Sharing a Broadband connection through a PC to a Mac

dnisbetdnisbet
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a (lucky) friend who has broadband through a Alcatel Speedtouch (or is it Thomson?) USB Modem hooked up to a PC. He wants to buy a Mac, but wants to also be able to use the broadband on it as well.

How can he set the PC up to network with the Mac so that the Mac can use the PC as a gateway to the Internet?



Any discussion on the best method to do this and wireless routers welcome!



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    After using the Mac for a while, he's probably going to want it to have priority on the internet connection. So see this thread.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    dnisbetdnisbet Posts: 201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Spart

    After using the Mac for a while, he's probably going to want it to have priority on the internet connection. So see this thread.



    He says his Dad probably wouldn't let him but I agree with you the situation will probably change! He was looking at something like this to hook the computers up .
  • Reply 3 of 9
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    You can only use the linksys router for ethernet modems. You will have to turn on ICS on the PC, and do it that way. Unless you buy a broadband router that has a built in modem that is compatible with your ISP's service.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    dnisbetdnisbet Posts: 201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gargoyle

    You can only use the linksys router for ethernet modems. You will have to turn on ICS on the PC, and do it that way. Unless you buy a broadband router that has a built in modem that is compatible with your ISP's service.



    According to the user comments on the Amazon page for the product you can use it with a linksys usb adaptor to connect to a USB modem.

    However, it is perfectly possible to do this with a crossover ethernet cable right?
  • Reply 5 of 9
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    A crossover cable on a USB modem... erm nope. Not on the ones I have seen. I normally recommend the ethernet based modems, since once you have them configured, you can connect them to just about anything using standard TCP/IP / Ethernet protocols.



    To my knowledge, the USB ones need connecting direct to a computer that has the correct drivers installed on it.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    I know this isn't strictly on topic (it focusses on ethernet, as opposed to USB)... but I just gotta share this story.



    At the school where I work, we are running a Novell network and have, unfortunately, not been able to get my PB to network successfully. Furthermore, the Head of IT across all the campuses is anti-Mac.



    But, get this:

    Over the holidays, I wanted to upload some photos onto my .Mac homepage and dial up was killing me. So, I called the chief IT teacher at our campus (who is a PC user) and he invited me over to his place where he has broadband cable. Using the ethernet port I was able to plug into his "ethernet hub" and into his computer and access the internet, practically instantly.



    Memorable quote: "I can't believe how easy that was!!!!"



    He's actually a great bloke and not averse to the Mac - it's just that he doesn't drive the School IT budget or policy.



    Anyway, this is a great example of the networkability (is that a word?) and ease of use for which the Mac is deservedly renowned - but alas, not enough to convince the School Head of IT to even consider implementing Macs onto the network.



    ARRRRRGH! SO FRUSTRATING!
  • Reply 7 of 9
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dnisbet

    According to the user comments on the Amazon page for the product you can use it with a linksys usb adaptor to connect to a USB modem.

    However, it is perfectly possible to do this with a crossover ethernet cable right?



    Yes.



    As mentioned above, turn on ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) on the PC (see help file in windows, on ics), then on the mac, open system preferences, networking panel, built in ethernet, tcp/ip, and choose dhcp connection type.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    zarathustrazarathustra Posts: 264member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Spart

    After using the Mac for a while, he's probably going to want it to have priority on the internet connection. So see this thread.



    I have a 733MHz G4, broadband connected to a cable tv box by cat5 ethernet cable... I was pleased to see this thread 'cos I have a PC in another room not on the internet and a long cat 5 cable.



    But...I don't appear to have ethernet out on my Mac...how would I connect the two whilst leaving the Apple machine connected?
  • Reply 9 of 9
    gargoylegargoyle Posts: 660member
    Your mac only needs one ethernet card. You can get a hub and do something like this (crude ascii picture coming up):



    Code:



    |HUB|

    / | \\

    / | \\

    / | \\

    Mac PC Modem











    Although, both the mac and the PC are connected to the HUB, my ISP only allows one computer to use the modem at a time, so the connection is actually shared via the mac, which has 2 IP config's.



    Code:



    en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULT ICAST> mtu 1500

    inet6 fe80::20a:95ff:fe9e:e7a2%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4

    inet 80.193.245.161 netmask 0xffffffc0 broadcast 80.193.245.191

    inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255

    ether 00:0a:95:9e:e7:a2

    media: autoselect (10baseT/UTP <half-duplex>) status: active











    Looks complicated... but as always with mac, all you have to do is put the tick in the box that says share connection with other computers on built-in ethernet.
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