EVDO vs WIFI with Mac and VM Ware Fusion

jackrodgers · EVDO Addict Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 1131

... May also apply to Parallel

I have been a bit frustrated when I wanted to run Windows XP on my Mac using Fusion and use EVDO since the connection was only working on one platform and disconnecting on the other. Often this disconnect/connect didn't work smoothly.

Since I can switch quickly between Mac and XP and even share files, this interruption made EVDO use not so pleasant.

So, I tried a wifi connection and after 10 minutes of trying to find how to make WIFI work under XP I decided to just try Exploder and see what would happen.

Great! Fusion shares the Mac wifi connection with XP so there is no interruption nor much of anything I have to do. EVDO seems to require that the connection be dropped on one platform before opening on the other when using Fusion.

This is a solid reason for buying a Cradelpoint router since the wifi will smoothly work as you switch windows (with a little w) between XP and OS X.

There was also a problem when using Bootcamp with the EVDO connection. I often had to unplug the usb connection after/before the reboot to get it to work correctly. Wifi should resolve that also.

Patrick_13 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 4

Parallels does not seem to have this issue.

If I start EVDO on the Mac side and then bring up Parallels, Windows picks up the connection just fine. Wifi is the same.

If I swap between connections, there is a momentary "network cable is unplugged" warning in Windows and then the connection works again. It's very quick and seamless and I can swap to or from either one, or hold both open at once.

The only glitch is if I happen to be running a VPN connection in Windows. It will get disconnected when the IP changes.

To be fair, it did take a small bit of tweaking to get Parallels to share the EVDO connection from the Mac. Unlike sharing wifi which just works, there are some sharing settings on the Mac side need to be set once. After that, gold.