Win 8.1 (Surface Pro) connect to multiple Wifi networks (multinet)

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Win 8.1 (Surface Pro) connect to multiple Wifi networks (multinet)

TwoSeven

1359 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 139210 31-Jan-2014 12:45

Hi Folks,

I need to connect my Surface Pro to two Wifi networks concurrently - one is my iPhone (tethered) and the other is my digicam (has built in wifi). I know I can do this using Multinet but I am not sure if this is available in Windows 8.1 yet.

Has anyone experimented with this to find out if it works - if so, how to set it up?

Regards

Software Engineer

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 978050 31-Jan-2014 13:11

There is no way to currently connect to multiple infrastructure/ad-hoc networks in Windows 8.1

You can have a network connection and a wifi direct connection to another device simultaneously or operate a hosted network.

TwoSeven

1359 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 978232 31-Jan-2014 16:37

Hopefully this will be a feature in Windows 8.2 then. I know there was some work done in MS research on multinets, but it appears not to have made it into production yet.

Given the number of devices that are appearing on the market that use Wifi in that manner, one would think it would be useful to implement support.

Software Engineer

sidefx

3285 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 985

Trusted

# 978245 31-Jan-2014 16:49

Hmm, I wouldn't hold your breath...

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/virtualwifi/

(VirtualWiFi [(previously known as MultiNet)] is an old project, and we started working on it in 2002. We are not actively working on this project since 2006, and will not be supporting this software at Microsoft Research. Thanks for your interest. However, the software and code will still be available for you to play around with. Also, check out the supported VirtualWiFi OIDs in Windows 7.)

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 978267 31-Jan-2014 17:42

Are you sure your cam doesn't do WiFi Direct? If so, then what you want will work in 8.1

TwoSeven

1359 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 978347 31-Jan-2014 20:36

I can connect the camera to the surface using Wifi, however, so far as I have tried I lose connectivity with my Internet Wifi connection.

Point to point wifi connections are becoming commonplace now - can't really keep disconnecting from the internet every time I want to connect a device.

I thought about setting the surface pro as a hotspot but that does not solve the problem. Only thing I can think of is to see if it is possible to set it as a wireless repeater instead.

Software Engineer

lokeynz

92 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

# 978351 31-Jan-2014 21:05

If the USB port is free you could add another wireless adapter?
http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=406894

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 978359 31-Jan-2014 22:02

Is point to point different than WiFi direct? I have my Surface on WiFi for internet as well as connected over WiFi to my TV using Miracast

TwoSeven

1359 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 978362 31-Jan-2014 22:16

Yip, its different. Basically, to connect to my digicam I have to open the network settings and select the cameras wifi. It comes up as 'limted' in the connection - I can then use the "camera app" to access the camera via wifi. However, to access the internet, I then have to open network settings and choose my wifi network which loses connectivity to the camera.

Update: I just did a scan for the camera using the add device menu but it did not show up.

Software Engineer

nathan

5133 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1435

Trusted

Microsoft

# 978411 1-Feb-2014 08:26

so I guess by point to point you mean Adhoc.

Are they really becoming common place now? I'm not sure, not something I"ve come across before, but my devices use WiFi Direct. If you're camera support WiFi Direct this scenario would just work.

Multinet was never developed out because the benefit of connecting to multiple WIFI networks never really bore out to be useful. Further there are some serious security implications if such a scheme were allowed. If the functionality is truly needed, multiple WIFI nics are needed, someone else pointed out a low cost one.

TwoSeven

1359 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 164

# 978455 1-Feb-2014 10:39

I checked the device and it was using 802.11n on channel 11. Apart from my digicam, I was looking at a TV tuner (which is also wifi) - it seems it is a competing standard to Bluetooth where a large volume of traffic.

I am loathe to refer to it as wifi-direct as said vendors don't seem to be implementing that as one would expect.

Also, if memory serves me correctly, windows does not support receiving a WiFi-Direct broadcast - which makes things a bit difficult since it is the camera that is doing the broadcasting.

I see multiple Wifi connections as no more insecure as having multiple network connection or multiple VPN connection all of which have been around for quite some time.

It would be nice to be able to drop a virtual adaptor onto the machine and be able to share the hardware. Especially since the surface pro only has one USB port for adding another wifi port.

On the other side of the coin, I am surprised that the digicam vendor didn't design the unit to connect to existing wifi infrastructure - it would have probably been easier.

Software Engineer