Foo - USB Network Adapters and free WI-FI

A local cafe has free WI-FI (I think that's the correct term) so I went out and bought a USB Network Adpater for my laptop in hopes of using it to access the internet.

Apparently the network is unsecured and I can easily connect to it with an excellent signal. My problem is I still can't access the web. I set Internet Explorer to never dial up to connect to the internet due to my home dial-up service. Explorer displays page not available for every site I try to access. What am I doing wrong?

Do you get an IP from the router?

Signal could be weak, lot of times I can get a wireless signal when I'm in strange places but can't connect.

Edit, nevermind, you get an excellent signal

Do you get an IP from the router?

Yes, I am getting an IP address.

Can you ping the router? Next, can you ping any websites' servers?

In IE, click on Tools menu, then Internet Options. Click on the Connections tab, then click on LAN settings, and uncheck all of the check boxes on that window.

Can you ping the router? Next, can you ping any websites' servers?

In IE, click on Tools menu, then Internet Options. Click on the Connections tab, then click on LAN settings, and uncheck all of the check boxes on that window.

Can you tell me how to ping their router?

Do you have a proxy server specified in your browser? In I.E.....Tools, Internet Options, Connections tab, LAN settings. Probably need to take it out if you do. Make sure nothing is selected(checked).

We drove around town the other night for about 30 minutes just to see if I could find any wireless internet. I connected to at least a half dozen unsecured connections just driving down the street. Super 8 motel was the best and fastest one. Chamber of commerce wasn't bad either. :)

<edit> Never mind...SaabFan already got that covered. Oops.

With many public Wi-Fi spots, you have to launch a browser session (http) without a proxy, and accept some terms of use on a splash screen before you can access any other IP services. You also usually need to make sure your TCP connection is set to use DHCP, and that you don't have DNS server addresses hard-coded (which is typical of dial-up configuations).

Depending upon the establishment, they might need to give you the IP address of the router and DNS servers. Enter these into the TCP/IP properties.

With many public Wi-Fi spots, you have to launch a browser session (http) without a proxy, and accept some terms of use on a splash screen before you can access any other IP services. You also usually need to make sure your TCP connection is set to use DHCP, and that you don't have DNS server addresses hard-coded (which is typical of dial-up configuations).

Any chance you could simplify this a bit for me?

Any chance you could simplify this a bit for me?

1. StartMenu -> ControlPanels -> Network
2. right-click "LocalAreaConnection" -> Properties
3. highlight InternetProtocol (TCP/IP),
4. click Properties
5. Make sure both options IP-address and DNS-server are set to "automatically"
6. OK -> OK

Sometimes though, you have to explicitly give the IP of the router & DNS servers. Prevents people on the other side of teh street from stealing your bandwidth...

They may also be blocking port 80, you might need to tunnel through.