Child Item

Site Totals

61432 Questions Answered 270 Categories

Two questions, trying to pick up free wireless....

First question, I just got a new Mini 10 and brought it to work because there is free wireless in our city. My access manager is showing it but no bars so I'm assuming the signal is extremely bad where I'm trying it. When I try to connect it says "Failed to Connect", would the low signal be the reason? When I try to connect thru the dell connection it shows the signal as being about 40-50% and when I hit connect it does nothing at all. Any ideas here?

Second question is I have a um150 that I use to connect at home on my desktop (also now using on my netbook), I was thinking I'd like to get a router so that I can be on the desktop and the hubby can play with the net book if he wants....can I do this and if so, can you recommend a cheap and EASY router that will do the trick? Thanks for your help!!!

Comments

JB21386

andreah wrote:
First question, I just got a new Mini 10 and brought it to work because there is free wireless in our city. My access manager is showing it but no bars so I'm assuming the signal is extremely bad where I'm trying it. When I try to connect it says "Failed to Connect", would the low signal be the reason? When I try to connect thru the dell connection it shows the signal as being about 40-50% and when I hit connect it does nothing at all. Any ideas here?

Second question is I have a um150 that I use to connect at home on my desktop (also now using on my netbook), I was thinking I'd like to get a router so that I can be on the desktop and the hubby can play with the net book if he wants....can I do this and if so, can you recommend a cheap and EASY router that will do the trick? Thanks for your help!!!

It has been my experience that most netbook don't have a very powerful internal wireless card, so the low signal where you are located is probably why you can not connect.

You can do this, yes. They have routers that are made for this (http://www.cradlepoint.com/), but be warned they are not cheap. They are easy to use though.

andreah

So you are saying I can't use any "run of the mill" router like in Walmart, etc? Crud. What about if I went Mifi instead of what I have?

Also, do they sell antennas that could be plugged into the netbook to up the possibilities of picking up the free wifi?

JB21386

andreah wrote:
So you are saying I can't use any "run of the mill" router like in Walmart, etc? Crud. What about if I went Mifi instead of what I have?
Also, do they sell antennas that could be plugged into the netbook to up the possibilities of picking up the free wifi?

Yeah, no go on the "run of the mill" type routers. The reason is you have to have a special kind of router to use it with a 3G modem from Verizon.

You can't really use an antenna, since they wireless card in built into your netbook. You can though purchase external wireless cards that have a better range. I have a Linksys WUSB 100 they seems to work better then the internal build in wireless card on my netbook.

andreah

Ok, I'll try the external card (if it doesn't cost too much!)....and think that maybe when I'm due for my two year new deal I'll look into the Mifi instead of the usb card that I use for my desktop. It's my understanding that the Mifi works as a router?

larrytheG

I thought the mini had internal 3G and you did not need the air card? the cradlepoint router is more flexible than the Mifi in my view but again.. I was under the impression that if you had ONE broadband plan that Verizon would only let you connect one device - a cellular router being a way to use multiple devices to access one plan.

maybe I need some info also.

JB21386

larrytheG wrote:
I thought the mini had internal 3G and you did not need the air card? the cradlepoint router is more flexible than the Mifi in my view but again.. I was under the impression that if you had ONE broadband plan that Verizon would only let you connect one device - a cellular router being a way to use multiple devices to access one plan.

maybe I need some info also.

If you have a mini, or some other device that has internal 3G, then Verizon will only let you connect one device since the 3G is built into that device. If you have a 3G modem, you can connection multiple devices if you have something like a cradlepoint router that allows the connect to be shared.

The MiFI acts as both. You can use it like a USB 3G modem, or you use it as a stand alone router and connect more then one (I think up to 5) devices to it using it's internal WiFi radio.

andreah1

Yes, you are misunderstanding, my mini just has a regular 802.11 b/g card, NO verizon 3G. I have a verizon wireless usb card (and plan) for my desktop because that's all we can pick up in the country. So, I brought the mini to work in hope of picking up free wireless but it's just shy of being able to get it, I only show one bar on my verzion access manager and on the windows wireless software it shows that it's not strong enough to connect. When I use the um150 usb card I have right now there isn't any better pick up. Which is why I was looking for a way to boost the strength of the mini to pick up the free wireless....will an external usb wireless network adaptor (say an "n") have a better chance at picking it up?

Also, looks like the Mifi won't work at home either to use as a router, it has no place for an antenna that I can see and I need it at home to be able to get a decent signal. Which is why I like my um150 at home as I can attach a larger antenna to it, works great then.

larrytheG

yes.. you can use the MiFI for five devices connecting via WiFi but not five devices like USB modems. right?

so if you have a mini and a USB dongle modem... and one account.. a MiFI won't help that (if you still want to use the air card) but a Cradlepoint router WILL - right? Of course if a computer has Wi-FI and CAN connect to the MiFI.. then why use an aircard dongle anyhow? unless of course you've got two computers trying to use the same plan but in different locations to use the MiFI together?

My UM-175 not sits uselessly on the window sill next to my MiFi that two laptops can connect to but when one of those laptops goes on the road - it either takes the MiFI or leaves it and one computer no longer has access..

right?

how do you fix that problem without the two computers able to use two different devices that access the same data account?

andreah1

The router situation I'm only looking for at home and don't want to spend 200 bucks for that as I really don't need anything that great, do you think a cheap netgear mobile broadband router will work well enough? We're talking mainly sitting on the couch with the netbook and not having to drag the dongle along with me. If I got the mifi it would replace the dongle, I don't want both. BUT, like I said, the mifi wouldn't work for me because I need to be able to put an external antenna (the one I have is about 2 ft. tall) on it. So, what if I got a netgear mobile broadband router, kept my dongle (as the main connection) and used the netbook in the living room (it has a wireless card so I could recognize the router, right?)...would that work? Boy, I'm feeling pretty darn brainless at this point, ha ha!!!!

I do still plan on looking for a "n" external wireless usb adaptor that I could use at work to hopefully pick up the free wireless...

JB21386

larrytheG wrote

how do you fix that problem without the two computers able to use two different devices that access the same data account?

Can't fix this problem. Verizon won't allow you to have two 3G devices on the same data account.

So if the two deivces are not around eachother, a MiFi won't do much good. The MiFi has both internal 3G and Wifi..so its basically like a wireless router, it allows you to share the connection with multiple devices, that are in range of it.

larrytheG

she says that her mini can't pick up sufficient WiFi signal at work but I also though I heard her say that the USB would not either (was that with or without the ext antenna?)

if you have a wi-fi signal but cannot lock on.. will this help?

http://www.pepwave.com/products/surf/

Child Item