Help!! Question about wireless internet and WiFi

[ChangoMan]

Hello all,

I have some questions about wireless internet. According to my sister, the college i am going to is wireless internet compatible. She said that if you have a certain card in your laptop, you can get on the internet anywhere on campus.

Is such a thing possible? Is this the same as wireless internet at home or WiFi at a coffe shop?

If i get this kind of NIC for my laptop, will it work for WiFi or a wireless home network as well?

Thanks for the help!!

[ZeratulsAvenger]

It is possible, but you have to make sure you buy a compatible wireless card. The most common are B and G, G is backwards compatible with B, and then there is A which I think is sort of a stand alone one I think. Never really caught on I guess. The wireless on your campus should be just like a home network, just with devices to extend the area of the access.

[QuickSilver]

Just make sure you find out for sure what type your college is using before spending any money.

[kram 2.0]

It's best to go with 802.11g compliant Wireless card if you can - I have a IEEE 802.11b card in right now, and I'm missing out on the G capabilities. I can travel around anywhere and practically find some type of WI-FI signal - at the airports, there's a pay service, at Starbucks, there's my TMobile account. I guess you can go anywhere - the nice thing with the Windows XP Professional Operating system is that it is easy to configure - WinXP Home, 2000, and 98SE are good to go too, though.

kram

[ChangoMan]

So if i get the 802.11 G card and put it into my laptop's expansion slot, then i can get wireless internet at home, campus, and WiFi?

Will I need any kind of special software for any of these?

Thanks!!

[monster]

http://www.homenethelp.com/

Maybe that will give you a better understanding of wireless.

[glc]

Originally Posted by ChangoMan So if i get the 802.11 G card and put it into my laptop's expansion slot, then i can get wireless internet at home, campus, and WiFi? Will I need any kind of special software for any of these? Thanks!!

You will be able to get wireless Internet anywhere you can log on to a compatible access point, campus will be no problem but public Wi-Fi may require an account or a credit card unless it's a freebie. Example: Starbucks requires a T-Mobile account, or you can pay by the hour. At home, this would require you have a wireless router or access point connected to your existing Internet service. No special software required - XP comes with zero configuration wireless and 98SE/ME/2K will simply need the card utility installed.

[ChangoMan]

Ok i think i understand a lot better now. Thanks for all the help!!

[Grimey742]

Don't forget that most colleges with WiFi require you to have their WEP key, which is an alpha-numeric generated key that lets you have access to the wireless network. This key is usually found on your college's computer or iat computing website. Once you get to college you should obtain this key and put it in the wireless network connections properties.
Your school should have detailed instructions on all this at their website somewhere.

[ChangoMan]

I just got the wireless notebook card I ordered. It is from Microsoft and is a 802.11g.

I plugged it into my laptop and started using the wizard. It detected my router, which is a Netgear MR814v2, but when I tried connecting, it wouldn't let me. It said the WEP wasn't correct or something, but the thing is, that feature was disabled under the router's configuration.

I enabled the WEP and generated many keys, but is still said the same thing.

Is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks for the help!

[glc]

AlwaysUp is going to scream at me, but my suggestion is return the Microsoft card and get a Netgear - to match your router. My experience is Microsoft wireless equipment only plays nice with other Microsoft equipment. Netgear should play well with most other brands.

[nowiamnothing]

I have a Microsoft wireless network card in my PC and a Negear router, I have no problems with it?

I used to have a Belkin wireless card in my computer, that thing was total crap.

[ZeratulsAvenger]

I don't think glc is saying that it can't work, but NetGear is a good manufacturer and you should have no problems with any of their products.

On the problems, you could try reseting the Router to Defaults and reconfiguring. May sound crazy, but sometimes a fresh start is all ya need.

[ChangoMan]

Well, I really don't want to go through the trouble of returning it because i got it off the internet.

I'll probably just try resetting the router and see how that goes.

Will the card work for WiFi or the internet at my school?? I really just need it to work at my school.

Thanks!!

[glc]

It should, as long as you can configure it for the connection and it's a 802.11b or g access point with compatible security. There's really no reason why it won't work with your Netgear router, something just isn't set properly. The problems with crossbranding are usually different terminology for the same thing (standards ARE standards), and if you try to get manufacturer's support, the 2 manufacturers will be pointing their fingers at each other.

[ChangoMan]

I guess I'll just try messing with it and hope I get lucky.

Thanks for the help all!

[ChangoMan]

All right! I got it to work! I just got an update to my router and now it is working fine. Thanks for the help all!

[monster]

Originally Posted by ChangoMan All right! I got it to work! I just got an update to my router and now it is working fine. Thanks for the help all!

Congrats ChangoMan! =) Im glad to hear everything is working smoothly.