This post mainly applies to people who are
- Having a laptop or desktop with a WiFi adaptor
- Having an internet connection through a USB Modem like Reliance Net Connect or Tata Photon (India)
- Having a smart phone and want to access internet
Now a days almost all laptops come with Wireless/WiFi adaptors which can connect to WiFi networks to access internet. But the truth is that, in addition to connecting to a wireless network, your WiFi adaptor can also function as a wireless router for transmitting a wireless network. So if you have an internet connection through a cable, DSL or dial-up modem, you can create your own wireless network and share the internet connection with other devices like smart phones and PDAs.
Following is a step by step process to create a wireless network from your laptop (Windows Vista)
1. Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Setup a connection or network. Then select “Setup a wireless ad hoc (Computer to Computer) network and click next.
2. Click next again on this screen
3. In the next screen enter the network name such as “My Personal Net”. If you do not want your network to be password protected, select security type as “No Authentication (Open)”. If you want password protected network, then select a security type (WPA2 is the preferred one) and enter a password and click next.
4. Now windows will create the network and will say that the network is ready to use
5. Now open the wireless network section of your smart phone and you can see the wireless network we have created just now. You will be able to connect to this network but no Internet Connection yet.
6. Now to share your cable, DSL or Dial Up connection through this wireless network, go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Manage Network Connections. Select the network connection you want to share and right click and go to Properties
7. On the properties go to Sharing tab and select the checkbox to “Allow other users to connect through this computers internet connection”. Select “wireless network connection” from the home network connection dropdown box. Now click on and you are done!!
