'm thinking of getting an iPod Touch, part of what really attracts me to it is the possibility of using the wifi to browse the internet.

Thing is, at home I have a wireless router, but at uni I get internet off a lan, and there's no wireless available. My laptop has a wireless card - is there a way to set up a connection between the laptop and the Touch, and then share the internet across from one to the other?

Has anyone actually done this?

(I use win 7)

Dani AI

Generated

Quick summary and practical next steps based on the thread: wants to share a wired university LAN from a Windows 7 laptop to an iPod Touch. correctly pointed to ICS as the basic mechanism and posted the Microsoft ICS link. Since an ad‑hoc network connects the iTouch but there is no Internet, the problem is most likely a local configuration, a driver limitation, or a campus policy (MAC filtering/802.1X/captive portal) blocking forwarded traffic.

Troubleshooting checklist (fast, non‑repetitive checks):

  • Confirm the laptop is actually handing out addresses and NATting for the wireless client: on the laptop run ipconfig /all and check the wireless adapter IP; on the iPod check its IP/gateway. If the iPod has a self‑assigned address (169.254.x.x) or no gateway, the sharing side is not offering DHCP.
  • Temporarily disable any third‑party firewall/AV and test again — Windows firewall or security suites can block NAT/forwarding.
  • Check whether the wired network requires per‑device auth or portal login; if so, an extra device behind your laptop may be blocked until registered.

If ICS/ad‑hoc keeps failing, a more reliable Windows option is the hosted (SoftAP) mode when the wireless driver supports it. To check and start a hosted network on Win7 (requires admin), use the wlan netsh commands and then share the wired adapter to the hosted SSID. Example commands to check/support and start a hosted network:

netsh wlan show drivers
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=MySSID key=MyPassphrase
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

If driver support is absent or campus policy forbids sharing, hardware is the simplest workaround: a small travel wireless router or a pocket travel AP in router/NAT mode will create a private Wi‑Fi SSID from the wall jack. Mobile tethering (phone hotspot) is another convenient fallback. If campus networking is involved, ask IT whether multiple devices are allowed or whether MAC registration is required.

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It depends. What OS is your laptop running? Some (like Windows) will let you use your laptop's wireless as an access point, in which case this may work.

If you plug your laptop into the wired network and you have a wireless card, have you tried ICS to share out the wired connection to the wireless card?

You can actually use a Windows computer for ICS as long as you're not running a Windows 7 Starter version.

Instructions are for Windows Vista but shouldn't be much different for Windows 7. Instructions are from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Using-ICS-Internet-Connection-Sharing

Enabling ICS

To enable ICS, on your host computer:

Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.

Right-click the connection that you want to share, and then click Properties. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Click the Sharing tab, and then select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection check box.
Note
Note

The Sharing tab will not be available if you have only one network connection.

If desired, you can also select the Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection check box.

Optionally, to allow other network users to use services running on your network, click Settings and select the services you want to allow.

When you enable ICS, your local area network (LAN) connection gets a new static IP address and configuration, so you'll need to reestablish any TCP/IP connections between your host computer and the other network computers.

To test your network and Internet connection, see if you can share files between computers and make sure each computer can reach a website.
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Configure TCP/IP

To use ICS, make sure the local area network (LAN) connection on each network computer is configured to get an IP address automatically. To do this:

Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.

Right-click the LAN connection, and then click Properties. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6), and then click Properties.

Click Obtain an IP address automatically or Obtain an IPv6 address automatically.

The Internet options on your network computers should also be configured for ICS. For more information, see Change Internet settings for ICS (Internet Connection Sharing).

Do not use ICS on a network with domain controllers, DNS servers, gateways, or DHCP servers. And don't use ICS on systems configured for static IP addresses.

: i've tried and still not working, i use ad hoc connection and it connect to the itouch but can't make internet sharing connection.
: Thank you so much... i will try it...

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