Newbie Needs Help!

If I have a laptop with a wireless network card (intel 1945 a/b/g) and want to access the internet from a hotel lobby hot spot. What must I do to get the internet running? Sorry for my stupid question here, but I have no idea what to do to connect a laptop with a wireless internet access. Any reply would be very helpful. Thanks

 

Just click on the card in the system tray and have it find the available networks.

 

Well, when you start up the computer with wireless enabled, it should start searching for access points when Intel/PROSet wireless starts up (the icon looks kind of like a little oriental fan down in the taskbar). When it opens up it should present you with a list of names of all the access points it can see. Select the one provided by the hotel and click "Connect". Just ask the front desk what the name of the access point is to make sure you select the right one (if there is more than one) and if it is a secured network they will provide you with a password.

 

It's easy as that? And it's free?

 

Depends on the hotel, but most of them are now.

 

How about if I want to get an access almost everywhere? Do i have to sign up at verizon or something?

 

to get access anywhere you have to have an aircard, and a service plan.

 

where do I get all of those stuff? sorry but Iam really a newbie to networking things.

 

You can sign up with most cell phone carriers to get that. The only problem is that most of them only offer PCMCIA cards, not Express cards. You'll have to sign up for a data plan, and they'll give you a PCMCIA card to put in your laptop. This will basically act as a wificard, but instead of picking up your local network, it will pick up the cellular network. Something like this: http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/ce...&source=INC230059&zip=73102&_requestid=108151

If you are still planning on ordering a dell, I know that some of them offer a verizon or cingular card internally, so you don't have to deal with that mess.

 

Yes, you would have to get an aircard (if you don't already have EVDO hardware built in to your notebook) from someone like Wirefly, or your wireless service provider may even carry it themselves. A lot of wireless providers like Verixon and Sprint provide this service. If you get in touch with them then I'm sure they would be more than happy to help youwork out the details.

EDIT: Drat! SG beats me to the punch again. Good work, Super Mod!