I have a clunky desktop computer running XP in the family room. I was only able to access the internet by dial up - until I slipped on my running shoes and jumped aboard high speed internet. Still I was limited to the desktop in the one location. Younger Daughter in Alabama purchased a router with antenna and pretty much set up a home network for me which did little good as I didn't yet have a fast connection. We learned it was impossible to complete the setup without getting off dial up. The ethernet plug had no place to go.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Wildblue set us up with a dish in the yard and a modem on the desk. Now we were talking! Once again my hopes rose for that router that was sitting on the floor in a box. Maybe this time - maybe this time we could break free from the confines of the chair at the desktop and boot up the little red ACER and actually move about the house in complete computing abandon!
Elder daughter's husband came over one evening and handily hooked the wires and plugs and antenna in their proper order and I turned on the ACER. It could see the router. It seemed blind to the internet connection.
Tonight, Elder Daughter was at the desktop working on Facebook. Her husband came in and wondered if I had ever been able to connect to the Internet on the Netbook? I said no, that I had unplugged the router in frustration. He set things back in place and asked me to try it again. So,I did. I turned on the lil' red ACER and waited for the icons to load. What's that? A tiny symbol of a computer with signal bars.
SIGNAL bars, I tell you!
Google popped up for my home page! McAfee advised that the site was safe and we zoomed off on the information highway. My first stop was my weblog. This entire post has been done on the cute lil' red ACER! For the first time - and probably not the last, I have been sitting at the dining table while online.
What a heady feeling this is. Hoo-yah!
5 comments:
X-actly so! Happy and joy describe the experience.
Also, I am sure you password protected you new network. Sure you did. Didn't you?
The reason I ask is that our laptops can see six named, local area networks from our location, including, of course, our own. Three of those six are listed as "security type: unsecured" and are open to anyone who wishes to log on and use their bandwidth.
And you know how precious our bandwidth is!
Yes, I spoke to one of the guys today who assisted another agency as they served a search warrant on a young person at his home. They discussed not making a hard case of things just because the people within the household weren't necessarily the ones downloading the nasty stuff. They were un-pass-worded and the near neighbors could very well have been using their signal. In fact, one was a trucker - home sporadically. The downloads were also done sporadically. I think we have a suspect! The guy I spoke with said he was going home and password his network. I'm looking for the belkin software tonight and taking care of bid-ness.
Hadn't thought about misuse of bandwidth in he criminal sense. Huh!
Perhaps one should inquire of one's offspring in another state, say, if the network over there is "secured." Your previous comment provides a perfect motive for doing that.
Just a thought . . .
Wow, I'm having flashbacks to all those dial-up sounds while sitting and waiting for AOL to start and hoping no one would call so I wouldn't get knocked offline. Welcome to high-speed internet! When Steve was setting up my parents network, he named it 'Westchester Police Department' in order to discourage other people from trying to log on to it. Of course, no such police department exists in Miami. Definitely password protect your network!
One of my friends named hers "Not Password Protected", then she used her very long password.
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