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

Question

Public wifi problem

by Jun 2, 2016 4:57AM PDT

I have a temp job in a building that my laptop for some reason, won't allow me to connect to its "Guest" wifi.
I've tried the usual steps taken to do it from the Control Panel's networking area & Managing the wireless, right-clicking on the wifi icon in the taskbar to find it, etc. Nothing worked.

I Googled it, but all I found were steps I'd already taken & more complicated steps involving "proxy" & "IPc4" & whatnot.
I didn't wanna mess with stuff I'm unfamiliar with.

I'm stuck.

Discussion is locked

8 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Answer
Re: WiFI
by Forum moderator Jun 2, 2016 5:15AM PDT

- Can other devices (phone, tablet and laptops from colleagues) connect to the same network?
- Does your laptop connect to other networks?
- What exactly is "won't allow me to connect"?

It can be normal if the network uses only the 5 Ghz band and your laptop only supports the 2.4 Ghz band. That's a very good reason for your laptop to not even "find" the network, let alone "connect". Those are different things and your post is not clear about that.

- Collapse -
Later....
by Syrinx77 Jun 2, 2016 5:30AM PDT

-I *think* it was the same for my phone, but I'll double check later to be sure & get back.
-Only other place I use it is at home.
-I can't get online.

"5 Ghz" ..Ahh ok. I'm a noob, but if I'm looking at the right thing, my laptop has a 2.30 Ghz processor.

- Collapse -
Re 5 Ghz
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jun 2, 2016 5:41AM PDT

The speed of your processor (2.3) has nothing at all to do with the frequency of the signal from the wireless network.

- Collapse -
OOps
by Syrinx77 Jun 2, 2016 5:47AM PDT

Inexperience showing. Where would I look to check that?

- Collapse -
Re: check
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jun 2, 2016 6:13AM PDT

That's in the hardware specs of your laptop.

What exactly is "I can't get online."? What do you see after you right clicked the WiFi cion, what do then, what happens? Any error message?

- Collapse -
Phone
by Syrinx77 Jun 2, 2016 9:29AM PDT

Tried wifi on the phone and got an error message. "You are offline. Your device is offline. DNS probe finished. No Internet"

Plus, a couple of people asked me if I use Optimum hot spots. No to that. So I'm thinking that could be my problem.

- Collapse -
If your phone doesn't connect ...
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jun 3, 2016 10:50AM PDT

why do you expect your laptop should do?

- Collapse -
The fact that phone and laptop don't connect
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 3, 2016 11:32AM PDT

Should be enough to tell us to get support from this network's IT or support.

Back to Windows 7 forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info