A quick question on getting Wi-fi

[Tom Riggle]

A quick question on getting Wi-fi: Do I also have to get a subscription or account, or is the price of the wifi unit the only thing I need (as my boss assures me)?

I have used my father's wifi back in Kansas, but have never actually set up a wifi account, so this is all new to me.

My school here in Jilin gave us an old computer with slow dial-up connection, but I also have my laptop which I brought over - good thing too! The old dial-up is good enough for most things, but it is too old to upload my pictures for Flickr. It has no up-to-date USB port. For that matter, it doesn't seem to be able to even read DVDs or even CDs.

Right now I have been able to slowly and tediously upload pics via my laptop using [cough. cough] other means. But I really need to get that wifi going. Any helpful info will be appreciated.

BTW, my pictures are here. I am seriously backlogged, still working on the pics from Dandong.

[Tom Riggle]

I appreciate that, Chris. I do certainly have questions, but do not want to ask them publicly for obvious reasons. I want to always be fair in my dealings, but surely there must be some fairness in return. I'll send you PM in a bit.

[Chris Knight]

You've got friends here, Tom. We can probably help you out and give you advice for just about every problem that can be thrown at you. All you've got to do is ask. If you don't want to ask publicly, just PM us. With all the foreigners here on CCF, there's probably 1000 years of combined experience here. Whatever you are going through, we've probably been through it ourselves.

[Tom Riggle]

Thanks, Sergio and Chris, for the advice here. It turns out that I'll have to hold off on the wifi, at least for the time being. I have been handed a financial setback a few days ago and now I need to be more careful with money.

I never knew, until I came here, that contracts could be so one-sided.

[SERGIO]

Hi Tom, In addition to the solutions that others have given you .... There is a solution a little more definite and drastic, but effective (if a little expensive).
I needed WiFi for my ipad, (but also Iuse it for my laptop). In China Telecom (near walmart Shangrila ), I just acquired a "router surfing" (300 yuen). You must also hire an internet service (they have several packages and costs), but the advantage is that wherever you go, you have wifi and the signal is good. But even if you speak Chinese, you should go with a good Chinese friend (a very clever one). good luck!

Sergio

[Chris Knight]

Okay, you've got a wireless router ... great. But, unless your desktop has a wireless NIC (network card), you're only going to be able to use your wireless capabilities with your laptop (assuming that your laptop is wireless capable). You are still going to have to run a cable between the router and your desktop box. This is still not going to increase your bandwidth, or your speed, unless you have a wi-fi signal coming into the router from the ISP. That isn't going to happen. You will still need to plug your CAT-5 (network) cable into your router from the wall or modem. All your router does is provide a wireless signal to your computer, allowing you to use your computer from anywhere in your home. If you have your router in another room, and there is a concrete wall between it and your computer, you will find that your signal will degrade somewhat, depending on the thickness of the wall and the angle between your computer and your router. The more concrete there is between the two, the more degraded your signal will be. Best to have them in the same room.

 

One of the reasons your connection may be so slow is because the network card is not optimized. There is a nice little program called TCPOptimizer, which can be found here:

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

This will give you the best optimization for your network card, and should speed things up a little. You may also need to defragment your computer's hard drive. This little program can do that for you:

http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html

 

As I stated above, the only thing that your wireless router is going to allow you to do is use your computer from anywhere in the house. It isn't going to speed up your internet connection. 

[Tom Riggle]

Thanks, Fabian I made a comment of your comments and will start doing this real soon. Maybe today or tomorrow. By the way, I need to correct one thing I wrote. I do not have dial-up. It just seemed like one because it was so slow.