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nmwaldron · Oct 28, 2005, 06:21 AM

Hi, me again

I have a laptop computer that's been bothering me for a while. Our mall has a wireless hotspot which I can connect into via my laptops wireless card. I was doing this for around a month or so, surfing the webs etc with no problems, now, within the last month... the laptop will connect to the network connection, but it won't load any web pages. I didn't change any settings, it just started happening.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Nathan

LTheobald · Oct 28, 2005, 08:24 AM

If you haven't changed anything, the first thing I would do is to take it to another wireless hotspot and give it a shot there. It might be that the mall you were in has been having problems with their hotspot.

ScottGem · Oct 28, 2005, 08:43 AM

My question is whether this was an intentional hotspot or not. Its very possible you were hooking into some store's unsecured hotspot and they finally wised up and secured it.

By the way, people have been prosecuted for using unsecured hotspots without permission.

nmwaldron · Oct 28, 2005, 09:07 AM

Hi
The hotspot is in a starbucks. I work in the mall and used to be able to acess it from my store. I have a wireless router at home and it works just fine.

Nathan

Curlyben · Oct 28, 2005, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by nmwaldron

Hi
The hotspot is in a starbucks.

There you go, it would seem that you have been using it without their knowledge and they have now secured it somewhat.

Normally when you CAN connect, but CAN'T surf this is due to WEP being enabled for the hotspot.

I hope you WiFi at home is secured or you'll be giving all your neighbours FREE internet connection.

ScottGem · Oct 28, 2005, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by nmwaldron

Hi
The hotspot is in a starbucks. I work in the mall and used to be able to acess it from my store. I have a wireless router at home and it works just fine.

Nathan

As far as I know Starbucks doesn't give a free connection. The following is from Starbucks WEB site:

What you’ll need to get going:
A T-Mobile HotSpot service account. Get a free Day Pass now!*
A notebook or Pocket PC with a Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless card.

A T-Mobile account costs a monthly fee. You can find out more about it from here:
https://selfcare.hotspot.t-mobile.co...=STDAYPASS0802

So if you were using it for free, its because someone hadn't secured it and they finally woke up. If you have a T-Mobile account you need to contact them.

nmwaldron · Oct 28, 2005, 09:45 PM

Okay, thanks for the advice.

Nathan