Is Cell Phone wifi not the same as laptop computer internet wifi?

[gary350]

We went camping 3 days in a State Park. Cell phones work good but wifi internet does not work on our laptop computers. We have run into this same problem in 4 States, TN, KY, AL, MI. Each time we are told, the camp ground has a new wifi service, we don't know how it works, we can not tell you how it works. There is no password, click auto connect. I click auto connect it tries for 30 seconds then message says, no internet service. We are camped 20 ft from the wifi antenna.

We talked to other campers everyone says, computer will not connect to internet but cell phones work fine.

 

[eTech]

.

 

[Reloadron]

There are things like a little MyFi or I use a little Jetpack. Talk to your cellular provider and see what they offer. You create your own Hotspot. These little devices have their own cellular number so yes, you have an added number. Just ask your carrier what they offer. I plan to switch providers soon but if your cell works you will have Internet connectivity. The better the signal the better the speed. While rare if we lose our cable Internet I just break ours out and we are up and running.

Ron

 

[Tony Stewart]

1. Restart your equipment and laptop
2. Reinstall the network drivers.
3. Run the Windows troubleshooter
4. Renew the IP and flush the DNS
5. Unhide and rename the SSID
6. Use 2.4 GHz instead of 5 GHz on dual-band routers
7. Change the adapter Power Settings
8. Disable your antivirus temporarily
9. Disable IPv6
10. Turn to recovery options

 

[Dr_Doggy]

iv been banging my head since reading this, so here goes

its either all laptops have old b-g type wifi cards
or
1) open laptop 2) connect to wifi 3) open browser, get redirected and click I ACCEPT

Lemmie know!

 

[Reloadron]

Since gary350 (thread starter) has not come back to let us know what he may or may not have tried or considered I have no idea where he is at on this subject. I assume his laptop can connect to WiFi but has no WiFi to connect to?

Ron

 

[gary350]

Since gary350 (thread starter) has not come back to let us know what he may or may not have tried or considered I have no idea where he is at on this subject. I assume his laptop can connect to WiFi but has no WiFi to connect to?

Ron

We have not been camping lately but might go soon. We think camp ground personal play dumb on purpose they know wifi works only on cell phones. 5 years ago all camp grounds were in a panic to get free wifi they were loosing customers. Lots of people demand wifi or they go camp in a different camp ground. Some people need wifi for work while camping. We were told by other campers the camp ground does have wifi for computers you need to pay extra to use it. We have new internet service at home it is suppose to be faster but it is slower. Part of my problem at home is my 7 yr old computer is slow.

 

[Dr_Doggy]

mine is > 10 yrs now, and runs like day 1, secret is a fresh os every now and then. its the wifi card that needs to be watched, if you have old b or g type best to switch out.

 

[ChrisP58]

Are you sure that your cell phone is actually using the local wifi and not just using the mobile network to connect to the internet?

Try this.
Put the phone into Airplane mode. Then, turn wifi back on. Now see if the cell still has internet.

 

[Ramussons]

Suppose the WiFi supports only Voice and not Internet?
The thread starter does not mention whether Internet works on the Mobile Phones.

 

[gary350]

Are you sure that your cell phone is actually using the local wifi and not just using the mobile network to connect to the internet?

Try this.
Put the phone into Airplane mode. Then, turn wifi back on. Now see if the cell still has internet.

At home phone connects to cell tower. We have wifi phone turned off it costs $75 a month extra. We are not paying $300 a month for phone service for 2 phones. I don't care about cell phone it works at home and it works at the camp ground too.

Computer is what I have trouble with. Computer works at home and the new faster internet service is much slower. I use to be able to click something an a page would open in a flash but now I click something it often takes 10 seconds to open. Computer will not work at all at the camp ground.

Wifi phone is very irritating we leave the house, when we return phone drives up crazy, how was your trip to Malmart, how was your trip to tire shop, Give fast food restaurant a rating, Did you enjoy visit to Dollar Tree. Damn phone knows where we are all day then we get 30 messages when we return home. Most of the time MY phone stays home on desk wife has a phone 1 is all we need.

 

[Dr_Doggy]

another sign of old wifi card,

 

[shortbus=]

Wifi phone is very irritating we leave the house, when we return phone drives up crazy, how was your trip to Malmart, how was your trip to tire shop, Give fast food restaurant a rating, Did you enjoy visit to Dollar Tree. Damn phone knows where we are all day then we get 30 messages when we return home.

If your saying what I think you are, why not just switch off the WIFI on your cell phone when you aren't going to use it? I keep mine turned off and it never knows where I've been.

 

[gary350]

If your saying what I think you are, why not just switch off the WIFI on your cell phone when you aren't going to use it? I keep mine turned off and it never knows where I've been.

There is no reason to have wifi for a cell phone there are cell towers every where. I am not talking about cell phone, I am talking about laptop computer not connecting to wifi at the camp ground.

 

[Visitor]

As others have stated, the wifi card in the computer is probably out of date and doesn't support modern formats. There's no magic signal to say "I'm a laptop."

Easiest solution, presuming your laptop supports USB, would be to buy a USB wifi dongle up to current standards.

 

[shortbus=]

There is no reason to have wifi for a cell phone there are cell towers every where. I am not talking about cell phone, I am talking about laptop computer not connecting to wifi at the camp ground.

Do you not remember what you post? My post was in responce to your post#11, where you complained that you leave your phone at home because the WIFI in the places you go know you were there. You brought it up and I gave a solution. Sorry now that I did.

 

[gary350]

Do you not remember what you post? My post was in responce to your post#11, where you complained that you leave your phone at home because the WIFI in the places you go know you were there. You brought it up and I gave a solution. Sorry now that I did.

I am not asking about wifi phone. I need to know about wifi laptop.

 

[gary350]

As others have stated, the wifi card in the computer is probably out of date and doesn't support modern formats. There's no magic signal to say "I'm a laptop."

Easiest solution, presuming your laptop supports USB, would be to buy a USB wifi dongle up to current standards.

What about this? I bought this & computer seems to be faster at home. Won't know if it works at camp ground until we go there.

 

[Reloadron]

What about this?

As long as there is something for it to connect to. Campground should have a hot spot available. Based on your first post I thought you wanted to connect over a cellular network. The little USB Wireless LAN adapter should work fine.

Ron

 

[gary350]

As long as there is something for it to connect to. Campground should have a hot spot available. Based on your first post I thought you wanted to connect over a cellular network. The little USB Wireless LAN adapter should work fine.

Ron

Maybe I did not explain it correctly in the beginning it seems several people did not understand either. Campgrounds have towers about 12 ft tall in several locations, in the past cell phone and computers both worked. But after all the campgrounds switched to a different service, what ever that means, cell phones still work, but computers will not connect to the service. Someone suggested my old modem needs to be upgraded to connect to wifi, that is probably correct.

At home our 2 year old cable service expired a few weeks go. We had to tune in our old cable TV boxes for new faster ones. I think we are suppose to have 50mb now but the service is slower than it was before. It often takes 10 seconds for a web page to open & video need to stop and upload every 15 seconds so it will continue to play. The wifi card that I plug into my computer must be helping now videos play and don't stop to load.

My computer screen has black spider web places my son says the laptop screen is going bad & the computer is too old to replace the screen. I have been looking at newer computer my son needs a computer too. I told him, when you find a computer you like buy 2 I want 1.

I got tired of relearning about computers every 6 months so I stopped learning 15 years ago. Now I am lost.