New
#1
Unidentified home network with Wifi only internet
I've read countless threads (here and elsewhere), but have found nothing that really describes my problem.
First of all, some background. I live on a boat and the only available Internet connection is by Wifi. There are no landline or cable connections available.
I have two Toshiba laptops, one running 7 Pro 32 and one running 7 Pro 64. They are networked by direct ethernet cable connection. (The network works fine once you get past the unidentified public network to unidentified home network) And I can connect to the Internet by Wifi from either laptop or both at once. (DHCP is enabled on both adapters)
I have tried, with no success and considerable frustration, to make my home network "identifiable", so I don't have to reset the network location on both machines anytime there is a break in the connection (eg: restart, shutdown)
Everything I have tried that makes the home network identified though, has kept me from connecting to the Internet by Wifi. It appears to me, that once the home network is identified (specific DNS, valid IPs) that Windows wants to connect the network, rather than the individual laptops, to the Internet, and so, though I can connect to the Wifi network itself (and it says I have Internet access), I'm "invisible", evidently, (no gateway ?) to the Wifi ISP.
I have worked manually, through Properties of the adapters, and have tried a wired only router (Trendnet TW100-S4W1CA) (also a Network switch, which didn't solve the unidentified problem) When using the router, as soon as I unplug from it, I have Internet connectivity by Wifi (without having to reconnect). The only thing I haven't tried is using ICS, as I'm not sure how vulnerable I would be on the Wifi.
I hope I've presented the problem clearly, but I'll try to put it more basically. Is there a way to use a wired router with no Internet connection to create a home network and still be able to connect to the Internet by Wifi?