Can I share my Internet from my laptop by bluetooth?

Question

I want to share the Internet connection from my Windows 7 PC using Bluetooth so my other devices can connect to the Internet through my computer. Do you know if this is possible?

Answer 1

If you are talking about connecting things like cell phones to a Windows 7 system (e.g. older Windows Mobile phones), most of these can only use the Bluetooth "Dial Up Networking" (DUN) profile. IIRC this is basically PPP over a Bluetooth virtual serial port. This is not "PAN" or "Personal Area Networking."

I had luck sharing Internet access between a desktop and laptop using the WIDCOMM software. This was through PAN and not DUN, though. From what I remember it had options to create a network adapter that accepted incoming Bluetooth DUN connections. I don't believe it is possible through the built-in Microsoft Bluetooth support.

Answer 2

Another article (and another one) deal with connection sharing in general. The idea is:

• on the "host" computer (the one connected to the Internet), activate connection sharing on the network connection connected to the Internet
• pair to your other "client" computer via bluetooth
• on the "client" computer, activate the Bluetooth network connection

On that last step (when I use my phone as the "host" computer), you might have to right-click the "host" computer icon on your "client" computer's "Printer and devices", then select "Connect using > Direct connection"*

*: free translation from my OS language

Answer 3

This article should help, but you might have to guess a little on the devices that are connecting to it because it's written for Windows Mobile (though the Windows portion of it should be pretty similar in Windows 7)