Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

connection problem at public wifi hotspot

Mar 29, 2005 5:15AM PST

I'm having problems about 1/2 the time connecting at public spots using a dell notebook xp pro with an internal intel 2200 bg card. At home, I can connect without problem. At the hotspot, I often see an excellent signal strength but am not able to connectwith or without the firewall running. Any thoughts on trouble shooting?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
connection problem at public wifi hotspot
May 11, 2005 9:03AM PDT

I'm having the same problem at all three of my favourite hotspot locales in Philadelphia. I'm connecting to the hotspot but can't get an IP address. Could this be an ISP issue? Have they found some way of clamping down on "unauthorized" sharing of lines? My only theory is that some security update on Windows is preventing the connection.

- Collapse -
firmware and driver updates
May 11, 2005 4:30PM PDT

check with your pc vendor or the wirless network card vender for any firmware and/or driver updates. This may not solve the problem but will be the first thing i'll do.

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) Is it a FREE Hotspot? maybe you need pay to use it
May 12, 2005 4:20AM PDT
- Collapse -
Public hot spots
May 12, 2005 5:13PM PDT

I have found a good signal and unable to connect generally means a password or security situation. Ben