Android, XAir Question

[stewblack]

I want to be able to hardwire an android tablet to my X18 desk via the ethernet port.

This works fine with a laptop.

I did some research and purchased this

which I assumed would do the trick.

It didn't. In fact it appeared to do nothing at all. Does anyone have any advice?

[BigRedX]

Do any of the lights on the ethernet socket come on when when everything is plugged in?

 

Can you make this adaptor work with your laptop?

 

What make and model number is your Android Tablet? It simply might not be able to make a network connection via the USB port.

[stewblack]

Yes it all works with the laptop. 

I'll investigate whether the tablets, and  phone I tried are suitable.

Thanks for the reply.

[tauzero]

Here comes the question which I'm sure you'll have anticipated - isn't the wireless connection good enough, or is there some other reason for not using it?

[BigRedX]

In order for the ethernet adaptor to work your Android tablet must be set to USB host mode. Not all Android devices are capable of this.

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, tauzero said:

Here comes the question which I'm sure you'll have anticipated - isn't the wireless connection good enough, or is there some other reason for not using it?

Ah yes. I had a nightmare gig where I could not connect via my external router nor the internal access point. Not to any of my devices nor those of the band members. 

So as a fail safe, and hoping to avoid taking my laptop out, I thought of this option.

 

[stewblack]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

In order for the ethernet adaptor to work your Android tablet must be set to USB host mode. Not all Android devices are capable of this.

Thank you 

[MichaelDean]

Is it worth checking if your phone can connect like that?

[stewblack]

3 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

Is it worth checking if your phone can connect like that?

I have had a go. I discovered not 'USB HOST' but 'OTG' it worked in terms of checking connections and cable - I connected to the internet via the router at home - but did not work vis a vis the router attached to the desk, nor directly into the desk.

I have mobilised an IT contact. I'm beyond my abilities.

[stewblack]

Thank you to everyone who has chipped in to help on this thread.

[BigRedX]

Have you been able to wirelessly connect any of your usual devices to the external router or direct to the X18 since the problematic gig? 

 

Since the wireless connection to the X18 or external router is generally a peer-to-peer rather than a normal network connection I wonder if the network setting have been lost?

 

I would try a wireless connection from a proper computer so you can see the network settings and IP addresses, and then see if these are being carried over to the Android tablet via the ethernet connection.

[Jack]

20 hours ago, stewblack said:

I have had a go. I discovered not 'USB HOST' but 'OTG' it worked in terms of checking connections and cable - I connected to the internet via the router at home - but did not work vis a vis the router attached to the desk, nor directly into the desk.

I have mobilised an IT contact. I'm beyond my abilities.

When you tried at home did you turn the wifi on your phone off? Exactly the kind of thing that I would do would be to plug in a (useless and non working) cable, connect to the internet over wifi and tell myself that the cable works. 

[dave_bass5]

On 19/12/2025 at 15:04, stewblack said:

Ah yes. I had a nightmare gig where I could not connect via my external router nor the internal access point. Not to any of my devices nor those of the band members. 

So as a fail safe, and hoping to avoid taking my laptop out, I thought of this option.

 

Had a couple of similar gigs myself recently, so also got an adapter for LAN. Fortunately im on iOS and it works without issues 

Edited 1 hour ago by dave_bass5

[stewblack]

On 20/12/2025 at 12:32, BigRedX said:

Have you been able to wirelessly connect any of your usual devices to the external router or direct to the X18 since the problematic gig? 

 

Since the wireless connection to the X18 or external router is generally a peer-to-peer rather than a normal network connection I wonder if the network setting have been lost?

 

I would try a wireless connection from a proper computer so you can see the network settings and IP addresses, and then see if these are being carried over to the Android tablet via the ethernet connection.

Yes. It all worked fine as soon as I tried it at home after the gig. I just want to have a fail safe - I can take the laptop it's fine, but I wanted to see if the tablet could be connected. Purely for convenience.

[stewblack]

On 20/12/2025 at 14:31, Jack said:

When you tried at home did you turn the wifi on your phone off? Exactly the kind of thing that I would do would be to plug in a (useless and non working) cable, connect to the internet over wifi and tell myself that the cable works. 

Yeah I did. Tried every conceivable configuration!

[Jack]

9 hours ago, stewblack said:

Yes. It all worked fine as soon as I tried it at home after the gig. I just want to have a fail safe - I can take the laptop it's fine, but I wanted to see if the tablet could be connected. Purely for convenience.

For what it's worth it is technically possible. I have a usb c dock that I normally carry in my laptop bag that works with my tablet. Tablet is a Samsung something or other, router is a mikrotik and the dock is a little ugreen one from Amazon.

 

9 hours ago, stewblack said:

Yeah I did. Tried every conceivable configuration!

Oh well, hope you get it sorted!

[BigRedX]

One more thing to try. These days it shouldn't necessary with most ethernet devices being auto-sensing, but since this is essentially a peer-to-peer wired network it might be worth checking if it can be made to work with an ethernet cross-over cable rather than just a standard patch cable.

[tauzero]

Is the app expecting by default to operate wirelessly? Is there anything in the app settings to make it use a wired connection? And which app are you using?