Why have a laptop with wireless capabilities when it's nearly impossible to actually USE the internet??

Question

My 4-month old laptop has wi-fi capabilities, and I would like to use it when I travel. However, I have discovered that in every single airport I've tried to use it in (USA only, so far), it detects the public networks, but it won't connect because they're evidently ad-hoc networks. No problem borrowing the neighbor's network. No problem using some other public networks (i.e., Panera, my office building, etc). This problem also exists on my 8 month old Palm Life Drive. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Well, I would consider talking to the people at the Information Kiosks and asking them how to make use of the internet connections that are there.

Answer 2

It's probably not because they're ad-hoc, it's more likely because you have to pay for them. If you are connecting to ad-hoc networks, that's more likely to be devices on the airports internal network and is likely not to give you internet.

Since I live in the UK the actual commercial networks that I can connect to will be different from what you are looking for, but you're probably looking for 'network access points' or logos you recognise from internet companies, around public waiting areas in the airports. Detect them, connect, and you'll be redirected to a webpage when you open your browser where you can pay for the internet, using credit card details or paypal most likely, for a certain amount of time browsing the internet.

Answer 3

Similar to what the previous person mentioned, you are probably connecting to networks that expect you to pay for internet use. In my experience it has been extremely rare to find public wireless access points that are free. Some hotels in Canada do offer free internet access with their hotel rooms now, though I am unsure if that is true in the US also.