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Connect Android phone to Mac OS X's Internet Sharing

01.04.2011
A redhead instant messaged me. She was in a vacation home on the Massachusetts coast. "Fleishman," she typed breathily. "You're the only one with the answer." "Spill the Java applets, toots," I tapped out with one hand while knocking back ban-cha tea with the other. A pause. Then a stream of words. "My Android phone won't connect to my MacBook Pro's software base station. My husband doesn't understand. I need your help." I like a challenge. I rolled up my hemp-cotton sleeves. "Lady, I charge 128 bits a day, plus expenses." She agreed.

I had a mystery to unravel: why couldn't her Android phone connect to a feature that's been in Mac OS X for years, and which she'd used successfully before with other devices? What was unique about either the phone or the setup? And could I work through the technical answer in the style of 1930s pulp-fiction detective?

I checked out her problem. It seemed legit enough. She set up password-protected access to her Mac over Wi-Fi. The moll typed in the same password into her Android phone. No dice. After turning encryption off on the Mac, the Page-and-Brin bruiser from Mountain View managed to hook up just fine. Neat. But too neat. What were Sergei and Larry up to? Could this Wi-Fi shamus sort it out?

If you want the inside skinny without a cherry on top, , where I spell it out in black and white.

Apple's software base station makes its home in the Sharing system preference pane in the Internet Sharing service. The notion--and apparently some of the code--dates back more than a decade to when this feature was first added to Mac OS 8. The feature disappeared in Mac OS X, but was restored due to popular demand.

Software base station is showing its age. Even though Macs have shipped for years with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi available, Internet Sharing only uses the weak-kneed 2.4 GHz band, prone to congestion and interference. (Also, a mean drunk. Never get into a fight at 2.4 billion cycles a second after insulting WEP's robustness in a crowded RF environment.)