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Wireless at Macq (1 Viewer)

Demandred

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Hey guys, how do I connect wireless on the laptop? It can detect Macq's wireless network but it always says limited or no connectivity (my ip is automatically determined, not preset).

Any ideas how do I access it?

Thanks.
 

Cyan_phoeniX

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my laptop use to automatically detect it in the library, but lately it has the same thing. maybe they are changing/fixing it?
 

Skittled

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You should be able to just turn your laptop on, turn the wireless on, and it'll be all engines go. However, sometimes for some reason (I'd only be speculating if I came up with reasons), it'll not allocate an IP address -- as you've found out. Seems to happen most often when the signal's weak.

Easiest way to fix the DHCP issues is, if you're running WinXP, right click on your wireless network connection thing in the bottom right of your screen (or, alternatively, open up the Network Connections window and right click on your wireless adaptor), and hit repair. It will disable your wireless, re-enable it, and start searching for wireless networks again.That is assuming you've already connected to it at least once, thereby telling your computer to automatically connect every time...

If you can't figure out how to do that, or are running another operating system, using the hard-switch (ie a physical switch on the outside of your laptop) to turn off your wireless, and then turn it back on, should/may do the same thing.

Even then, sometimes it still doesn't work. Bad luck, go get a coffee instead ;)
 

Grizzly

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Do they charge for downloads using macq wireless ?

10cents per mb is a rip off at unsw =/
 

Skittled

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Grizzly said:
Do they charge for downloads using macq wireless ?

10cents per mb is a rip off at unsw =/
Nope, free. You've gotta log into it using your username/password, so I'd imagine they keep an eye out for the people downloading too much, though... or anything 'questionable'.
 

*~Dazed~*

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Anyone here have a mac?
I have no clue how wireless works. What do i need in order for my mac to work on the uni wireless? I was having a look and all i can find is info about the airport base thing but surely you dont need one of those if the uni HAS wireless, isn't that if you want to set up your own network at home/office/whatever?
 

Skittled

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It always seems Apple renames industry standards to something so that only "Mac people" know what they're on about. Just makes the Mac-PC chasm even wider.

"Airport" is the same system as the 'wireless' system we've got, and you're correct that the Airport Base is what you'd need if you were setting up a network.

If you had a PC, I'd ask if you had a "wireless card" (if it were something you plugged into your laptop), or if it was a built in "wireless adaptor", or a few other things... but you don't have a PC. Regardless, you still need this bit of hardware that is either pre-built into your laptop, or you can slot into it (if Mac's have what's called a PCMCIA port.. a big ugly hole about as wide as a credit card and 7mm thick. Probably not though, because Macs are stylish little things). That thing transmits and receives the radiowaves (microwaves to be precise, I believe) to the "Airport Base", allowing you to have wireless network access.

Best thing you could do is look up a spec sheet for your laptop. Look for anything to do with "airport" (or, "802.11b", or "802.11g", as they're known by the industry standard codes)... or maybe ring up an Apple shop and ask them if you've got one.

Actually there should be (again, if it was a PC, but I'm assuming Apple would) a button which would turn on and off the wireless on your PC if you've got a wireless card built into your laptop (it's there becauise the wireless eats up a lot of battery generally, so when you don't need it you can easily turn it off). Look for that, and if it's there, 90% of the time you'll have an in-built wireless card, so you'll be able to use the wireless at MQ.

Gosh I can crap on. That's what you get for working in an electronics store, I suppose... Sorry! :D
 

*~Dazed~*

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Thanks for the info skittled!!!

Well i was looking at the box and i know my laptop is "airport ready" so wireless ready because that was one of the differences between the new edition ibooks when i was getting it because not all laptops comes ready for wireless. So mine is 'ready' but i just dont have all the hardware for it or something. Apparantly there is a space under the keyboard to insert some card thing and it does mention that whole 802.11g thing but when i was on the site all they had was info on the base thing but it seems like i wouldn't need the base.

Meh its so confusing. I'm confused and what i just said is a whole heap of extra ramble crap. Thanks heaps again, but like you said, i guess it would be best to talk to someone at an apple shop or something.
 

Skittled

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*~Dazed~* said:
...Meh its so confusing. I'm confused and what i just said is a whole heap of extra ramble crap. Thanks heaps again, but like you said, i guess it would be best to talk to someone at an apple shop or something.
No, no, it's not extra ramble -- it helps reassure that the problem I'm thinking you've got IS the problem you have.

See, there're two parts to the inbuilt wireless adaptors: the actual adaptor that generates/interprets the wireless signals, and an antenna. You can't do it without one. So, what you've got is an antenna strung through your computer, but not the card to interpret/generate the signals. Again, go to the appleshop and ask them for one. In the PC world it'd cost you NO MORE than $100 (you can buy alternatives --the big ugly plug in PCMCIA cards -- for $70 from retail stores, but as it's internal, it might be a bit more, but not too much more)... and it'll probaly be more expensive becaues it's a Mac, becuase you have no choice but to go with their card.

Sweet_Lemon said:
is there dl limit?
Not that I've seen explicitly stated. I'd imagine there's a certain level of "reasonableness". If you just use webpages/internet it's quite hard to download a lot... and then they shouldn't be concerend about you downloading from any MQ sites (including iLectures) as they don't have to pay for that bandwidth -- only the stuff outside the uni network that you need to logon for.
 

Grizzly

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Skittled said:
Nope, free. You've gotta log into it using your username/password, so I'd imagine they keep an eye out for the people downloading too much, though... or anything 'questionable'.
Yehh, it used to be free at unsw...but then ppl where downloading "heaps of crap" lol :p.
 

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