Accessing the Internet from two laptops with data card in one of the machines

Question

How do I set up Internet access between two laptops where the network card is in one of the computers?

I have two laptops - one running Windows XP and other running Vista. Both have a wifi card. I have one Reliance broadband data card. I want to be able to access the Internet on both machines simultaneously using this one data card.

I do have a linksys router but is there another way without any extra hardware? Like setting up a P2P or WLAN between these two machines? Both have wifi cards so shouldn't they both don't need any extra hardware, right?

I am fine with connecting data card to either of the machines.

Answer 1

You could establish an ad-hoc WiFi connection between the machines and share the Internet connection in the one with the data card.

To create an ad-hoc connection, go to the first machine and configure it manually. After it is configured in the first machine, it will appear in the list of available networks of the second machine.

This does work. It was the first solution I set up at my parents house, so that I could share their broadband with my laptop. Using a proper router is a better solution, though.

Don't forget to set a password for the network.

Answer 2

What you're looking to do is certainly possible via an Ad Hoc wireless network and the builtin Windows Internet Connection Sharing.

Microsoft have a guide on setting up ICS here.

And a guide for setting up an Ad Hoc wireless network here.