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Types of Connections
There are types of connections that you can make with your new wireless device. These are "infrastructure" and "ad-hoc". The infrastructure connection is one between a device(ie. Your laptop and wireless card) and a router or a wifi access point.
The ad-hoc connection is a direct connection between two or more devices. Usually between two or more laptop computers. The infrastructure connection is what most of us use to connect to the internet at truck stops. The ad-hoc connection is useful if you want to play a game head to head with the truck next to you.
Connecting
Now its time to connect to a WiFi Hotspot. We are going to use connecting to the Flying J Wireless network with the Linksys PC card as an example.
- First we need to find a Flying J with wireless access. The are quite a few J's that have the service and more are installing the system all of the time. One of the easiest and quickest ways to tell if the truck stop you are at has WiFi is to take a look at the roof of the truck stop and see if they have the WiFi antenna installed.
- Now install the PC card into its slot on your laptop and power up your machine.
- Now left click on the Wireless configuration utility icon on your task bar and open the utility. Click on the Site Survey Tab and let the card search the air for a signal. If you are in range of a hotspot, you will get a list of sites and SSIDs for any sites that your card detects. You are looking for one that says flyingj as its SSID. Click on this one and the click on the connect button on the configuration utility.
- Now click on the Link Information tab. You will see a picture of a laptop computer, a wireless card and a picture of earth. This represents the connections that are being made, first your wireless card connects to the local router, once a connection is established and your card and the router make their connection it will then try to access the world wide web. You can see more about the connection by clicking on the Link Info tab. This brings up a screen that tells you the details about the wireless link.
- Once the picture of the earth turns solid, you can start your browser, if it doesn't start on its own. Sometimes it can take several minutes for the connection to be made.
- Flying J uses what is known as a Captive Portal, your browser will be automatically redirected to the TON services log in page. This is where you can log in into the wireless service for Flying J, it allows you to select different service levels and prices, from just an hour of service for $1.95 to all you can eat wireless for a year for $199.95. You need to select a user name and password, be sure to remember these as this is how you access your service.
- Now log in and start surfing the web.
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