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Resolved Question

Airport question

Feb 17, 2012 12:16PM PST

I have an odd airport issue. My Powerbook G4 will not detect the wireless network at the hotel I am currently staying in. I have taken it and put it next to the router and nothing. I have also had the hotel reset the router with no luck. A co-worker with a newer Macbook has no problem. Oddly, when I go anywhere else in town that has wifi I have no problem. Can anyone shed any light? I am using 10.4.11 on it.

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1travlr has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Given the age
Feb 17, 2012 11:01PM PST

Given the age of the unit, is it possible that your unit doesn't support 11g and that's what the hotel is using? I'd have to go back and double check the specs of your unit, and I don't know which PBG4 you have, so I'm just thinking that those models probably straddled the line when 11g took over from 11b, and Apple is rarely one of the first to adopt new technologies, so there's often an additional bit of lag before support catches up in the Apple world.

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At first glance, that Powerbook G4
Feb 17, 2012 11:08PM PST

only supported 802.11b.

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Will check
Feb 20, 2012 6:07AM PST

on that when I get back to where that machine is. Thank you both for the assistance. I think I may have found the good reason I need to upgrade to a new macbook air that I've been eyeing. Just couldn't quite make myself do it since the powerbook has worked so well for my needs for all these years with no problems.

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Could also be an encryption issue.
Feb 25, 2012 2:18AM PST

Another reason is that the hotel may be using WPA2 encryption, and your older hardware may be limited to WEP or WPA.