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

the n card should work if its a wifi network you connect to... on your phone do you click wifi and click join, or does it say join? ,
another option it could be by your description is that the antenna is just a cell booster, to which you would have no wifi connected, but using your own cell data, in that situation setting up an ad-hoc is the route to go

It is possible that there is no WiFi, just mobile data, or their new system could be 5GHz only?

Older laptops will only have 2.4GHz WiFi, and that band is overloaded beyond usability in many places.

To be blunt, any place selling or advising WiFi for fixed items like desktop computers and especially TVs and such that use streaming data should be prosecuted; it's totally unsustainable.

gary350 said:

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

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?? Every six months? I don't get that.
I'd had my last laptop ten years before I replaced it and it was still working perfectly (just not enough RAM for a program I needed & could not take more).

rjenkinsgb said:

It is possible that there is no WiFi, just mobile data, or their new system could be 5GHz only?

Older laptops will only have 2.4GHz WiFi, and that band is overloaded beyond usability in many places.

To be blunt, any place selling or advising WiFi for fixed items like desktop computers and especially TVs and such that use streaming data should be prosecuted; it's totally unsustainable.


?? Every six months? I don't get that.
I'd had my last laptop ten years before I replaced it and it was still working perfectly (just not enough RAM for a program I needed & could not take more).

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I was building new computers, new mother boards, new video cards, new sound cards, new cpus, etc were coming out every few months. You could read all the data to learn what video card will work with a new mother board but that did not mean it would work. Maybe the video card does not like a certain MB or maybe the MB does not like the video card. There were tech lines we could call to learn if certain video cards should be avoided with certain other products. Gamers wanted the newest best fastest video cards every time a new one came out. Other people wanted bragging rights they had to have the newest fastest computer each time a new one was on the market. It was fun for a while then it because work and then it became boring. I totally lost interest in computers and never had any interest in cell phones.

At the camp grounds cell phones work same as in town it is automatic. In the post computers needed to log on to the camp ground internet with camp ground password. Now they claim camp grounds internet is automatic like cell phones but our laptops will not work. WE camp with vintage camper trailer groups, we all meet at a certain camp ground for 3 days of camping. We have camped with many of the same 100 people for 5 years. Now that all the camp grounds claim they have a new system no one can get internet to work on there laptop. You probably right the old 2.4G system is probably now 5G and old modems are worthless. Last week we did 2 trips to visit 2 new to us camp grounds I did not take my laptop. This week we have rain in for forecast all week. Next week we are going to visit another new to us camp ground this time I will take my laptop and a wifi stick to do a test to see in internet will works with the wifi stick.

Why not just ask the people running it?, WiFi is generally backwards compatible - and if it won't do 2.4GHz that's probably simply because they have it turned OFF - ask about it, and they could probably turn it ON. Failing anything else, if the people at the site are incredibly dumb, ask to see the equipment, make a note of the gear, and google it when you get home.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Why not just ask the people running it?, WiFi is generally backwards compatible - and if it won't do 2.4GHz that's probably simply because they have it turned OFF - ask about it, and they could probably turn it ON. Failing anything else, if the people at the site are incredibly dumb, ask to see the equipment, make a note of the gear, and google it when you get home.

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People that work at the camp ground claim they know nothing about the wifi system & they probably don't. If wifi stops working they report it to the State of TN. State camp grounds are run my the State. The State calls the people they contract to keep the wifi system working. Repair man comes fixes it then leaves. Camp ground reservations are done online. People in the office sell groceries, drinks, firewood, etc. They keep bathrooms clean & working. The camp ground host gets a free place to park their camper trailer so they have a free place to live as part of their weekly salary. Most of the people that work at the camp grounds are old and retired. Some people retire at 55 then spend the rest of their life camping free or cheap in government camp grounds. People that, clean toilets, rake leaves, cut grass, run cash register, hand out maps, give directions, work for minimum wage. I have not been able to find anyone that works at the camp ground that knows anything about wifi. When we decide to go camping I goggle State Camp grounds, pick 1 of the 74 camp grounds, pick the date, pick a camp site, then put in my card number & its paid for. All we have to do is go there and camp for a few days. We don't even need to check in at the office, we drive straight to our camp site. If you find someone on your camp site that does not belong there call the State Police.

Back to and starting with your cellular phone. When you say your phone works does it work only as a phone or does it work as a phone and also WiFi? My phone is an older Samsung Galaxy 7 phone. While at home the phone uses our household wireless connecting to out router on our wireless network. When we travel my phone offers the option of connecting WiFi through any number of WiFi hot spots.

My laptop is an old, very old Dell and for WiFi I just shove a card in it. The screen looks similar to this:


That's what comes up showing anything it can connect to. Obviously the strong signal on top is me. The other stuff is assorted neighbors. When in a camp ground you should see similar. Next, as I mentioned earlier, when we lose cable service we lose our WiFi and when this happens I use one of the little devices I got from my cellular provider which creates our own hot spot of WiFi network. Then things look like this:


Notice the addition of the top highlighted entry. I can choose that and connect using my password. The hot spot or WiFi connection is through my cellular network and as I mentioned earlier I am using a 4G Jet Pack. Just about all cellular providers offer something similar. Actually I am pretty much done with Verizon and plan to move our phones and a mobil hot spot like the Jet Pack to Spectrum who provides our cable service.

Anyway all here nor there. When at a campsite and you want to connect what exactly does your laptop display as to available networks? You should see a listing similar to the above and be able to choose which network you want to connect to. When I turned on and added MiFi5510L it shows up as an available network.

My main TV is an older Sony Bravia which is a dumb TV. So since my wife uses Amazon Prime we invested $35 in a little Amazon Firestick. When we lose Cable Internet which is very seldom I just break out the little Jet Pack and have no trouble streaming video and watching movies and again this stuff is far from new like about ten plus years old.

So using your laptop whet exactly does it display when you look at available networks?

Ron

Reloadron said:

My main TV is an older Sony Bravia which is a dumb TV. So since my wife uses Amazon Prime we invested $35 in a little Amazon Firestick.

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Even 'smart' TV's are pretty dumb anyway, FAR better to simply buy a Firestick which will far out perform any TV - and last far longer.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Even 'smart' TV's are pretty dumb anyway, FAR better to simply buy a Firestick which will far out perform any TV - and last far longer.

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Well I figured the Firestick was well worth the $35 we paid for it. Figured since my wife has been using Amazon Prime for years we may as well since we had the service anyway.

What surprised me was the little Jet Pack was actually fast enough to stream things like movies. While I see an end to Verizon going to Spectrum should not be an issue since they offer a similar little hot spot gizmo.

Ron