Wi-Fi Question

Myakka

Myakka

Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,447
I do some traveling and hate carrying a laptop. I'm looking for a small handheld gadget to play music mp3's and check email, stocks, forums from a Wi-Fi hot spot. Is there a charge, or do you need a service provider, or a password to use one of these hot spots? I was thinking of purchasing a PSP or a Palm One Tungsten C. The PSP can play movies and games so I was leaning towards it. But in would me nice to be able to use word & excel and word files. I'm very green with this hi-tech stuff. Any help would be great. :confused:

Thanks - Ron
 
Sounds like you are talking about a pocket PC. They run a slimmed down version of Windows, allow you to use Outlook, Excel, and Word. It can play MP3s, movies, and allows you to install a wide range of other programs. With an add on WiFi card you can also take advantage of any local wireless connection hot spots.

Most likely you would need to pay for the use of the connection. I have never really done it, but my guess is that the provider will tell you how to connect once you have paid.
 
Treo 650 w Wi-Fi adapter if you need it. Otherwise just data plan from your cell phone company. I don't know how I lived w/o it.
 
If you do anything over an open wifi internet connection like checking your email, all your passwords will be sent in clear text. In other words, someone else might be reading your email right along with you from their laptop, pda, etc. Just something to keep in mind. I would recommend going with a pda for what your needs are.
 
There are security measures that can be taken with WiFi, but yes, it is still largely the "wild west" out there. Our local news station recently did a feature on this. It was an eye opener. A hacker can get right in. Get some kind of encryption. It's kind of expensive but so is identity theft.

You can get free WiFi hot spots in most motel parking lots. Look for the "free high speed internet" banner or marquee. Signal strength is usuall low because they place the antennas in the hallways most of the time. There's pay WiFi at truckstops and the antennas are usually outside where you can catch a strong signal in your car, or in the cafe. You can pay hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly.

Actual speed depends largely on signal strength. At a truckstop you can go 54mps. That's screaming fast when you're used to dialup.
 
I'm to lazy to go to the WiFi spots. So I now use a Tungsten E2 that connects to my SonyEricsson 637 cell phone via Bluetooth. Works great:thumbup:. It's a little slow with some webpages, but it gets the job done. Also if you get a BT thingy for your laptop, you can connect it to the cell phone and get on the net that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top