Sharing an internet connection

[Elbeano]

I'll be returning to school next week, and unfortunately that means a stay in the dorms. You are required to log in to the network in some way (not exactly sure on the technical way of doing it, but once you first connect it brings up something to put in your school account info in the browser then you never see it again), and consequently can't hook up something like a wireless router or a gaming console.

The primary concern I have is whether or not I'm going to be able to hook up my 360. I have an airport express, but I'm willing to get whatever else I need within reason to get the 360 hooked up.

Preferably, I would like to hook up my powerbook (12" 1.33ghz combo) to the network then share the internet connection through the airport and have the airport express pick up the signal and act as a wireless access point for the 360.

If that doesn't feasible, I'll do whatever else is necessary. I was having trouble finding a USB ethernet adapter, but I'm assuming something like that could work.


Does anyone know if I'll be able to do what I would like with the airport and airport express? If not, are there any mac-compatible USB ethernet adapters out there that would allow me to share my internet connection?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[alexprice]

I'll be returning to school next week, and unfortunately that means a stay in the dorms. You are required to log in to the network in some way (not exactly sure on the technical way of doing it, but once you first connect it brings up something to put in your school account info in the browser then you never see it again), and consequently can't hook up something like a wireless router or a gaming console.

The primary concern I have is whether or not I'm going to be able to hook up my 360. I have an airport express, but I'm willing to get whatever else I need within reason to get the 360 hooked up.

Preferably, I would like to hook up my powerbook (12" 1.33ghz combo) to the network then share the internet connection through the airport and have the airport express pick up the signal and act as a wireless access point for the 360.

If that doesn't feasible, I'll do whatever else is necessary. I was having trouble finding a USB ethernet adapter, but I'm assuming something like that could work.


Does anyone know if I'll be able to do what I would like with the airport and airport express? If not, are there any mac-compatible USB ethernet adapters out there that would allow me to share my internet connection?

Thanks,
Matt

I would talk to the IT dept. Get them to allow you Airport express on their network.

Is that possible?

 

[Elbeano]

No. Technically I believe you're not allowed to do any distribution once you are connected. My starting point begins with sharing internet from a powerbook in which the easiest way to share it (the ethernet port) is already occupied.

If anyone has any experience connecting a 360 wireless adapter to any sort of apple sharing a connection over the built in airport that might work as well, but I don't know if that is possible either, and I didn't really want to plunk down 100 bucks on the situation if I could avoid it.

 

[Le Big Mac]

I would talk to the IT dept. Get them to allow you Airport express on their network.

Is that possible?

Or allow a cheap wired router/switch.

I imagine that they have this so people won't set up free wireless hotspots all over campus. Not the same concern with wires.

 

[Elbeano]

The problem isn't distribution of the signal in the first place, I imagine I might be able to distribute it if I were to plug in a router or switch of some sort. However, the signal would be useless if I were to plug in an xbox, ps2, or DS (over a wireless connection). None of those devices have any way of logging on to the network, which is somehow done initially through the browser on whatever machine you are using. I imagine it MIGHT be theoretically possible to make a connection with a PSP since that has a browser on it, but it's relatively unlikely.

In order for the internet connection to be useable, it must first go through the computer and be distributed from the computer in some fashion. I'm not sure what the best way of doing that would be.

 

[alexprice]

The problem isn't distribution of the signal in the first place, I imagine I might be able to distribute it if I were to plug in a router or switch of some sort. However, the signal would be useless if I were to plug in an xbox, ps2, or DS (over a wireless connection). None of those devices have any way of logging on to the network, which is somehow done initially through the browser on whatever machine you are using. I imagine it MIGHT be theoretically possible to make a connection with a PSP since that has a browser on it, but it's relatively unlikely.

In order for the internet connection to be useable, it must first go through the computer and be distributed from the computer in some fashion. I'm not sure what the best way of doing that would be.

I think that once you first logged in on the PowerBook, the network must maybe link you name and password with the MAC address of you ethernet port. Therefore other devices connected to you PowerBook's internet conection connection should be ok.

 

[Elbeano]

Hmmm... that would be pretty sweet if that were the case. It would certainly make things a lot easier on me. I hate wires...

However, I would still like to know if anyone has any experience on a non-built-in ethernet port option of 360 to mac connection.

 

[Willis]

you can buy ethernet-->USB adapters. i had to set someones broadband up using one. I dont know where to get one from though. sorry.

 

[benthewraith]

Elbeano, you should be able to get by via cloning the Mac address of your computer to your ethernet router, the computer will see you as logged in.

 

[anubis]

They had this at my university. It is a way for them to keep anyone from walking on campus with a laptop and connecting to the internet for potentially nefarious uses; you have to enter something like a student ID and a password first, then your MAC address is logged into their database. Then, whenever you connect your computer to the network, the router looks up your MAC address in the database, recognizes it as "valid", and lets you connect without the need to reenter any password information. This also allows the university to track illegal internet activities to a particular student (i.e. X ip address with Y mac address was uploading kiddie porn at time T. Y mac address is registered to student Z, so we know who to arrest).

All of this is accomplished in the following way. You connect a new computer to the network and it sends a DHCP request. The router looks up the MAC address of the requestor in the MAC address database. If there is no match, the router assigns special IP and DNS information to the computer. Trying to open any web page results in the registration web page being displayed. Once the computer is registered, renew the DHCP lease and the router will then assign you a real IP address. Once you have a real IP address, you can surf the internet normally for as long as your MAC address remains in the database.

Luckily, all of this is device- and OS-independent. If you hook any regular router (such as an airport base station) to the ethernet port in your room, everything will function normally. Hook everything up normally, open any web browser, it brings up the registration page. Enter your registration information, wait 15 minutes, then restart the base station. All devices connected to the base station will now get regular internet access.

 

[Elbeano]

I love you guys

 

[tipdrill407]

Online gaming with your 360 might be pretty crappy at campus because the data goes through so many servers on campus before it actually reaches the interent and that results in very high latency making gaming sometimes impossible.

 

[Elbeano]

Online gaming with your 360 might be pretty crappy at campus because the data goes through so many servers on campus before it actually reaches the interent and that results in very high latency making gaming sometimes impossible.

If the latency is worse than Sprint's DSL I might just sent Sprint a congratulatory letter on not having the worst broadband in the country. In any case, I like having my 360 online even if I'm not doing online gaming. The demos and arcade games are pretty sweet, and I'm hoping UNO doesn't have that much lag.

 

[FullmetalZ26]

I'd register the computer's MAC address on the network, clone it to a wireless AP configured to act as a client to your university's wireless network, then attach the AP to a router's WAN port. Then you have yourself an instant private network that is seen as one machine on the network, and you can have your computer and 360 hooked up at the same time.