can't connect to wireless internet at coffee shop

Hi. I have a netgear wireless card that works fine at home with my
netgear router and cable modem. I can connect to internet without any
problem at home. We have a coffee shop here (called Beaner's) that
offers free wireless internet. No montly fee. It's actually free. My
wireless card reports a connection with excellent signal and excellent
link quality. But when I launch my browser, the status bar says
"finding site...." and then it can't connect. I'm running WindowsXP
home on a Dell Inspiron 2650 (pentium 4) with a Netgear MA401 card.
I'm using the Netgear utility to configue the network settings, and
have unchecked the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network
settings". This is the only way I can connect at home. While at the
coffee shop, I tried both checking and unchecking the "Use windows to
configure..." but neither way allows me to connect. I am also running
Kerio Personal Firewall, and thought it might be blocking my
connection, so I tried disabling it, but that didn't work. And I'm not
using the WindowsXP built in firewall either.

Any suggestions?

Melissa

Are you using DHCP or a static IP address?


"Melissa" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> Hi. I have a netgear wireless card that works fine at home with my
> netgear router and cable modem. I can connect to internet without any
> problem at home. We have a coffee shop here (called Beaner's) that
> offers free wireless internet. No montly fee. It's actually free. My
> wireless card reports a connection with excellent signal and excellent
> link quality. But when I launch my browser, the status bar says
> "finding site...." and then it can't connect. I'm running WindowsXP
> home on a Dell Inspiron 2650 (pentium 4) with a Netgear MA401 card.
> I'm using the Netgear utility to configue the network settings, and
> have unchecked the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network
> settings". This is the only way I can connect at home. While at the
> coffee shop, I tried both checking and unchecking the "Use windows to
> configure..." but neither way allows me to connect. I am also running
> Kerio Personal Firewall, and thought it might be blocking my
> connection, so I tried disabling it, but that didn't work. And I'm not
> using the WindowsXP built in firewall either.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Melissa

On 29 Sep 2003 23:06:51 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Melissa) wrote:

>Any suggestions?

Check the TCP/IP configuration. For your home network, it's possible
that you have static IP addresses and DNS configured. For the coffee
shop network, set it up to use DHCP.

Hope that helps.

regards
Marcus

In article <(E-Mail Removed)> , calico68
@hotmail.com says...
..
> I'm using the Netgear utility to configue the network settings, and
> have unchecked the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network
> settings". This is the only way I can connect at home. While at the
> coffee shop, I tried both checking and unchecking the "Use windows to
> configure..." but neither way allows me to connect. I am also running
> Kerio Personal Firewall, and thought it might be blocking my
> connection, so I tried disabling it, but that didn't work. And I'm not
> using the WindowsXP built in firewall either.

Is your browser configured to use a proxy server? If it is, it probably
won't be able to reach that server from Beaner's network.

I'm new to networking, so forgive me if any of this in incorrect. I
believe I'm using DHCP and not a static IP address. In Control Panel,
when I view my network connections, I right click on my wireless
connection, click properties, click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and
then click properties. Both "Obtain IP address automatically" and
"Obtain DNS server address automatically" are checked. The other boxes
(for specifying addresses) are grayed out with nothing entered. Then
if I click the Advanced button, under the IP Settings tab, the IP
Addresses section shows DHCP Enabled. So I believe this means that I
am using DHCP and not a static IP address. Is this correct? Any
further suggestions?

Thanks!


"10two11" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<n9deb.505
$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Are you using DHCP or a static IP address?
>
>
> "Melissa" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> > Hi. I have a netgear wireless card that works fine at home with my
> > netgear router and cable modem. I can connect to internet without any
> > problem at home. We have a coffee shop here (called Beaner's) that
> > offers free wireless internet. No montly fee. It's actually free. My
> > wireless card reports a connection with excellent signal and excellent
> > link quality. But when I launch my browser, the status bar says
> > "finding site...." and then it can't connect. I'm running WindowsXP
> > home on a Dell Inspiron 2650 (pentium 4) with a Netgear MA401 card.
> > I'm using the Netgear utility to configue the network settings, and
> > have unchecked the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network
> > settings". This is the only way I can connect at home. While at the
> > coffee shop, I tried both checking and unchecking the "Use windows to
> > configure..." but neither way allows me to connect. I am also running
> > Kerio Personal Firewall, and thought it might be blocking my
> > connection, so I tried disabling it, but that didn't work. And I'm not
> > using the WindowsXP built in firewall either.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
> > Melissa