I travel quite extensively for business purposes and obviously internet connection availability at hotels is important, In the past most hotels had an Ethernet connection and I would just plug in my Airport Express and all of my wifi devices would utilize it for wifi.
Recently I have been seeing more and more hotels going away from Ethernet and going to a wifi connection in the rooms. In the hotels with free wifi that's not a problem, but in hotels that charge for wifi access that can get quite costly. I will be staying at a hotel next week and they charge $20 per day for wifi and only allow one device per connection. So, if I wanted to connect my iPad, iPhone and MacBook that would be costing me $60 per day.
I'm trying to find out if there is a way to utilize the "share" capabilities of my MacBook and allow it to act as a hub for my other devices. I know that if I had it plugged into an Ethernet connection it would basically act like my Airport Express. However, I can find no way to have it "share" when it is receiving its internet connection via wifi too.
At the Apple Store today an employee told me that if I would purchase the OS X Server app for $20 my MacBook would be able to do that. It could receive internet via wifi and also act as a wifi hub at the same time, thus allowing me to connect my iPhone and iPad through it. I also wondered if it might be possible to connect my Airport Express to my MacBook Air using an Ethernet to Thunderbolt cable and somehow broadcasting the wifi signal that my MacBook would be receiving out though the Airport Express - kind of the reverse of how it's normally utilized?
Before I spend the money for a program that I would never use otherwise could someone please verify that it would indeed work as described. Also, someone in the store said that the current models of most PC with the latest Windows operating system will act as a wifi to wifi portal but Apples will not. He said that he thought an app was coming out soon, or even out there now, that would allow MacBooks to do this.
Again, any help would be most appreciated.
Recently I have been seeing more and more hotels going away from Ethernet and going to a wifi connection in the rooms. In the hotels with free wifi that's not a problem, but in hotels that charge for wifi access that can get quite costly. I will be staying at a hotel next week and they charge $20 per day for wifi and only allow one device per connection. So, if I wanted to connect my iPad, iPhone and MacBook that would be costing me $60 per day.
I'm trying to find out if there is a way to utilize the "share" capabilities of my MacBook and allow it to act as a hub for my other devices. I know that if I had it plugged into an Ethernet connection it would basically act like my Airport Express. However, I can find no way to have it "share" when it is receiving its internet connection via wifi too.
At the Apple Store today an employee told me that if I would purchase the OS X Server app for $20 my MacBook would be able to do that. It could receive internet via wifi and also act as a wifi hub at the same time, thus allowing me to connect my iPhone and iPad through it. I also wondered if it might be possible to connect my Airport Express to my MacBook Air using an Ethernet to Thunderbolt cable and somehow broadcasting the wifi signal that my MacBook would be receiving out though the Airport Express - kind of the reverse of how it's normally utilized?
Before I spend the money for a program that I would never use otherwise could someone please verify that it would indeed work as described. Also, someone in the store said that the current models of most PC with the latest Windows operating system will act as a wifi to wifi portal but Apples will not. He said that he thought an app was coming out soon, or even out there now, that would allow MacBooks to do this.
Again, any help would be most appreciated.
