Microsoft's VirtualWiFi clones your WiFi card

Just to remind all the haters that Google Labs isn't the only research game in town, Microsoft Research has just busted out VirtualWiFi: a bit of software that makes your computer believe a single WiFi card is multiple configurable cards, allowing connections with multiple networks. There are all sorts of applications for this — beyond tricking people into thinking that you have more WiFi cards than them — such as connecting to multiple ad-hoc networks, or getting your internet from a for-pay WiFi subscription and then sharing it over ad-hoc (Engadget does not endorse any such usage of VirtualWiFi and predicts that your laptop will turn into a heap of ash if such usage is attempted). Sounds like fun, no?

[Spyvie @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

I wonder if this would work like the old dial up line aggregation, using it to double the speed of your connection.

[Clinton @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Ooh, WordArt.

[John Doe. @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Cool. So who did they buy it from?

[Paul Miller @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Yeah, I'm really loving that logo... graphic design sure has come a long way in the past 10 years!

[SR @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

#1 Doubt it, it is still one real card.

#3 Good one

[Wes Felter @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

What's even cooler is that FreeBSD has been able to do this for a little while, and it can even put your card in AP mode -- or create multiple virtual APs.

[SR @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

#1 Okay if however there were some software that let you put two cards in your machine and combine that to make your computer think it is one connection, that would be doubling speed especially if each card were on a seperate network with a separate internet connection.

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Way!, Free the Net!!

[morcheeba @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

I think I can do that with my Mac already - I know I can set it to share my airport connection with others. But, I haven't really needed to because I don't use paid access points.

[hajmola @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Good stuff. We have a wireless projector that only works in ad-hoc mode. This software will allow us to connect to both the projector and the internet (wirelessly) simultaneously without the need for an additional network adapter. Nice job, MS Research!

[evo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

I believe that OSX PowerBooks have been able to do this for quite a while now.

[markbowman @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Weak.

"The current version VirtualWiFi does not support networks using Wep or 802.1x."

Great, so its basically 100% worthless except for playing around with at home. Even then you need to disable wep and leave your network completely open to even use this.

[Josh Warner @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

The excellent and cheap Zonet Wireless g USB adaptor (I got mine on NewEgg for $7.99 shipped, after mail-in rebate) comes with the capability to switch from client to AP, and also has support for WPA2, which is not advertised anywhere on NewEgg or even Zonet's site.

Under Windows.

It uses a proprietary configuration utility, but it works great with good reception 50 feet away through steel-lined concrete. So I guess this was possible, just not through the Wireless Zero Configuration utility.

[nial @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

How can this actually work? Say, for example, you're trying to connect to two different networks, each on different channels. Does the radio have to alternate between the two frequencies like crazy? I don't really understand radio technology very well, but there seem to be significant technical hurdles here. And whenever I see the word "virtual" involved, I know that it's never as good as it sounds (virtual memory, virtual reality, etc.).

[BoomBoom @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

A Powerbook can share the internet from ethernet to wifi, wifi to ethernet, dialup to wifi o dialup to ethernet...not wifi to wifi.

[someguy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

#14: The guy who wrote the software gave a talk about it at our school last semester. You're right -- it basically cycles through the different radio channels -- but it includes a lot of tricks and heuristics so that the periodic channel hopping doesn't add a lot of latency or cause a lot of packet drops. One of the most clever things that I remember him talking about was how you can tell the WAP that you're going to power saving mode while you're flipping through the channels, so the WAP will buffer incoming packets for you while you're listening on a different channel.

The presenter demoed it for us, and it was pretty neat. And no, Powerbooks can't do this, and I doubt FreeBSD can.

[James @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Did Microsoft come up with that lovely word art logo? lol

[Morten @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

So, where is the same software for Linux, Mac OS, ... There has to be something similar, MS cannot have invented this...

[jg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

MS haters get over it. Google and Apple can try all they want MS is on top of the game and has been for a while. Everyonce in a while you guys can just recognize a good thing. I'm not a big fan of Apple, but at least I can appreciate their good products like the iPod, the Nano, and the new remote they released. This is a good release from MS.

[Primo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Did anyone notice that source code is provided as well? Source code from Microsoft?!

[John Doe. @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

"MS haters get over it. Google and Apple can try all they want MS is on top of the game and has been for a while."


You mean like those death patches MS put out last week? Yah. MS's got game alright.

[Jamil @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Similar to its old school Word Art logo, Virtual Wifi is a research prototype, homegrown at Microsoft. Similar stuff:

http://research.microsoft.com/research/downloads/default.aspx

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

"You mean like those death patches MS put out last week? Yah. MS's got game alright."
That problem only affects those that have tweaked their system in specific ways. I'm pretty sure the problem has been resolved.

Oh, and anyone who can find a way to attack Microsoft over this (as in, "Who'd they buy it from") is a true and total moron. Lets face it, this research is pretty innovative.
Oh, as to WEP... you shouldn't be using WEP anyhow. I wonder if it can use WPA (much better)

[Nathan Weinberg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:31AM]

Of course, since the source code is provided, any missing features can be developed into the software. Want WPA or WEP? Build it yourself. Microsoft releaseing source code is a pretty nice thing.