Connecting to Two Wireless Networks

Question

Connecting to Two Wireless Networks

Yes, I know there's already a post with the same subject line, but it's a totally different problem 😉

Getting ready to send my daughter off to college. They have wireless throughout the dorms, but will not allow WAP's (locked down by MAC address). I previously purchased her a time capsule (actually an AEBS w/hard drive) for automated, wireless backups. Is it at all possible for her MacBook pro to connect to the dorm driven wireless for internet, and still automagically back up to her time capsule on a wireless network served by it?

Thanks!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Jan 19, 2010 6:02 AM

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Answer 1

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Jan 19, 2010 9:34 AM in response to Tony.Andreoli

It might be possible, but what I'm thinking of would require a second wireless interface with its own non-Airport driver, either a card in a slot or a USB stick. What I'm thinking of is that the Mac can use multiple network interfaces at once ("multi-homing"), and when you use a non-Apple wireless card it typically appears as another Ethernet interface as if you had a cable plugged in. Theoretically she could use a third-party wireless card and redirect some network services to it, the way some people do with their dual-Ethernet Mac Pros, but at this point I'm not really aware of what the complications might be and what level of network engineering would be required to make it work right.

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Answer 2

rredelfs

Level 1

4 points

Aug 8, 2017 11:22 AM in response to Tony.Andreoli

It's now seven years later since the original post and I have the same questions, as my daughter is about to head off to college. Did Apple ever fix this in their software or is it still impossible to connect to two wireless networks from a Macbook Pro?

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Answer 3

Jan 19, 2010 6:29 AM in response to Tony.Andreoli

What about connecting the TimeCapsule by wire to the MacBook's ethernet port?

Another solution could be:
Setup the TimeCapsule to extend the existing network (make sure that the TimeCapsule's MAC address will be accepted) Changing the TC MAC address to the MAC address of the PB might work - take a look at: http://whatismyipaddress.com/staticpages/index.php/change-mac-address

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Answer 4

Jan 19, 2010 7:54 AM in response to Kay Marczoch

Yes, I could connect to the wire, but that kind of defeats the whole wireless part, and the fact that I don't have to train her to do something to be backed up. If I did that, I may as well just use a locally connected HD.

As for the mac spoofing, my only problem there is when she takes her notebook elsewhere on campus and attaches to the campus WLAN, then there's a mac conflict.

Thanks!

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Answer 5

direwolf8

Level 4

1,286 points

Jan 19, 2010 9:19 AM in response to Tony.Andreoli

You can't connect to two different wireless networks at the same time. I'd go with the wired solution. An alternative would be to set up two different network locations, and switch between them when she signs off the campus network and wants to back up, but it still requires her to do something.

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Answer 6

Jan 19, 2010 10:09 AM in response to Network 23

Yes, I thought of that as well, but what I'm curious of is...

My hacked WRT54G with dd-wrt has the ability to simultaneously run two wireless networks. I'm doing it, feeding my house notebooks on one network, then connecting a building in the back of the property with another, "uplink" network. A reciprocal WRT54G in that building also has 2 networks, the other side of the uplink, then the same network name that the other one is feeding to the notebooks.

So, how is it possible with the 54G's, but not with my MacBook. I understand that the software doesn't support it, but is there some physical difference as well? I don't think it has anything to do with the number of antenna's, because I can define more than 2 virtual WLAN's...

Thanks!

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Answer 7

Jan 20, 2010 5:44 AM in response to Tony.Andreoli

Confirmed, it's a software limitation, not hardware, as Windows 7 apparently has this ability (virtual wifi):
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-wifi-wireless-virtual-virtualize,7840.h tml

It apparently started as an open source project. Has anyone heard any rumblings if Apple might be supporting this one day?

Thanks.

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Answer 8

jimumbra

Level 1

8 points

Mar 8, 2010 12:10 PM in response to Tony.Andreoli

I'm sure there is some sort of open source project for linux, possibly ubuntu, that adds this functionality. Just keep on looking around, I seriously doubt that apple would redo their wireless drivers for this, since this kind of problem is very narrow in scope.

Also you should be comfortable with playing with the terminal and building projects from source if you happen to find one of these open source projects. Let me know.

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Answer 9

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Aug 8, 2017 11:28 AM in response to rredelfs

No.

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