Public WiFi to ethernet?
 

Can I feed my single incoming public WiFi connection into my existing router/switch, so it can be shared?

I'll shortly be moving to a new house, where I think I can pick up a public WiFi connection with a wireless adapter and hi-gain antenna (p/n HAI15SC), or with a single Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter (p/n HWU8DD) (both from Hawking).

Being a cheapskate, I don't want to buy two sets of adapters, as both require the £30+ hi-gain antenna.

Re: Public WiFi to ethernet?
 

why not just connect each machine to the wireless independantly - that's what it's there for! ;)

But yes, you can always share a connection, though not always with certain devices. a router would normally require a wire to the modem (untrust). You should be able to set up one machine to connect, then share that connection on your lan, having the other machines route through that. it gives you a software option for firewall / AV then.

Re: Public WiFi to ethernet?
 

Because :-

"I don't want to buy two sets of adapters, as both require the £30+ hi-gain antenna. "

I've not come across public wifi before but depending on how it works, it may be possible to buy a wireless access point and plug a high gain antenna into it and then plug this in to the WAN port of your existing wifi cable router (it must be a router and not just a switch). This would solve all your problems.

If this is not possible then you need to turn on ICS on one machine which will need the hi-gain G adapter PLUS a bog standard 11B/G usb adapter (i.e. 2 network adapters). Then you can plug a matching 11B/G USB adapter in the second PC. You'll need to keep the first PC on if you want the second PC to access the internet.

Re: Public WiFi to ethernet?
 

Buy an access point which is compatible with the antenna, then plug it in to the Wan port on the router. Not sure about antenna compatibility but I've just bought an Edimax AP for £25 which I'm using as a bridge for my XBox.