Another Quick Wi-Fi Question...

[Job]

I have an X5 and a Compaq Evo n610 with built in wifi connected to a LAN (school). If I buy a WiFi card, will I be able to wirelessly access the LAN?

[PetiteFlower]

In theory at least, yes :)

[David Prahl]

First of all, since I work in a School District IT department, please ask your Helpdesk or IT personnel if they would allow you to do this. I tried getting wi-fi installed at my school and they would have none of it!

What operating system does your PC run? If you're using anything newer than win98SE, sharing a connection shouldn't be a problem. XP makes this fairly easy, but I've never gone through the actual process.

Keep in mind that your laptop will have to be plugged into the LAN and turned on the entire time, and any devious geeks within 300 feet or so will have access to your files.

I suggest searching this site for things like "sharing wi-fi", "internet sharing", or something similar. You might also consider getting a cheap access point, which can be had for about $30 USD.

[Brad Adrian]

Talking to your system admins is an excellent idea. You might be surprised to find out that there are already some WiFi access points installed on their system that you can connect to.

[Jon Westfall]

I don't know if I understand this wrong or if others do, but it sounds as though he has a compaq already connected to wifi, but wants his PPC to connect through a wifi card. This should work as long as your school only uses WEP as a security measure. If you're using Cisco LEAP authentication or another advanced authentication, you'll need client software on your PPC such as the Odyssey Client from www.funk.com . When it comes to IT people, make sure you talk to knowledgeable ones. I've talked with far too many IT people that wouldn't know a WLAN if it bit them in the...