Wifi to Airport internet sharing, why i cant share?

wolves2102 · Mar 7, 2013

My 2011 imac is and airport connection for sharing internet, 2012 we bought another imac and its using wifi to connect and to share, im using the imac 2011 "AIRPORT" to share my internet all the time but to my surprise when i try to use my imac2012 "WIFI" to share internet, my imac "aiport" cannot connect, it wont receive, my imac airport can share my internet, but if my imac "wifi" cant share to "airport", how that it happen? i notice that when you configure your internet sharing theres a list of connection you want to check, like "ethernet, bluetooth, wifi and so fort, but yes if both wifi use by this it can share and recevied both, like my macbook pro since i bought 2013 last month i can receive internet from my imac who is "wifi" sharing, but my imac which is "airport" cannot...how to diagnose this?

mrplow · Mar 8, 2013

I'm a little confused by what's connected to what so bear with me.

How the your 2011 iMac make its connection to the Internet? Direct to a modem, or to a router? Wired or wireless?

wolves2102 · Mar 9, 2013

mrplow said:
I'm a little confused by what's connected to what so bear with me.

How the your 2011 iMac make its connection to the Internet? Direct to a modem, or to a router? Wired or wireless?

Uhmm its wireless, through airport only and wifi, but i was wondering why wifi connection cannot share to airport if i turn it on, but if airport connection i can share it and receive by wifi

mrplow · Mar 10, 2013

ok.

I think I'm still missing part of the puzzle here but I'll give it a go.

Firstly, Airport is just the name Apple gives to the wireless device in your Mac. For these purposes Airport and wi-fi are one in the same. So I'm just going to use wi-fi.

So you Mac connects to a wireless router over wi-fi.

There's no reason why all your wireless capable devices cannot connect to your wireless router directly. In fact this is the preferred, easiest and most robust method. The router manages all the traffic and IP addresses. It also means those other devices can connect even when your Mac isn't on. It means you can share files between all these devices as well as the internet connection.

Devices that aren't wireless can connect be ethernet directly to the router.

If, for some reason you wanted to share and internet connection you can only use a connection for in OR out.
i.e. if you're getting your internet connection over wifi you're Mac can't share that connection back out over wifi as it's in use receiving. You can only share back out be ethernet (sometimes bluetooth and firewire but that's very device dependant).
By the same token, if your internet connection from your router was a cable to your Mac you could then share that out wirelessly.

If you can't setup like this can you give a little more information on your setup and what you're trying to do exactly?

wolves2102 · Mar 11, 2013

mrplow said:
ok.

I think I'm still missing part of the puzzle here but I'll give it a go.

Firstly, Airport is just the name Apple gives to the wireless device in your Mac. For these purposes Airport and wi-fi are one in the same. So I'm just going to use wi-fi.

So you Mac connects to a wireless router over wi-fi.

There's no reason why all your wireless capable devices cannot connect to your wireless router directly. In fact this is the preferred, easiest and most robust method. The router manages all the traffic and IP addresses. It also means those other devices can connect even when your Mac isn't on. It means you can share files between all these devices as well as the internet connection.

Devices that aren't wireless can connect be ethernet directly to the router.

If, for some reason you wanted to share and internet connection you can only use a connection for in OR out.
i.e. if you're getting your internet connection over wifi you're Mac can't share that connection back out over wifi as it's in use receiving. You can only share back out be ethernet (sometimes bluetooth and firewire but that's very device dependant).
By the same token, if your internet connection from your router was a cable to your Mac you could then share that out wirelessly.

If you can't setup like this can you give a little more information on your setup and what you're trying to do exactly?

Thanks for this uhmm i understood this but sorry for my poor english grammar construction, okay uhmm...basically im not using wireless router...im using 3G broandband as my internet acces from my imac, which is still "Aiport" for internet sharing or receiving...and yes its working well interms of sharing my connection of internet thru my 3G broandband connect to my imac, but i bought another imac and macbook pro which is "Wifi" for internet sharing and receiving, so i tried to use the 3G broandband to my new macbook pro(wifi) and share my internet for my two imac(wifi and airport), but to my surprise my imac which is "Airport" cannot receive from my macbookpro (wifi) internet sharing.

mrplow · Mar 12, 2013

What piece of hardware is connected to your iMac to connect to 3G?

A USB 3G dongle or 3G hotspot? That you connect to wirelessly or something else?
What's important is how it's connected to your iMac

wolves2102 · Mar 12, 2013

mrplow said:
What piece of hardware is connected to your iMac to connect to 3G?

A USB 3G dongle or 3G hotspot? That you connect to wirelessly or something else?
What's important is how it's connected to your iMac

Its USB 3g broadband

mrplow · Mar 12, 2013

OK.

To start from scratch.

1. Turn off internet sharing on your iMac.

2. Make sure you're wifi on you're iMac is connected to or trying to connect to any wireless networks.

3. In the Sharing panel in System preferences Select internet sharing but don't tick it to turn it on.

4. In the "Share your connection from:" drop-down select your USB 3G dongle connection.

5. In the "To computers using:" tick Wi-Fi only.

6. Click "Wi-Fi Options..."

7. Enter a network name e.g. "wolvesnet" - anything really

8. Change security to WPA2 Personal

9. Enter the password twice and click OK to confirm

10. tick the Internet Sharing service

11. you'll be given a warning message. Click start

12. Your iMac is now a wireless hotspot.

13. On your other devices search for "wolvesnet" from the wifi or airport menu - Internet connection sharing should be OFF on every other device except the iMac with the 3G dongle

14. select wolvesnet and enter the password you chose when prompted.

15. you'll now be connected to the internet via the iMac