Wireless connections help

[Goodvibez]

Im new to macs and the whole laptop thing but I have not been able to hook up to the internet outside of my house is there something I need? So that i can hook up to the Internet say at a bar or restaraunt or a friends house that don't have the internet.

help

 

[blodwyn]

Im new to macs and the whole laptop thing but I have not been able to hook up to the internet outside of my house is there something I need? So that i can hook up to the Internet say at a bar or restaraunt or a friends house that don't have the internet.

help

You can only hook up to the internet outside your house if there is a wireless point near where you are. If there is one, your laptop should detect it and ask if you want to connect to it. Some are open and will allow you to connect OK, while others are restricted and require either a passkey or need you to sign up for a service.

 

[Goodvibez]

thanks that helps

 

[Kelmon]

Just as an additional to this topic, you may also need to have the network adapter on your laptop (i.e. the AirPort card) approved to connect to the wireless router of the network that you are attempting to connect to. This doesn't happen at coffee bars and other public networks but I've got a few friends that set their routers to only allow connections from "approved" adapters so as to prevent anyone from jumping on their network (WEP encryption, for example, isn't terribly secure so they're taking no chances). In order to get your laptop "approved" you'll need to provide the administrator of the network with the MAC address of your AirPort Card (System Preferences > Network > Configure... AirPort - the AirPort ID is the MAC address).

This isn't all that usual but can be a reason why you can't connect to a network that your laptop can "see".