Trying to link two computers together with 10/100 network cards to share an internet connection using a Vodafone vodem proved to be a bit of a challenge. In this case I had one computer running XP Pro and the other, Vista Business.
Both machines (connected through a hub) were given the same Workgroup name and set up to obtain IP and DNS automatically. the XP computer was set up to share a directory and a printer. The connections were established which proved the networking to be functional. So far so good.
The first time I connected the Vodem to the Vista Machine, the software appeared to start installing and then kept cycling, requiring a reboot. After much fiddling around, I did get it to install and it created a modem named VMClite in the Phone and Modem section, the software loaded, ran, and connected to the internet. Unfortunately, the XP computer refused to use the connection to connect to the internet. It was happy enough to connect to a standard serial modem when I initiated sharing, but refused to connect to the vodem when it was swapped over and the same settings used.
The installed Vodem modem is all you require to set up Vista to operate in sharing mode. DO NOT let the VMC software run and control your vodem and if it tries to run when you reboot, cancel it. The downside of this is that you can't monitor your traffic usage, but then you can always register with MyVodafone to keep track through the web.
Once the modem is installed, you need to create a new dial-up connection to control it. The dial-up number in New Zealand is *99***16# with a username of vodafone and a password of vodafone. (see postscript if your are reading this from another country). The security smarts are in the simcard within the vodem which work out who you are and the traffic charges. Save the username and password and make it accessible to everyone who uses the computer. In the 'sharing' tab, tick the internet sharing boxes to allow other users to connect to it and finally make the connection auto dial without requiring username or password. that's it.
It should be possible to do the same thing with XP though when I tried it, the VMC program seemed to run and connect as soon as the machine rebooted even though I'd turned off auto loading of the program. Again the important thing is to only have the modem driver installed and prevent the vodem from being controlled by the Vodafone software.
postscript. The intial installation did created a dial-up connection which is where I obtained the dial-up number and username (I guessed the password). Why this connection wouldn't work I couldn't figure out, but the solution proved to be in deleting it and creating the new one from scratch.
Tony Chandler
23 October 2007