I recently switched my wired broadband internet over to one of the new broadband cards that connects through GSM instead. I still have my XBox game system to worry with, though, and bought a wireless router to try and see if I could wirelessly connect my broadband card's internet through my router and have the network adapter for my game system pick it up and use it.

I have no idea how this would actually work, since my internet is not your typical WiFi. My router is a Linksys WRT54GS V7 with 4 wired connect ports and double antenna's. My broadband card is made by Sierra and connects through USB. Any help you can give would be appreciated. I would like to not have all my money be wasted if I can't figure out how to use it.

Hi Liriel,

Interesting little setup your working on. I'll have to do some research to be sure I have the right information before I could really suggest anything.

For starters though, What type of a computer uses the broardband card, a desktop or laptop?

I'm also trying to be sure I have your setup correct. You have the computer(broadband) connecting to the internet thru the card, and want to either wire it to the router or connect to the router so that the xbox can also use the internet connection by connecting to the same router.

If that is correct, I "think" you might have be able to connect the xbox to the internet thru the broadband computer without the router. But as I said I need to research thing 1st.

I'll read up on it and get back to you, assuming I have the information correct.

P.S. seeing that your a librarian, please don't judge me by my posting, I'm the king of bad grammer, typos, and mis-spelling.

Liriel,
I actually had this setup a couple of years ago and ran 5 other desktops with wired connections and 2 laptops wireless. i dismantled it when I could get a faster connection with a wireless radio.
I'm not a tech expert so I'll just explain what I did to the best of my memory and then hopefully tonka001 (or someone else) can "flesh-it-out" for your system.

When I installed the Sierra card in computer A, I set that network connection up with ICS (internet connection sharing). I assigned that connection an IP address of something like 192.168.1.1. I then set the IP address of the ethernet port to 192.168.1.2 with a gateway of 192.168.1.1. This ethernet port was then connected to the router in one of the lan ports (vs the single wan port).

I then assigned each of the other computers an IP address of 192.168.1.xx and a gateway of 192.168.1.1. I connected a wireless bridge to my sons Xbox and set it up the same as the computers.

Everything worked fine. The difference I see with your system is that your Sierra card connects through USB and I had to put my card in a pcmcia slot.

Good luck.

your good tomk.

That is what I was thinking and wanted to read about 1st to be sure I remembered everything correctily. The ICS is the way to go.

The only main differnce I can think of is that Liriel could eliminate the router, and connect the ethernet cable directily to the xbox since as far as I can tell she only needs to have the xbox and the computer on line.

But your solution would work just fine since she already has the router.

Ok, I think I have your solution down pat, except for the bit about the wireless bridge. What do you consider to be a wireless bridge? Also my router won't even pick up the signal from my broadband card because it's not your typical Local Area Connection, you know?

The card is being run on a laptop so my router needs to pick up its signal. Should I connect my router to the laptop through the wired ethernet cord or have the router try to pick up the signal wirelessly?

Thanks again.

You want the laptop wired to the router, the laptop will work as the bridge really, the router is just working more or less as a connection point.

So... the laptop connects to the internet, and shares it's connection. Via the wired connection to the router, and then to the Xbox via a wired connection.

Post back with how things go, and if you need any other help. or have any other questions.

It's a little box with an antennae that receives the wireless signal. It is then plugged into the Xbox. I was to cheap to buy the game adapter that xbox makes. The laptop with the Sierra card was wired to the router in my setup.

I set up a different network completely wirelessly using a simiar setup with a sierra card but it was with 4 laptops. I had to configure them together using a peer-to-peer network but the gateway system was pretty much the same.

I'm sorry that my information is so confusing. As I said, I'm not a tech guy. I'm a tinkerer that either makes it work or breaks it. Others here can give you more specific instructions.

The problem I seem to be having is getting my Linksys router to even pick up on the wireless connection that's running on my computer from the card. Now, the broadband card's signal does show up when turned on, in my network connections but my router is looking for a Local Area Connection (which I don't have) and keeps giving me an error when I try to set it up using the software.

My other trouble would be getting my Xbox to recognize the signal once the router has it. Would I want an ethernet connection to the Xbox or a wireless one? And would I have to configure the IP settings on the console manually or would it just pick it up automatically?

Thanks again for all your help, it just seems I need a bit more to figure it out.

-Liriel

This post has been edited by Liriel: Apr 27 2008, 02:54 PM

My Sierra Compass 597 USB modem is connected to my Vista laptop and provides internet for my Vista laptop. I want to share the Vista laptop internet connection with my XP laptop. I've tried creating an ad hoc network on my Vista laptop with open WEP, but the XP laptop does not get an IP address but gets the 169 address. Can someone help? Thanks.

[EDIT: I figured out that something with Sprint prevented the laptop from making any other connections from any source, LAN or wireless card. I called Sprint tech support who confirmed this. The only suggested solution was buying a Linksys or Kyocera router.

SOLUTION: The work around I found was going into Sprint SmartView, disabling it as the WiFi default controller, also disabling the 2 rules that disconnected other connections and setting the options to maintaining existing connection. ICS worked easily after that, just follow the CNET video instructions for laptop hotspot.]

This post has been edited by compass597: May 4 2008, 12:29 AM