How to share internet among 2 android devices?

Question

I have in my possession a G1 and a new Android tablet (the Kmart one, the Gentouch). The Gentouch uses wifi to access the internet; the G1 uses a T-Mobile cellular connection. Ideally, I'd like to somehow cause that G1 to emit a wifi access point, so that whenever the G1 and the Gentouch are in close proximity, the Gentouch can piggyback off the G1's internet connection and reach the internet itself. Assuming I am willing/able to root both devices if necessary, how would I accomplish such a task?

Answer 1

There are apps on the market that can do this on most rooted phone. Barnacle is pretty popular for this and people seem to like it. Actually the first review for the app is someone doing exactly what you want to do just with an Ipad. Just search for "barnacle wifi hotspot" on the Market, good luck.

Answer 2

For completeness, now I got the tablet to connect to adhoc:

wpa_supplicant.conf edit


ctrl_interface=/data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=1010
update_config=1
ap_scan=2

#added ap_scan=2 so it scans all networks including ad-hoc
#this causes priorities to be ignored below.  
#it just goes through the networks one by one.  
# this can really slow things down.  
#I recommend putting a simple file like this with the ad-hoc network at the top
#on your sdcard and then just copy to /data/misc/wifi directory when needed. 
#I sure someone could write a script to backup current and swap in adhoc one.


#added my ad-hoc network.  
network={
   ssid="YourSSID"
   key_mgmt=NONE
#wep_key0 only needed if you use wep.  "" if ascii / no "" if hex
   wep_key0="1234567890123"
#mode=1 needed to indicate ad-hoc
   mode=1
   priority=25
}

#normal access point network
network={
   ssid="exampleAP"
   key_mgmt=NONE
   auth_alg=OPEN SHARED
   wep_key0=01234567890123456789012345
   priority=8
}

Answer 3

I ran into the same problem with my archos tab not being able to see an adhoc wireless connection. I was able to effectively connect my unrooted archos (running 2.2) and my rooted droid (also on 2.2) via the bluetooth tether option of the "wireless tether for root" app. To be clear this allowed me to access the web on my tab through my phones 3g connection. I wasn't able to get it to work when the tab was on 2.1, but I had read about others that had.