A friend wrote in with this question about using his laptop to connect to the 'net from anywhere (like the way you'd use a cell phone).
I feel pretty duhh having just bought but not opened a netgear 108 Mbps Wireless PC card for one of my laptops. I thought I could just plug it in and access the internet from wherever I was. I haven’t opened the box yet, and looks like, from reading it, that I will have to be near my own network or computer to be able to access the internet. Is this true? I was wanting to convert my laptop to a computer that would access the internet so I could write up loans in homes that I would be visiting. A guy came into my office with his computer and accessed the net and I thought this would fix me up. Will it? Or must I take it back and get something else?
What you have, it sounds like, is a PC card that would allow you to get onto "wifi networks" anywhere they exist. This is different than what you are wanting to do, I think, which is be able to access the 'net anywhere, virtually, much like you can make a call anywhere using your cell.
So you need a card that will allow you to put your PC on the net using the cellular networks. Whoever is your cell provider probably has a card (which will look almost identical) that you can plug into your laptop and off you go. It's not as fast as your home network, but isclose so will suffice.
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Got a question about PCs or using the 'net? Send it to me. I'll answer it if I can.
