Wireless LAN help.

[Jay]

I've just been helping another member here choose a good laptop, we've got the brand range nailed down but she needs wireless as well.

My question is this: Since I've never set up a wireless connection before, and have almost 0 experience with wireless in general, would a normal ethernet card do the trick?

Any help is appreciated.

[Iekleane]

Nope. You would need a wireless card but alot of the newer laptops have one built in.

[belladonna]

thanks jay! ummm yeah jay is helping me because i need a laptop for college next year and i need a wireless card so that i could be completely portable... please help me! i can't find any online that have them built in :/

[Iekleane]

Gateway has a few models with built in wireless cards.

[Jay]

Nope. You would need a wireless card but alot of the newer laptops have one built in.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I just thought it would be wise to check anyway.

As I said, I have zero experience rgarding wireless LANs, so if you PM me (or just write it here) on how to set up the wifi then you'd make another belladonna very happy. :D

[Iekleane]

If your looking for models with wireless look for "Centrino mobile technologies." then it has built in wireless but if your talking about setting up a wirless netowrk then I can't really help you there.

[Jay]

but if your talking about setting up a wirless netowrk then I can't really help you there.

Bah. Oh well, someone will come along I guess.

[Y.T.]

Sorry, but what about reading something on the web before
clogging fora with such solicitations.
Of course you need a wifi card.. normal
ethernet card is not a radio...

So it's RTFM !

[Iekleane]

I wouldn't really suggest getting wireless though.

[Kos]

thanks jay! ummm yeah jay is helping me because i need a laptop for college next year and i need a wireless card so that i could be completely portable... please help me! i can't find any online that have them built in :/

Dell, HP, and Apple all offer WiFi; VoodooPC has it as an option as well. Another approach might be to contact the IT department at the university/college you will be attending and ask them for recommendations (at least for PC Card / USB WiFi adapters) - they might even offer deals through the campus bookstore on some laptops.

Also, I'd recommend looking into the campus WiFi connectivity - some places may only have a few hotspots, others might have the whole campus proper covered.

[Jay]

SNIP

"Clogging the fora"? It's ONE topic, about ONE question, and frankly it's easier to ask around on here than to search the internet...

And Kos, I wouldn't trust Dell as far as I could spit it. :p

[freeradicals]

USB wireless cards are cheap as chips and easy to use, So if theres a laptop that she likes without wifi, you can always get the usb stick.

[belladonna]

ok... the school which i'll probably have to go to is just down the street from my house so i'll check there....

[sharpie]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1276145,00.asp

Thats the article I used when setting up my parent's computer for wireless. The only time I had trouble setting up the network was when I had to match the type of security for their computer and mine. If you have trouble just let me know and I'll try to help you out.

[ChronoSphere]

Most laptops have wifi cards built in, if you do happen to get a laptop without one, you should get a PCMCIA Wifi card (they go into slots right into the notebook, instead of having a dangling usb cable and device.)

As for the setup of the network, you dont' have to do a thing if you're going to connect to your Uni's wifi access points. You will have to get instructions on how to do it from them, since every Uni runs things a bit differently. However, if you want to setup your own wifi access point at your apt (if you're living off campus, if you're on campus, I wouldn't recommend it because it'll overlap with your Uni's) I can certainly help you with that. God knows I've done it too many times :P

[Anders]

You can go to any electronics store and pick up a wireless networking board or card for your laptop. I would recommend the USB kind personally. I'm using one on my home desktop right now and it works just fine.

To be quite honest, the hardest part of setting up a wireless connection is actually logging on to the network. Wireless areas in most universities I know are limited to certain floors of the library and maybe one or two dining halls. While they may try to expand the signal radius to cover more areas on campus, you might not be able to get a good signal in the only place you can set down your laptop.

The real fun part with wireless internet is getting the damn thing to work. You can spend hours trying to figure out why you have a strong signal yet can't open Firefox or Explorer. My advice is to take your laptop to a computer help desk right away when you move into your college. Have them configure your computer for you. Even with the wireless still keep a short 3 foot cable in your bag just in case.

[DJEvan]

Jay, i'll send you a PM soon enough with the basics of setting up a network. I work in a laptop shop FYI :p

a few models that girls will like (my observation so far) is

Asus M5 and S5 series
Hp's 1000 Series
Acer 3000 Series
Most of the Fujitsu Range
Toshiba Portege series

most that i've mentioned are 12" sub-notes with build in WIFI technology (every machine in my shop has WIFI, even the Desktops) so as long as you got for a more well known brand you'll be safe.