the wireless adapter compatibility to verify and find out what channel and frequency that network is operating on. This article on 802.11 standards may help as it has references to some of the countries and differences in standards.