Anyone know about Wireless internet??

[Bill Ladd]

I gut me a laptop & a card thing to pick up the WI-FI signals, like when I'm in a hotel, coffee shop, etc.....Ya see lots of cafe places advertize WI-FI access & usually it's free at hotels now. But, I go to Starbucks last night to try to get online for the first time & a Starbucks page comes on asking me to sign up for a wireless account for $29.99 a month! I assumed since we were buying coffee, etc & were customers you could get online free? Anyone know?
Then I went to Barnes & Noble cafe & the same thing happened....only they only wanted $19.99 a month! Do these places expect me to get a different monthly plan for each coffee house?? Seems really stupid.....Maybe this is a new gimmick, or maybe I don't know what I'm doing yet?

 

[Tony (NC)]

So I'm already paying for the account. But when I travel, the hotels usually have their own page come up first. I guess it's just like a giant pop up or something. But once I get past the hotel's propoganda page, I can connect with no problems. There are still a lot of hotels that have hi speed connections, so I always carry a CAT5 cable too. I would think Starbucks or B&N would let you set up for free just to keep you coming back.

 

[Bill Ladd]

n/t

 

[Anonymous]

That mainly dealt with Hotels. Even if they offer free Wi-Fi, the zone that you can utilize it is probably only going to be in the lobby. If you want to use it elsewhere, it either isn't available, or you have to pay. It also stated that at one hotel, the author was able to sit just outside his room, on the balconey overlooking the lobby, and have Wi-Fi connectivity, even though it's only listed as being available in the lobby.

I wouldn't know about Starbucks or Barnes & Noble, as we don't have B&N where I live (to small of a city), and the only Starbucks is inside a grocery store.

I just bought a laptop myself, mainly to take with me to the library when I'm doing research, and to easy the demand on computer time here at home, as my other half, the oldest two boys, and myself, all love to be on the pc.

In my local area, I've heard that at least one of the local McNasty's (McDonald's) offers free Wi-Fi, and that one of the better restaurants has it as well. I think the signal strength at that restaurant is so strong that you don't even have to go inside, just pull up into the parking lot, and you're good to go.

I'll give you a tip:
This is how hackers do their thing. Have someone drive your vehicle around. Make sure your laptop is up and running. You see a little icon on the clipboard or system tray (the little box where the day/clock is) that indicates signal strength. You may even be able to click on that icon and bring the full program up, to make it easier to see. Just drive along and look for signal, using the laptop to "prospect" with. When you get signal, see if you can access the internet with it. Depending on where you're getting signal from, you may or may not be able to access the internet with it.

Hackers will actually hack into just about any network, gain internet access, then hack into whatever computer network through the internet. This makes it hard to trace where the hack is coming from.

I seriously doubt you'll be doing exactly that.

You might want to ask around where you work, and some other friends, if any of them are laptop users, and see if they know where you can get mobile Wi-Fi access free.

HH from Allen in MI

 

[Bill Ladd]

I think all these signs on these cafe's/coffee places advertising Wi-FI is a big gimmick. They make it sound like "come inside & get online" free. Then when you do buy a coffee & sit down, up comes a Starbucks page saying "yea you can get on...for just $29.99 a month! Or: "Get a day pass for only $9.99!" What a joke uke:
I just got an e-mail that says Panera Bread it's free & that there are articles out there about how evil coffee places are for charging prices like that. So they will lose customers as I won't be back now.......

 

[Gatehider]

Bill,

All these places ( bookstores and coffee shops) started out free to get people coming in. Once they had the traffic coming in to use for free, they changed the rules to pay as you go or monthly plans. I personally think this is a mistake as I have noticed alot less folks bringing their laptops into these places now. I guess they might switch it back to free if the stores decide they are losing money from the coffee and munchies that they used to get from the wireless freeload crowd. BTW....you can easily set up a wireless network in your house for very short bucks. Just make sure to make it secure or you will have geeks with laptops sitting in the road outside your house!! Good Luck! GH

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

What is the approximate range around your house when you are set up with a wireless router?

 

[Bill Ladd]

people's blogs & various articles online blasting ScarBuck$ & those places for doing this....I see the signs on the door inviting you in, & I buy a laptop & it was a surprise! I have been reading how all the smaller "mom & pop" coffee houses are offering free access to lure laptoppers away from chains like 'Buck$.....
I was forwarded a site listing all the free WI-FI spots in the area. It looks like Panera Bread is gonna be my place now

 

[Bill Ladd]

but probably depends on how good the router is. I didn't even go into Scarbuck$ to test this last night....I got signal in the parking lot & found out what they were charging....
I have a cousin in a condo who got wireless & is "borrowing" it from one of his neighbors for nuthing My music buddy has it at his house & has it locked out with some kinda long password so none of his neighbors can use his....

 

[Nick A]

and show free and pay sites in whatever area you input. I strongly recommend the jiwire software for secure surfing. Your wireless network utility should show the available networks. Panera Bread stores have free access, and many smaller independent coffeeshops do as well. Also, schools and public libraries often have free access, so you can access the internet if you just park in a school parking lot!

 

[Bill Ladd]

n/t

 

[Anonymous]

Or maybe my wireless router at home is a crappy one. Last year, when I got my first laptop (I swapped some spare 128 MB SDRAM RAM cards for a used laptop), I had the router set up with my desktop, in a little cubby-hole of an office on the back side of my bedroom. I would usually sit in the living with the laptop, watching my twin sons, surfing, browsing for recipes, internet research, yadda yadda yadda. I would usually sit about 50' or so, as the crow flies, from where the router was. If I leaned back in the recliner enough, about 4 inches, I would loose the signal.

Of course, that could have been the wireless antenna card that I had in the laptop itself. I know I couldn't get any signal outside the house. That might be because of the aluminum siding I have on my house.

I know have a much better, more up-to-date laptop, with wireless built in. I hooked up my old wireless router, and got a signal from it as soon as the thing started transmitting. I haven't tried testing the limits of my network range yet, although I have taken the laptop to the basement while working with some photos at my little photo lab, but that's only about 15' from the router, straight-line.

Heck, I know I can get WiFi access at work, but I'd have to take my laptop into the dining room, and my Chef doesn't even like us out in the dining room during business hours, much less away from our stations, or farting around with a laptop while we're working. Of course, that doesn't stop him from doing it.........

HH from Allen in MI

 

[-=john=-LexKy]

hi bill

any populated area is carpeted with open wifi routers, becuse they are that way by default unless someone configures them otherwise. You can simply drive or walk around and watch the open connections. These are mostly set up by teenagers. At a friend's house the other night we got 8 dfferent connections. I always see one or two. Big cities have hotspot maps online to indicate this coverage.

But back to free wifi. Many cities have it and most public libraries have it. Even my airport has it. Most college campuses have some form of it.

Hotels vary a lot. At one place I stayed in Pittsburgh it worked in my room but not the lobby or a conference room unless you paid.

hh

-=j=-