Airport Newbie, mobile wireless question

[MiloMac]

Well the iBook I ordered from General Cybernetics should be here in a day or two & I'm about to burst w/ anticipation. I'll be installing an Airport base station at home & am excited about my first entry into wireless networking. My question is this: what will I need to do to access wi-fi networks around town or in other locations? I'll have my DSL modem connected to the Airport at home, but will I need to create a mobile Internet profile for the iBook that will somehow (DHCP?) configure the proper DNS, IP, POP & SMTP info?

Any tips or help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Thirteenva]

if you configure airport on your ibook to "connect to the network with best signal" then it should pick up other wifi networks when you're in range. Provided however that they're not password protected. I password protect mine to keep my neighbors from pinching my bandwith and stealing my broadband(I live in a condo).

 

[irmongoose]

Heh... that's one of the greatest parts about Airport. It finds all the nearby access locations automatically. No configuring necessary. It'll all show up in the locations list.

See here.




irmongoose

 

[mcrain]

Re: Airport Newbie, mobile wireless question

Originally posted by MiloMac
Well the iBook I ordered from General Cybernetics should be here in a day or two

I ordered a Powerbook from GC, and I can completely understand your excitement.

[Cheap plug] General Cybernetics was wonderful to deal with and I truly feel like I got a great deal. If you are in the market for a new computer, give GC a call. [/Cheap Plug]

 

[MiloMac]

Sweeeeet

Thanks for the tips. I was hoping it would be as easy as it sounds like it's going to be. I live in Austin, TX and the town is quite nicely wired. They did a bit on a local news station the other week where a guy walked all around downtown w/ his laptop & the wifi bubble was huge. The wife and I are gonna visit the folks in Ft. Collins, CO the week before Christmas. I plan to bring the iBook along (so I can show it off, of course) & will check out just how wired their little college town is.

And yes, General Cybernetics has been great to work with (cheap plug). Very friendly & helpful people. But damn the anticipation is killing me! I swear I'm checking the UPS tracking site every hour or so to see where the package is at (last update: Jacksonville, MS, 3:20 a.m. Eastern time)

 

[daniel77]

Ok I am interested in the airport card for the ibook and I am just wondering if it autodetects a connection, like if I walk into our airport station equipped library, and I open up a web browser, willl it automatically work? or do I need to use like a MacStumbler-like product to find a connection and then connect to it?

 

[mkubal]

It's fairly simple

I assume that you are talking about a campus library. You might have to register you airport card with the university like I had to do here at UCF. But after you do that you should be able to connect on campus. The easiest way to select a network though is to select it from the Airport icon in the menu bar of the finder (you might have to add it to the menu bar, it should be fairly simple, but I've forgotten how to do it). It should list all networks in the area, all you have to do is check the one you want to connect to. If it's password protected it will ask you for a password, but I'm doubting that the campus has a password for wireless (we don't here).

You really should check on the registering thing though. I think they can refuse to give you an IP address if you don't.

And about macstumbler. It's not really necessary, but it is very interesting to see who else and where other networks are running.

Good luck with it though.

Matt

 

[Kwyjibo]

Hmmm, I can use the wifi network at my high school they have little to no security except agaisnt file sharing and aim ports. As for a netstumbler type product, this one was recommended by Leo LaPorte on TechTv, its called MacStumbler, its very useful if your trying to see the networks and it provides better data on all the networks in the area (the airport menu is vague) It also tells you whether it has a WEP or anything like that. The link is http://www.macstumbler.com I suggest you check it out and perhaps all of your programmer types can help him improve it, he does a fien job, but the program has potential.