making a pc a wireless hotspot

my mother in law's PC in Hong Kong connects via on old style modem to broadband. It has an ethernet connection, but isnt "always on" like in the UK, you have to "dial up" through Windows.

When I go back to Hong Kong, I want to turn her pc into a wireless hotspot so that i can access the net on my phone and ipad.

Other than buying a wireless router/modem thing, what would be the cheapest and easiest way of creating a wireless hotspot?

Thanks

Steven

Assuming it has a wireless card just set up an adhoc connection.

Haven't done it in a long time but to add to Batboy's comment I think you would also need to switch on "Internet Connection Sharing" in Windows. With ICS and a adhoc network you should be able to surf the net off the back of the PCs connection.

Get her an early Christmas present and buy a suitable router and configure it.

Chances are that the dial-up is just PPPoE, which is fairly simply and if you look for her specific ISP there must be people suggesting suitable hardware that is available locally.

Indeed, cheapest way would be ICS.

But if it is a dial on demand connection you will need to ensure that the tick box for "allow other users to control or disable this connection" is ticked.

no wireless card... can i do it with usb? and if so what would i need to buy?

hi andreew

hope you're well.

i'm not quite sure what connection it is, need to find out i guess.

i'd rather not spend money on a router thats unecessary. im only going back for a month, just need wifi while im in the house. everywhere else has free wiif.

A USB wireless adaptor, should be feasible to create an ICS from the dial-up to this.

A long time since I've done it, but gave up because of the pain it would often cause, e.g. getting PC to do it, and then software firewalls getting in the way etc etc

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Get her an early Christmas present and buy a suitable router and configure it.

Chances are that the dial-up is just PPPoE, which is fairly simply and if you look for her specific ISP there must be people suggesting suitable hardware that is available locally.

This.

The small amount of cash saved will be more than outweighed by the hours of faffing to set up ICS and make it all work properly.

Here's the kind of kit you need. Should be cheap too - how many people want a router that does dialup only?

Ebay item = 190454919938 (about 4 days left....)

Edit - rats, you need wireless. Will rummage a bit more, but most of the 56k routers were around before this wireless lark really caught on, that netgear dates from about 2002-2003.

Double edit - Bluetooth to 56K is quite common, Belikin, Zoom, Trust all make modems like this. Phone and iPad already have BT, and the PC could get an addon usb dongle for about £2 at hong kong prices.

Alternatively, some of the better routers can fallback to dialup. An early Draytek, maybe? The current 2820 range can do this, don't know the older ones well enough to name a model.

Edited by deleted (Wed 13-Oct-10 13:22:51)

it isnt 56k dial up... it is broadband speed, its just not always on. the modem dials the connection everytime.