Not at all, I assure you! I just didn’t know what details to include, and didn’t want to bog it all down with TMI. Thank you for step-by-step notes! I haven’t had a chance to go out and do all of this yet. I’m halfway waiting for a good window of time, and halfway scared to try something new.
I love the information age! But I don’t so much like the smart-phone environment. For instance, my music player sometimes shows all of my songs…and sometimes doesn’t. (Google Music Player.) The menu “Show All Songs” isn’t always there, and when it isn’t, I’m hanged if I can make it appear, or find my music list.
Windows apps seem to be much more consistently intuitive. But…it’s the future, and we’ll all be spending the rest of our lives there!
One thing I do resent is that the phone never came with an instruction book. I like instruction books! I actually read 'em!
Nothing to be scared about. The worst that will happen is you won’t connect and you just have to get more information. The people behind the counter will most likely before able to help you out or if they’re not busy might set it up for you.
Also the teenager thing. If you see one on their phone they are probably using the free wifi as well and you can politely ask them for help.
You might be able to find a manual online if you search for your specific phone.
One thing I’ve found with regard to public wifi is that it is almost never any good, at least when used with my smart phone. The connection drops constantly and is slower than the mobile data network, and that even if I only have a couple of bars.
What makes this all the stranger is that up until a few years ago, before the smart phone era, I used to bring along my notebook to coffee shops, etc., and back then public wifi set-ups seemed to work fine. I only stopped bringing my computer initially because I realized I was almost never spending enough time over my coffee that it was worth firing up the computer, particularly if I needed a power outlet. So I don’t know if the wifi connectivity has degraded over the past few years, or if it’s being hammered by more people with mobile devices, or if in some crazy way it works better with notebooks than smart phones. Certainly I’ve never noticed anything like that on my home WLANs.
** Spectre of Pithecanthropus**: Odd that public Wifi would be deteriorating in quality. I’d have thought it would be getting better and better, like nearly everything else in the digital age. It seems like such an obvious public boon.
BTW, I love your sig quote! I’ve always thought Gandalf was wrong in his condemnation of Saruman’s “Newtonian” researches. Breaking light into the colors of the spectrum is the very height of wisdom, not of folly! It’s also fun and pretty! But spilling the coffee, now that’s just un-Hobbitish!
More devices using Wi-Fi will cause it to deteriorate if they don’t upgrade their connection. And since it’s free, the upgrades tend to lag behind.
And Saruman was definitely the smartest one of the Wizards in The Last Ringbearer, where The Lord of the Rings is a history myth written by the (then) victors. (Note that there’s a link to a free English translation at the bottom of the linked article.)
I read “The Last Ringbearer.” Wow! It’s almost a “serious parody” if that oxymoron is permissible. Very clever writing (although the lengthy Umbar “spy novel” sequence was a bit draggish.) I got a huge grin out of all of the topsy-turvy moral inversions. Galadriel’s totalitarian system of government was horrifying…and quite logical. The “real” Galadriel very likely had something that centralized and top-down: the “benevolent despot” theory of political science.
Am I missing something, or don’t you have wifi for your computer at home? Just set up your phone to automatically synch up so you can get online with your home wifi whenever you’re there so you’re not using the more expensive phone data plan, and do any big downloads and updates that way. That’s what most people do.
Penfeather: nope, no Wifi at home. My PC is plugged right into a cable-modem from the wall-plug, leading out to the carrier’s fiber drop.
(Maybe? I just looked, and the cable-modem has a blinking green light for Ethernet, but also labels for Wireless, HomePNA, and Phone 1 and Phone 2. ETA: none of these has any lights showing, but they have indicators that could turn on to solid or blinking green. So the thing might be configurable to do Wifi.)
(Just for curiosity, I turned on the Wifi on my phone, and seven different services show on the list. Names like Netgear 27 and 2WIRE341. One of them just might possibly be a secondary feature on my cable-modem. I haven’t any idea which one.)
I’m figuring, now, to spend some time at the library. (I apologize for being kind of a dunce here. This is something most pre-teens can figure out, but a gentleman of advancing years finds it challenging!)
OK, does your modem have a little antenna sticking out the top? Your phone won’t pick up wifi anyway until you configure a wireless network for it: go to your Control Panel, click on Network and Internet and then Network and Sharing Centre, and it will show you the type of modem and connection you have currently; below that is an option for setting up a wireless network.
Baby steps: I went to a fast food restaurant and was able to connect to their Wifi. I didn’t start my upgrades this time, just established that I can make the connection.
So, to that degree, my actual OP has been answered. Thank you, all, for helping me combat…or at least circumscribe…my ignorance!
I just bought an iPod (I know, welcome to the 21st century – I am ripping my CDs to the iPod as we speak ) and it’s remarkable how little information comes with it. Just a tiny slip of paper with URLs.
Not all wifi devices have antennas, so I’d still check with your ISP. Not that connecting your secured Wi-Fi at home is quite the same as using it abroad. Doing it abroad is much easier.
Indeed, most modern cable modems don’t have an external antenna. You just need to learn what the signal’s name is, like “HOME-F7546” or something. I think the number corresponds to your modem’s serial number or something. There’ll be a temporary password, and it might be written down on whatever paperwork they gave you when you had them install it. If not just call your cable provider and get someone to help. Perhaps they have records or can reset it for you from your end, then you’re in.
It’s likely it has wifi. Why not take advantage of that at home?
Just curious: did they have a password set?
) and it’s remarkable how little information comes with it. Just a tiny slip of paper with URLs.