Desperatly need some wirless network help please

leon · #1 06-09-2012, 06:59 PM

Hi Guys, what a day, our Bigpond gateway failed today and we had to up grade to a Bigpond Mobile WI-FI 4G.

Well that was fun, not even the techs could get it working on any of our computers.

So here is the situation, Alice has a wifi switch on her lappy, but the unit will only function when it is connected with a USB lead

I have a lappy with no wifi. and a desktop as well, presently they cannot connect to anything.

So guys what do i do here, can i buy a adapter and shove into either the lappy or desktop and then get reception on the net this way.

I am truly buggered here and need some good advice please, and in easy to understand steps please.

I was told by the techs that our running system, being XP may not be able to handle the newer technology.

Frustrated and not sure how to go about this, so i ask all the experts

Many Thanks.

Leon

pluto (Hugh) · #2 06-09-2012, 07:52 PM

Hi Leon,
Not sure how much help I can be but I just bought one of these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/280718273205
to get wifi working on a 13 year old lappy and it worked. It has it's own software so it doesn't use XPs terrible wireless drivers. For only $8.90 delivered, perhaps you could give it a try and see if your lappy or desktop can connect to the Telstra wifi thing.

Hugh

mithrandir (Andrew) · #3 06-09-2012, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Well that was fun, not even the techs could get it working on any of our computers.

Just because someone claims they are a tech it might not be in a relevant field.

Quote:

So here is the situation, Alice has a wifi switch on her lappy, but the unit will only function when it is connected with a USB lead

The Mobile WI-FI 4G is supposed to act as an 802.11n router. You have to provide the "security code" to each device to allow it to connect. If you can't find a place for that in the network setup dialogs, does the WI-FI 4G doco give you a place to set up a WPA or WPA2 PSK (pre shared key)? XP should have that in the network setup.

Quote:

I have a lappy with no wifi. and a desktop as well, presently they cannot connect to anything.

So guys what do i do here, can i buy a adapter and shove into either the lappy or desktop and then get reception on the net this way.

There are lots of USB wireless dongles - they look just like a USB stick. They should all support XP and later Windows.

Quote:

I am truly buggered here and need some good advice please, and in easy to understand steps please.

I was told by the techs that our running system, being XP may not be able to handle the newer technology.

That was what worried me about the doco talking about a "security key". The first time I ran across one of those was on the new 802.11n dual band router I gave Mum for her birthday, and her Win7 laptop knows about those.

Anyone need an retired computer geek in northwest Sydney for the occasional bit of help?

Larryp (Laurie) · #4 06-09-2012, 08:25 PM

Hi Leon
You need wifi dongles on your computers that do not have WiFi, as Hugh has suggested.
I have a BigPond mobile wifi myself, and have not had a problem connecting with any of my laptops-however mine all run Vista or Win 7.
When you say it will only work on your wifes laptop if plugged into a USB port, is the units battery charged?

leon · #5 06-09-2012, 09:15 PM

Thanks guys, well at least that is something to sleep on tonight, will try some of your suggestions.
Laurie, thanks for your response, yes the battery is fully charged.

Leon

alistairsam · #6 06-09-2012, 09:20 PM

Hi Leon,
I'm not sure what the distances are between the two laptops and the PC, but one option is getting a 4g Router for the USB Dongle and connecting the desktop and the old laptop with normal network leads to the router.

That way you dont have to setup anything on the old laptop or PC, they'll just work straight away, and your wife's laptop can connect via wi-fi.
so leave the 4g router near the desktop and the old laptop.
something like this will do the job
http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail...uters/DLDWR113

if you don't want to use cables, just get mini wifi usb adaptors for the laptop and the desktop. just make sure they support windows xp like this one
http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail...ers/NGWNA1000M
That way, all three machines would use wireless to connect to the router and use the 4G.
either way, none of the machines are dependent on each other and can work independently as long as the router is on.

not sure if this suits your needs, but It'll work well.
good luck.

alistairsam · #7 06-09-2012, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leon

Hi Guys, what a day, our Bigpond gateway failed today and we had to up grade to a Bigpond Mobile WI-FI 4G.

Leon

can you post a link to the Bigpond 4G device you have, not sure if what you have is a 4G USB dongle or a 4G hotspot.

leon · #8 06-09-2012, 10:02 PM

Many thanks, you have all given me much to consider tomorrow, the unit i have Alistair, is a 4G hot spot, unit, it is suppose to run 5 other devices at the same time, so far it is not playing fairly.

Leon

alistairsam · #9 06-09-2012, 10:15 PM

If it is a hot spot, You won't need the 4g router, you will need the wifi USB adaptors for the old lappy and pc.
See if you can reset the hotspot to factory defaults and follow instructions provided. Also check if your hotspot is visible in the available wireless networks from your wife's laptop

before you reset, make sure you know your user name and password for your Internet acct
Else
If you can get on the Internet with the USB Cable on your wife's laptop, one of us can remotely connect to it if you can run the team viewer instant support tool which is free
Else, factory reset and step by step config would work.
Last resort, Any Telstra showroom should be able to help configure your wireless

Larryp (Laurie) · #10 06-09-2012, 11:05 PM

Hi Leon-only reason I asked about the charge state of the battery was because the only real purpose for connecting the device to a USB is to charge the battery.
It should be just a case of fitting USB wifi dongles to your computers that do not have wifi, and then getting your computers to search for wireless devices-this should bring up a list of available devices-select the device name of your wifi device and you will be asked to enter the security code-do this and it should work.
If you still have trouble, call 1800650198 for direct assistance
Hope you get it working soon-mine is the 3G version, but we run all our laptops at work from it (no ADSL available), and its great!

leon · #11 07-09-2012, 11:28 AM

Thanks guys things are looking up, just got back from telstra and the tech there had it sorted in 5 mins, some are just better than others, so at least the lappy with the wifi works fine, no leads yey.
now for the other two machines, i will go down to dick smith or similar, and see what they can come up with, as in adapters.

many thanks for your help, much appreciated.

leon