AD HOC WiFi networks are the most used in homes and also in companies with small numbers of member devices. It has the great advantage that they can share resources and its assembly is very fast.
Thanks to this kind of decentralized network we can access the different nodes directly without having to resort to a structure managed by a router. In this way, the data information that comes and goes through the members of the network is very active.
We will show you the different components that an AD HOC network has and we will also teach you how to configure one of these networks in a safe way, showing you its advantages and disadvantages.
What is an AD HOC WiFi network and what can it be used for?
An AD HOC network is a type of wireless network that is characterized by being point-to-point. and where its nodes can communicate with each other without depending on a fixed infrastructure as long as each of the network components have the same hierarchical level.
That is to say, since there is no structure or anything, we will not need routers or access points for communication between receiving and sending data between these nodes.
When there is an AD HOC wireless network, its components communicate with each other, carrying and bringing information that exists in the network, making it very dynamic in forwarding data.
This kind of networks handle standards like IEEE 802.11. If other devices need to be connected, these nodes can be quickly integrated into an AD HOC network and belong to it with a certain range of reach.
AD HOC wireless networks It is used mainly in home networks where no further installation complexity is needed.
They are also used when there are civil or natural emergencies of different scales, because they are easy to implement and since they do not have a managed structure, the nodes can work perfectly.
It is widely used when you need to share information or files between different computers or devices that belong to the wireless network.
Although it is true that they do not have access to the Internet, this can be solved by applying cards that adapt to the AD HOC mode configuration connected through the same username or SSID, or through Tethering or USB anchoring.
We will see these issues, Internet connection, at the end of this post.
What are the necessary components to create an AD HOC network?
The elements that we need to be able to build an AD HOC network are the following:
- Network interface card, like any network, each node needs to have these cards in order to access support for the specific cable network scheme.
- For those wireless networks, what we will need will be wireless network cards to be able to connect with each other.
- Workstations, which can be computers or mobile devices, which we will call in the future, network nodes.
- Shared resources, it is generally the main purpose of an AD HOC network, and it is to share the different peripheral resources between the members of the network, for example, a printer.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of wireless AD HOC connections?
Like any decentralized network structure, it has advantages and disadvantages, which we mention below:
Advantage
The advantages of this type of network are the following:
- Are from easy armed, simply the configuration has to be done in each node in a very simple way. Windows offers the possibility in a few steps to configure each computer.
- I know can share files and data in a faster way since they are all interconnected, an administration process is not needed for it to go to a leader or master and from there return that information or file to another node.
- It can share internet connection with other devices, making this an important advantage since with very few resources we can get a computer to work as a modem for the others.
- Initially, They are cheaper than other managed networks, whether extra expenses are not needed, such as certain wiring for the connection to the router.
Disadvantages
Among the disadvantages of this network we can name the following:
- As the nodes are interrelated, when one disconnects probably the network is disarmed or at least the nodes that are within reach of the one that was disconnected.
- Security is very low in this type of network.Since all the nodes are connected to each other, if an intruder enters any of those nodes, it can easily belong to the AD HOC network as a whole.
- The shared elements in this kind of wireless networks is also a problem since they need all the users or nodes to have access to the hardware or to the file that they want to share for it. It is necessary to have accounts enabled in each of these devices to be able to access the hardware or file that is needed.
- Antennas, with this element we will gain signal and avoid interference between nearby devices.
Steps to securely configure a wireless AD HOC network
Next, we will show the steps we need to do to configure a wireless network with AD HOC features.
Installation of wireless network cards
If our computers do not have these plates installed, we will have to do so so that they can communicate through radio waves.
Address Settings
In order to configure the NICs that we will have in each of our work teams we will have to perform the following steps:
- we choose “Start”
- We look for the option “Control Panel”
- and we choose “Network connections”
- At this moment all the NICs will appear, we select the one that corresponds and we right click
Creation of the network
At this moment, a window will appear with a menu in which we will have to:
- search option “Properties”
- we seek “App”
- we choose “Wireless networks”
- We add the AD HOC network that we want to have
- Next, we choose “To accept”
Choice of AD HOC network name
- We choose the SSID, which is the name that we will give to the network
- It will ask us if we need to connect even if the network is not broadcasting, which we will choose no for more security
- We look for the option “Network Authentication”
- and we choose “Data Encryption”in which we can put disabled
- We activate the option “This is an AD HOC computer-to-computer network. No wireless access points are used”
- We click on “OK”
Creation of IP in the network
In this step we are going to generate different IPs for each member of the network, for this we will follow these steps:
- We choose to activate “Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings”
- We look for our network with the name we gave it, that is, our SSID
- We choose the tab “General”
- What we will do at this moment is to create IP manually since we will not have DHCP servers
- we select “Use the following IP address”
- We write the IP address and the subnet mask
- Next, we select “Use the following DNS addresses” for which we will write a default mask, for example 255.255.0
network connection
The last step that remains is to connect to the AD HOC network that we have created:
- We go to the taskbar and right click on the wireless network
- We select the option “See all”
- We choose the network that we have created
- We click on “Connect”
What are the best alternatives to AD HOC for Internet sharing?
When we want to transmit the Internet in the AD HOC network, we can convert one of the nodes into a modem and thus obtain as a result that each component of the network has access to the Internet.
There are different ways, of which we will mention 2 below:
Tethering
With this mechanism we can turn any member of a network into an Internet transmitter, turning it into an access door.
In order to configure an iPhone mobile device as Tethering, we will have to follow these options:
- we select “Setting”
- We click on “Cellular Data”
- we choose “Share internet” and activate this option
If our device is Android, we will do these steps:
- We’ll go to “Settings”
- We choose the option “Plus”
- We click on “Wireless & Networks”
- We look for the option “Share Internet and WiFi hotspot”
- we choose “Create WiFi Access Point”
If we want to configure our computer with Windows operating system we will do this guide:
- we select “Start”
- we choose “Setting”
- We click on “Internet network”
- we select “Mobile wireless hotspot”
- We look for the option “Share my Internet connection with other devices” and we click on it
- We choose the name of the network and its access password
- we choose “Save”
usb tether
Converting a device through a USB anchor means that we will connect our mobile device with a computer through a cable so that it can act as a modem.
To do this we will carry out these steps on our mobile with Android operating system:
- we select “Settings”
- We click on “Plus”
- We look for the option “connections”
- we select “Internet Sharing and Modem”
- We click on the option “Shared Connections”
- we finally squeezed “To accept”
For Apple brand devices we only have to take into account that our iTunes is connected with the latest updated version.
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