I'm at a college and the college has given me a static ip for the mac address i have. I have 2 computers in the room and I'm not allowed to get another static ip for the other computer. Both computers are laptop computers so i have a single ethernet card on both of them. I have a hub in my room so i can make them appear on the same network for file sharing and such but is there a way for me to share the internet connection?? any help would be appreciated, thanks

That college is smart, using static IPs based on MAC addresses. There are some internet connection sharing programs that you can download. I've never had any luck with them but that was in the days of dialup.

You need a router with MAC address cloning. a wireless router like the Linksys WRT54GT would work. You simply log on to the router and under MAC address cloning you enter the MAC address of your laptop that can connect to the network and you're set. The Universities set up is not that different from most broadband providers. every internet connection I've ever had logs the MAC address of the first device that logs on through the modem. This does two things: (1) In your setting it helps to limit how many computers and who can use the connection (2) In a home set up they believe it will get people to pay extra for the privilege of renting a router and having them set up for multiple computers to access the connection If your college is broadcasting a wireless signal then I'm not sure what you can do. I'm sure there is a way using a desktop or some sort of access point that you can do this. Have you looked into Internet Connection Sharing? Does Microsoft still do that? essentially your first laptop logs onto the network and the second laptop receivers its connection through the first. you may have to cable the two computers together. I don't know that ICS would work with a totally wireless set up. Hope that gives you some ideas. I'm sure if you sniff around a bit more you'll find a way.

im the poster of the question, i have managed to do it with the ccproxy program, basically i set up a proxy server on the computer with the internet connection and connected to it via proxifier/sockscap like programs on the other computer. It does the job for me for now. If anyone knows how i can do this without the proxy server i still would appreciate the idea, other than that thanks for the people who already posted a reply.

If that's working, leave it alone. Don't change a thing.

I think some routers can clone MAC addresses on multiple PCs. If the connection is wireless, the proxy server is your best bet. WinSimple Software

Vista Includes ICS "software router" support and instructions if the above do not work for you. Just enter Internet Connection Sharing in the Help and Support search box. Web Developer