When I am using screen sharing between my macbook pro and my mac mini, they communicate using an apple airport base station. Is that communicating through the internet and using my internet data? I am concerned because I just got satellite internet and have a 10 GB limit and am trying to conserve.
Airport Base Station-OTHER
Screen sharing between two devices on a local network will pass-through your AirPort base station but it should not go out to the Internet ... unless you specifically attempt to access a computer at a remote location.
Thanks.
The thing I didn't understand is that if the airport is plugged in to the wall socket, but not plugged into the modem, screen sharing didn't work. So that's why I thought it was using data from my internet service.
One more thing. you said...unless you specifically attempt to access a computer at a remote location. Would an extreme end of my house count as a remote location? In one room I have a mac with my music on it. I tried with blue tooth to see if I could connect and I couldn't. I think it was too far away. But with the airport plugged into the modem, I can view my music on that computer from my laptop on the other end of the house.
By "wall socket" are you referring to an Ethernet port or an AC power receptacle?
If you mean an Ethernet port, then it will depend on how you are getting your Internet service. It would help if you would fully provide the details on your current network configuration including the make & models of all of your networking hardware.
One more thing. you said...unless you specifically attempt to access a computer at a remote location. Would an extreme end of my house count as a remote location?
No, by "remote" I mean external to your local network. Any devices on your local network would be behind an Internet router. Any traffic destined for the local network, again, passes through this router but only on the local side of the network.
In one room I have a mac with my music on it. I tried with blue tooth to see if I could connect and I couldn't.
Yes, bluetooth has limited range. I would not expect that you would be able to access anything in another room using bluetooth.
But with the airport plugged into the modem, I can view my music on that computer from my laptop on the other end of the house.
That's because if you're using screen sharing that is happening over a network, either wired or wireless, between the two devices.
internet data usage for airport
