Can you help?

I just got a laptop ,only a cheapy, to take with me when I go away shortly.
I'm staying in a hotel that has 'high speed data ports' in the rooms.

At the moment the laptop only has an internal modem and I've set up a dial
up connection for my normal internet connection.

Question is - what do I need to do to be able to hook up to one of these
high speed data ports ? Do I need some additional hardware or is it just a
software thing ?

In article <bfhfml$ep4it$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> I just got a laptop ,only a cheapy, to take with me when I go away shortly.
> I'm staying in a hotel that has 'high speed data ports' in the rooms.
>
> At the moment the laptop only has an internal modem and I've set up a dial
> up connection for my normal internet connection.
>
> Question is - what do I need to do to be able to hook up to one of these
> high speed data ports ? Do I need some additional hardware or is it just a
> software thing ?
>
Presumably the "high speed data ports" are in fact RJ45 sockets running
ethernet, so you'll need a PCMCIA ethernet card and a patch lead.

Ian Northeast wrote:

> Rob Morley wrote:
>
>>In article <bfhfml$ep4it$(E-Mail Removed)>,
>>(E-Mail Removed) says...
>>
>>>I just got a laptop ,only a cheapy, to take with me when I go away shortly.
>>>I'm staying in a hotel that has 'high speed data ports' in the rooms.
>>>
>>>At the moment the laptop only has an internal modem and I've set up a dial
>>>up connection for my normal internet connection.
>>>
>>>Question is - what do I need to do to be able to hook up to one of these
>>>high speed data ports ? Do I need some additional hardware or is it just a
>>>software thing ?

PCMCIA ethernet cards can cost as little as £12 and the cheap ones are
as good as the others.
There's no point in 100Mb/s for Internet use, 10Mb/s will do -
"broadband" is 1/20 that speed.
They all have rather fragile, awkward external bulges or "donkey's
plonker" connectors until you get over £50 where you get a fatter type
(type III) which take up both your slots but have a flush RJ45 socket in
the end.

Think about a GSM card instead. That has a built-in mobile phone and
again the better ones have aerials which fold inside them. Then you
could be in touch anywhere with mobile coverage, probably much cheaper
than hotel rates too. Speed depends on your contract - you can get
9.6Kb/s, 19.2, 48 or sometimes 96Kb/s - it is digital, so compare with
64 or 128 ISDN, not with "buzz-whistle" modems for speed. 9.6 is plenty
to get your email within the minimum call cost.
If you've got an infra-red port (probably have) you might find a
compatible mobile phone a bit cheaper, but you need the same GSM data
contract and I've seen people struggling to line them up on those little
tables in trains.

--
Have fun,
Mike
--
http://fonehelp.co.uk - PC support, no fix, no fee!

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Rob Morley <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
> In article <bfhfml$ep4it$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
>> I just got a laptop ,only a cheapy, to take with me when I go away shortly.
>> I'm staying in a hotel that has 'high speed data ports' in the rooms.
>>
>> At the moment the laptop only has an internal modem and I've set up a dial
>> up connection for my normal internet connection.
>>
>> Question is - what do I need to do to be able to hook up to one of these
>> high speed data ports ? Do I need some additional hardware or is it just a
>> software thing ?
>>
> Presumably the "high speed data ports" are in fact RJ45 sockets running
> ethernet, so you'll need a PCMCIA ethernet card and a patch lead.

Sometimes USB is provided too, and a windows driver disk.
I have never seen only USB, but I have seen only ethernet.

Cost in the US of this type of access varies enormously from one
hotel to another, so if you plan on using it, check out the cost
when selecting hotels.

--
Andrew Gabriel