View Full Version : Anyone have a WiFi in their home for internet?
Since we don't want satellite, our only option besides using the phone line for internet, we were using a Sierra Wireless thinga-ma-bob that plugs into our computer. But it has been acting up, so AT&T said they don't make them anymore, and sent us a WiFi thinga-ma-bob. AT&T is so useless as far as any help! Fortunately, after hours talking to them, we found one woman who helped. So now we're connected to the WiFi.
If any of you have one of these, my question is: Can we turn it off from the computer, or do we always have to go to the device and turn it off?
Poor DH works long days and then sometimes he has to come home and spend hours trying to figure out our computer problems. He got it running last night, but didn't have time to figure much else out about the particulars. Since I'm fairly useless with these things, I thought I'd ask you guys.
Any ideas? If I press the "close" option for the WiFi on the screen, nothing happens. There is a "disable" choice, but DH said not to press that until he can figure more things out.
Just curious if any of you have one of these WiFi things. Hope I don't get cancer from it! But hey.......having internet would be worth it, right? :0!
I love our Wifi. We leave it on all the time, as our computers do automatic updates at night. Plus, when I wake up, I read the news in bed on my iPad before getting up...
You won't get cancer from it!
What we have is cable internet. It comes in to the house via coax cable to a modem provided by the ISP and then to our wireless router. All the phones, tablets, laptops, blu-ray player, etc. get the signal from that. My life improved about 100 fold the day I got that and tossed all the wires. That was several years ago and to this day I would never even consider going back.
Keep talking; I've had my router for I don't know how long, I've read the instructions, they sound straightforward, and yet...
Miss Cellane
4-2-13, 12:58pm
I'm guessing Cathy has some sort of mobile broadband device attached to her computer, if she doesn't have cable or satellite.
I don't know how these work because I don't have one. If no instruction manual came with it, then my suggestion would be to find the name of the manufacturer and go on-line and find the user's manual. It should help with most of the basic questions.
In the meantime, if it's running now, I wouldn't turn it off. Wait until you know what you are doing!
Well, I can turn it off at the device. I would like to turn it off at the computer. I have to turn it off if I'm not using it because we only get about 5 GB per month ($50.00). I love living in the country, but its sort of hard to get good internet service. We did have one satellite person out, but he said our trees were in the way. I guess I should leave it on for several hours and see how much it uses up, if I'm not using it.
What we have is cable internet. It comes in to the house via coax cable to a modem provided by the ISP and then to our wireless router. All the phones, tablets, laptops, blu-ray player, etc. get the signal from that. My life improved about 100 fold the day I got that and tossed all the wires. That was several years ago and to this day I would never even consider going back.This is the set-up we have a my house however we don't have cable TV, just internet. However we haven't gotten a wi-fi router yet so it's just a hardline direct to my sister's modem and laptop. My understanding is that, once we get the wi-fi router, we just plug it in between the modem and the computer, set it up online with our ISP (Tine Warner) and we are good to go. We can turn everything off or unplug at and, other than waiting for everything to boot up when it's all restarted, nothing changes. Sis always shuts off and unplugs her laptop but usually leaves the modem plugged in. Don't know if this will work in Cathy A situation as it sounds like she has something else besides a cable & modem connection. I'm still not sure we'll get wi-fi as I currently don't have a computer anyways, but if I get a tablet then we'll get it.
As a side question: Can you plug a tablet computer into a hardwired cable modem like we have with Time Warner or does it only have wi-fi capabilities?
As a side question: Can you plug a tablet computer into a hardwired cable modem like we have with Time Warner or does it only have wi-fi capabilities?
There might be some way to plug a cable into an Android tablet with some sort of adapter, but it would be an end-around how it was designed and far more trouble than it was worth. They all come with Wi-Fi and work fine that way. Some tablets also come with cellular service, but you would know it did going in; it's not the kind of thing you could add after purchase.
We also have a Wi-Fi router in house. Cable from the wall to the cable modem, cable to the Wi-Fi router, cables from the Wi-Fi router to a couple of devices right near the router, and Wi-Fi to the laptop, the iPad, the Apple TV, and the Wii. We leave it on all the time. It's in a relatively unused corner of the house, so I'm not concerned about radio waves poisoning us (if such a thing can happen and if we're not poisoned by something else first). And it is convenient to have intranet and Internet access throughout the house and backyard.
I just got the Sierra wireless thing from Bell and do turn it off when leaving the computer. I pay $50 for 10 GB which is the best deal I could find living in the country as well.
Wow razz........you have a much better deal than we do.
I'm always going over the 5 GB, which then costs $10 more for each GB.
But DH just found a deal with them that includes all our cell phones and internet, which will give us 10 GB for about the same price.
I hate At&t. They are evil. They let you go for years, without telling you there are cheaper plans, then they say "oh, I'm sorry you didn't see that notice." Total BS!!
It's actually quite crowded in this neighborhood. I see 17 wireless nodes available for me to connect to from here in my loft. (I'm happy to say that all 17 are properly secure, so I can only actually connect to one of them, the one I have the password for. :) ) So I would say that most people leave their wireless router running 24/7. Electronic devices are now made to do that, and many electronic devices actually incur more wear-and-tear from being powered-up than from being left on for a day.
My ATT wi-fi internet has a modem - black box with flashing lights - that plugs in to electricity and has a phone type wire that can connect it to the computer, which I don't use because i set it up as wireless so that my guests can use it anywhere in the house. The modem and the laptop are plugged in to a surge protector and it I turn off the surge protector every thing is off. I leave it on so my guests can always use it, but I used to turn it off at night. When the modem is not receiving electricity the wireless internet is off.
I've WiFI (Netgear) set up, it's connected to my cable modem. It's set up at my desk, so computer, vonage box, work laptop connect by cables to the router. Roku box and the rest of house connected via WiFi. It's just on all the time. If you are near other houses and don't want anyone "sharing" your WiFi, I would enable security. I'm paying $60/month for a 20mb connection, more than I want to pay, but I need something pretty solid since I work from home.
I would enable security regardless. You are held responsible for any use of your WiFi connection, even by people you don't know accessing it from off your property. You almost surely will escape prosecution for the criminal activities that these other people commit, but that is small consolation after authorities have searched your home and confiscated your computers for a few weeks.
I'm pretty ignorant of these things. Is DH right in saying that no one could access our Wifi? We live about 1/4-1/2 mile from the closest house out here in the country.
Distance is no substitute for WPA/WEP. It doesn't matter if your network is used by trespassers; that's still grounds for a search warrant that includes seizure of your computer equipment. There is really no legitimate reason to avoid securing your connection; it takes so little work to learn how to enable security and enter a password.
it takes so little work to learn how to enable security and enter a password.
+1. And please do not accept the defaults provided by the router/modem manufacturer. It's incredibly easy to find the defaults used for these devices. Logging into a router labeled "Netgear" with the default password of "1234" works entirely too often.
There is really no legitimate reason to avoid securing your connection; it takes so little work to learn how to enable security and enter a password.
Exactly. +1
Ok. Please walk me through this. How do I secure it?
To help you, we'd need to know the wireless router's model number.
Since I live in a studio apartment, there didn't seem to be much point in getting a WiFi router. I can use my laptop pretty much anywhere in the room using a 15-foot Ethernet cable I swiped from work (there are dozens of them lying around unused; everyone in the office now uses WiFi when they aren't at their desks).
Since I live in a studio apartment, there didn't seem to be much point in getting a WiFi router. I can use my laptop pretty much anywhere in the room using a 15-foot Ethernet cable I swiped from work (there are dozens of them lying around unused; everyone in the office now uses WiFi when they aren't at their desks).This is what my sister has in her bedroom - a long ethernet cable attached to her laptop from the cable modem in her room so that she can use her laptop anywhere in her room or while in bed. I just drilled a hole in the walls baseboard and ran a cable intofirst my bedroom and then into her room from the dining room were the cable entered the house. Easy! But I don't have access to the internet in my room or the rest of the house because we don't have a wi-fi router or a second hard line. So if I want to go online at home, I have to use her ethernet cable in her room. Not convienent so I don't use it - and don't really want to anyways. I'm probably the only person here who DOESN'T want to have home internet - but sis does so this works well. I have it if I really need it by using hers (but won't go into her bedroom - which she locks when gone anyways - unless she's home) but it's too inconvienent to use so don't spend too much time online like I would if I had wi-fi access.
Not convienent so I don't use it - and don't really want to anyways. I'm probably the only person here who DOESN'T want to have home internet - but sis does so this works well. I have it if I really need it by using hers (but won't go into her bedroom - which she locks when gone anyways - unless she's home) but it's too inconvienent to use so don't spend too much time online like I would if I had wi-fi access.
Not to be the serpent in the tree on this, but there also are items called hubs which would "split" the signal from the cable modem into 4, 6, 8 however many extra cables you would want. No Wi-Fi antenna at all. I'm not pushing you into this; just mentioning it because the spare cable leading to your computer could just sit there until/if you ever wanted to use it. If ever the inconvenience gets to be too much.
Aw heck if you're going to go that far... if you're going to buy something, buy a "switch" rather than a "hub" - much more efficient. It's generally only a few dollars more more.
The Storyteller
4-3-13, 4:51pm
Nobody I know uses hubs any more. Too many problems with data collisions and loss of signal, etc. I wouldn't have one on my network, so we threw all ours away at work. Heck, I'm not even sure you can buy hubs any more. Everyone uses switches, instead.
BTW, I have both wired and wireless switches at home. For serious stuff, I always plug in. Much faster than wireless.
Yeah, I was careless to just call them hubs. Switches are a better bet. But I'm guessing Spartana has other things she'd rather do. :)
BTW, I have both wired and wireless switches at home.
Me too. When we built our house, 18 years ago, I ran Cat 5 cable to multiple locations in each room and installed a 24 port, 10/100 switch in a central location. One day I'll upgrade to a gigabit switch, but can't really justify it since my fastest internet connection is approximately 30 megabits and we really don't move that much data within the home network.
For serious stuff, I always plug in. Much faster than wireless.
That must be some pretty serious stuff. I keep my rack mounted blade server, an Xbox and a couple of desktops plugged into Ethernet, but that's just because they're stationary and I have network jacks available. I use the wireless network for laptops, iPad's, iPhone and internet enabled TV. We have no speed issues on the wireless network, even if we're streaming video to multiple devices simultaneously.
Not to be the serpent in the tree on this, but there also are items called hubs which would "split" the signal from the cable modem into 4, 6, 8 however many extra cables you would want. No Wi-Fi antenna at all. I'm not pushing you into this; just mentioning it because the spare cable leading to your computer could just sit there until/if you ever wanted to use it. If ever the inconvenience gets to be too much.Satan? Is that you trying to tempt me again? :devil::devil: My inner-Luddite is screaming "NOOOOOOO" inside my head :-)!
Well I probably will eventually break down and get wi-fi at home. Getting harder and harder to be un-connected in this day and age. I'm assuming from some other comments here that sis can still use the hardline even while I'm using wi-fi.
I'm assuming from some other comments here that sis can still use the hardline even while I'm using wi-fi.
Yesssssssssssss, she can. :D
Yesssssssssssss, she can. :D
Thanks for the info. Now drop the apple, raise your hands and move away from the tree :-)!
Thanks for the info. Now drop the apple, raise your hands and move away from the tree :-)!
Snakes don't got hands... :laff:
Snakes don't got hands... :laff:Hmmm... hadn't thought of that. Interesting rhetorical question: How did the snake talk to Eve if he was carrying the fruit from the Tree of Life in his mouth? Guess if I wasn't a clueless Luddite and had a computer, internet access, and wi-fi at home, or a smart phone, I could look it up :-)!
Which makes me think that there sure are a lot of talking reptiles in ancient mythology worldwide. Wonder why... http://www.kolobok.us/smiles/artists/mother_goose/MG_08.gif
Which makes me think that there sure are a lot of talking reptiles in ancient mythology worldwide. Wonder why... http://www.kolobok.us/smiles/artists/mother_goose/MG_08.gifMaybe we were all just fresh out of the primordial ooze then and everything could speak and understand everything else :-)! My Mother was a trilobite!
Yes i have i WIFI and i shared it to some people that i know in my place.
If you have a phone line, do you have the option for DSL?
If you have a phone line, do you have the option for DSL?
Not necessarily. DSL requires you to be within a certain distance of the telephone company station that serves your home or business. Your location may have no problem with a very long voice telephone line, but may not be close enough for the telephone company to offer you DSL.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.