A few questions about wireless

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Framar

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
26,420
Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
So, now I have this spiffy laptop which is set up for wireless and my Interweb connection is in the cold, cold living room. How do i get the Interwebs from the cold, cold living room to the nice cozy warm bedroom?

What kind of gizmo do I need to buy?

Also - I hear there is a wireless connection floating around the building my wherein my shop resides. How do I find it? Walk around with the laptop in my arms? Is it like the one or two places where FM comes in to my radio?

I am such a dinosaur, please forgive these idjit questions.

And thank you in advance.....
 
Bottom right corner of your screen in the toolbar is a scale (bar graph) showing how strong the connection is. If you are not connected it should show a yellow/orange splash on top of the scale. Click the scale and it should show available connections and when you click on one it will give the connect option.


If you want a wireles router for the house I can give you one but you will have to wait till next week for me to ship it off.
 
You will also need to be sure your wireless is turned on at the laptop. Switch or button depending on the model of computer.
 
I did just discover that there was an on/off switch for the wireless. When I was exploring with it yesterday I also found a listing for what looked like a connection - but I haven't found any bars yet (but it is surmised that the wireless connection may be coming from the strip club next door, but I don't believe that would be the kind of bar you are referring to....).

It has so many new things I am having a ball discovering everything. If you have a spare router that would be great! Oh Ricky!!!
 
Click on the name of the connection you discovered. If it is secured it will show a lock on it and you will need a key code. If it is unsecured you can click and it will have a button appear that says connect and you just click it.

If you want me to send you one for the home network it is easy to set up. Shouldn't take you more than about seventeen hours. Just kidding, I talked my mom through the connection over the phone.

Welcome to the 20th century Lucy, we'll go slow since you aren't ready for the 21st century just yet. How are those chocolate bon bons coming along that you and Ethel are working on.
 
Framar said:
Also - I hear there is a wireless connection floating around the building my wherein my shop resides.
Click to expand...

While you CAN connect to someone else's (unsecured) wireless without permission, IMHO it is at least unethical and possibly illegal. Also, being connected to someone else's network potentially opens you up to their (including anyone else getting a free ride) scrutiny.

As for your own wireless connection, you need a wireless router and some way to connect it to the internet. Many broadband routers have wireless built into them, and some providers will upgrade you for free or small fee, so you wouldn't need anything else. If you have a wired only router you need a standalone wireless router that will plug into your broadband router. There will be a setup routine you need to go through, during which you will want to implement the most robust security option provided. There are myriads of wireless routers available under $100. We have a Cisco/Linksys E1200 that is $50 at Amazon with free shipping if you have a Prime account.
 
OK, I am starting to make sense of this.

Here is another question. One of the reasons I have never bothered with an Internet connection at the shop is the phone jacks are located in impossible places and there is no way that a six foot cord (which has always been stressed - the cord can be NO LONGER than 6') could reach anywhere that I would want a computer to sit.

One of my jacks at the shop is behind a massive wooden storage bin (filled with glass, matboard, stuff) and the cord is a fifty footer running on top of the ceiling tiles.

If I bought Internet service, then could I set up a wireless router there?

Not that this is in my budget yet, not planning on using it for a POS, just thought it would be fun to be able to grumble during the day.....
 
Framar said:
...(which has always been stressed - the cord can be NO LONGER than 6')
Click to expand...

What cord? By whom? Ethernet can be up to 300' without a repeater. You wouldn't want to use non-twisted pair telephone extension line too long, but even that I've used longer than 6'.

Framar said:
If I bought Internet service, then could I set up a wireless router there?
Click to expand...

What kind of internet service are you talking about? If you are talking about Dial-up, I'm not aware of a current wireless solution, although there may be some way to do it. DSL, which arrives at your location over regular phone lines, should be able to be installed just about anywhere. As far as the viability of the signal, that will depend on distance and what kind of wall there are.
 
Mar, you can "connect the internet" to that hidden out of reach phone jack. As long as you can also plug the power adapter of the router in near the phone jack you should be good to go. The router can sit on top of the cabinet, it really doesn't have to be "convenient" to you personally. It's liike a mini radio. It only has to be convenient to power and phone jacks... And like Dave said the phone cord can be longer than 6', unless that is your landlord's rules.

If I were setting my router somewhere inconveneint, like the top of a cabinet, I would use extra long cords, power and phone, so that if I needed to jigger with the router physically, ie after a power bump or in case it died from a power surge, I could move the router to where it was easy to work on or replace, then just tuck the extra wires behind the cabinet...

If you are gonna buy a router, n is the most current wireless protocol or standard. Broadcasts the farthest and cleanest than a b or g. But all are good enough for a shop system. IMO
 
There is a wirless adapter for dial up. I most likely have one that I purchased about 8 years ago. I'll try to think of the name of it but it worked well. Dial up is what doesn't work well.
 
OMG!!!!!

I found a wireless network and I am on The Grumble and I am at my SHOP!!!

Oh happy day!

And, oddly enough, when I fired up the new browser, the homepage was already set to The Grumble.

Chuckle!
 
Hahaha.... don't take my laughing too serious. This is really a noob-story.... I love this people who found new possibilities en things.... Any network would lead you to the Grumble when you adjusted the Grumble as your homepage.... We need to do a drink together lady! ;)
 
I am a little saddened that you got on-line so easily. I had this mental image of you going into the strip club to ask them for their router's password :) I could so see you at the bar asking the bartender for "the password, I need the password..." :)

Hmm, harkening back to the speakeasy and prohibition days maybe a good password for a bar would be a play on "shave and a haircut, two bits" :)
 
If you decide to "go legit" and get your own router, even though you COULD put it on top of the cabinet, etc., I would advise locating your modem and router in a place that is not too inconvenient. Every now and then the service will "go down" and you have to power these devices off and then restart them to reestablish the DSL connection to the internet. My devices are mounted on the wall right under my desk, yet I still cuss anytime I have to reboot them.
:cool: Rick
 
Sounds like where my jacks are at the shop - one behind a ton of stuff and the other on the wall under a desk behind 43 piles of stuff.
 
Ack - now I have the G on Firefox and I can't see where to make it my Homepage. Are homepages different in Windoze 7?
 
Real easy,

Options, options, general, when starting....


As to the "reboot" issue, just put a power bar, surge protector in reach and the router can be whereever you want it to be. You don't have to be able to access the router to turn it off, just have to be able to access the power to it :) (provided it has a "hard switch".)
 
Framar said:
Sounds like where my jacks are at the shop - one behind a ton of stuff and the other on the wall under a desk behind 43 piles of stuff.
Click to expand...


Mar the "old man's" clothing store just closed. Mr Hooper retired (Always reminded me of Sesame Street :) ). When the new shop was moving in they had to rewire the building. He only had 2 outlets in the whole shop :) One for his cash register the other for his police scanner :) He ran his A/C on an extension cord and the fire marshall always looked the other way :)
 
Before they rewired several years back, my shop was like Mr. Hooper's. No three-prong plugs, old fashioned fuse box in what we affectionately refer to as "Freddie's Basement."

I could not even plug in the tacking iron alongside the mounting press (which was the only modern wall outlet).
 
My old space had 3 prong outlets, but when I opened the outlet to put in my X-10s the wiring was the old black coated 2 wire set up. When I plugged in my UPS the unit said "wiring fault" and wouldn't work. The landlord had just gone through the building and updated the plugs, left the wiring the same....

The over head fluorescents were the same. That wiring with the crumbling insulation, I was shocked to not find the old porcelain insulation tubes...

I always think back fondly about that location, but I am lucky it didn't burn down on me :) The computer rebooted multiple times a day, the circuits tripped a lot, usually when the drymount vacuum was running and the fuse box was in the back of a dark cellar with a very low ceiling... And the only customer of the day would usually show up when I was in the cellar :) You could hear then walking around above and have to make a dash for the curcuit box and then get out before they left :)
 
OK, I give up. I am on Firefox with Windoze 7. How do I set my HOMEPAGE to the Grumble - it keeps coming up Firefox Google. Grrrrrrr...... :nuts:
 
Framar said:
OK, I give up. I am on Firefox with Windoze 7. How do I set my HOMEPAGE to the Grumble - it keeps coming up Firefox Google. Grrrrrrr...... :nuts:
Click to expand...

Bob Doyle said:
Real easy,

Options, options, general, when starting....
Click to expand...

I'm using FireFox 8.0.

The menu bar is hidden so if I click on the "word Firefox" in the upper left corner the menu that pops down has a choice that says "option"
 
go the grumble, go to the menu, options/options, click the GENERAL tab, and click USE CURRENT. (in the HOME PAGE area) Then save at the bottom.

Mike
 
"The rest of the story."

Finally got around to seeing about setting up the laptop at home. I went to my ISP website to see what was needed and a service chat box popped up unbidden, asking if they could help me. So a few minutes later, after chatting with a nice chap, an upgraded modem will be sent to me for the cost of postage and I can ship the old one back in the same box. Turns out my modem was too old for either a new ethernet connection or wireless.

Cool beans.
 
Amazingly enough, my new modem arrived in the mail yesterday. I fell asleep trying to read all of the instructions but if I have enough nerve I am going to try to set up my new wireless network this evening.

Wish me luck! ;)
 
I did it! I did it!

I am typing this on my laptop from my toasty bedroom!

Of course I had to summon the chat gods from the ISP to clear up a password glitch, and then one of Da Boys walked across the keys - but I am ALL SET!!!

I am so very proud of myself!!!
 
GOLD STAR FOR YOU!
 
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