It's the worst: you're traveling somewhere with a group of friends and wireless internet access costs an arm and a leg. The last thing each of you want to do is individually fork over $20 a piece for five minutes worth of internet access. Fortunately, there's an easier solution.

Mac OS X has a built-in internet sharing feature that enables you to share the wealth of internet access via an ethernet cable. It's incredibly easy to do. Read on to find out how.

What You’ll Need:

>> Mac with Ethernet Port
>> Ethernet cable

Mac OS X will need to be used as the host computer (the computer actually doing the sharing), but a PC (Windows or Linux) can be used as a connecting client. However, we’ll only be showing how to do the client setup on the Mac.

1. Set up the Sharing

The first step is to set up sharing on the host Mac. Head to System Preferences > Sharing. Once there, click on Internet Sharing in the services list.

In the “Share your connection from” box, select AirPort, then in the “To computers using:” list, select Ethernet. Once you have made these selections, click the small checkbox beside Internet Sharing in the services list to turn on the Internet Sharing.

Once you have done this, connect the two machines via an Ethernet cable (from the Ethernet port on the host to the Ethernet port on the client machine).

2. Set up the client

On the client Mac (the computer you will be sharing the Internet connection with), open System Preferences > Network.

Once there, click on Ethernet and ensure that the “Configure IPv4:” drop-down menu has “Using DHCP” selected. You should also see an IP address listed in the IP Address field.

The Mac should automatically switch over to the Ethernet for the Internet connection, but to help it along, you may consider turning off the AirPort functionality while on the Ethernet connection. This will also help to preserve battery life on a portable Mac.

3. Surf Freely

Both the host and client should now be connected and will be able to use the same Internet connection freely. Pat yourself on the back because you are now helping your travel partners save money. Go team!

 

Follow this article’s author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.