Nightmare Trying To Get Wi-Fi Hotspot. Help needed.

[hpowders]

I live in Florida and have Brighthouse/Earthlink high speed cable for my 2 year old Apple iMac.

Next week, my wife will be bringing home an iPad 2, 16 GB, Wi-Fi, she got as a gift. So naturally, I want to set up a Wi-Fi hot spot in my home to accommodate the iPad. Brighthouse tells me the wireless routers they use only work with their Road Runner internet service, not the Earthlink service. (Groan!) I asked if I change to Road Runner, would the router work with my iMac, and they don't seem to know.

I got so disgusted with them, I was about to order Verizon Fios with router, but found in the small print that the router is only good with Windows PC's!

I never thought an iPad would be a home wrecker!

Any suggestions as to what I should do to get a Wi-Fi setup in my home for my iMac desktop and iPad?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Mike4AU]

How about an Apple Airport Extreme?

 

[hpowders]

How about an Apple Airport Extreme?

I did some research and found the Apple Airport Express-very small and portable. I could bring it anywhere. Plug the ethernet modem cable into the unit and go to "airport Utility" in applications, fill in some stuff and I'm good to go. $99. So simple!

Thanks for your input, Mike!

Lesson number one: you want something done easy, stay the heck away from the cable companies!!

Lesson learned!!

 

[Mike4AU]

I was actually referring to the Extreme, but if the Express works, go for it. Hope this helps.

 

[hpowders]

Thanks, Mike. All I have is an iMac and the soon to be iPad2. The Express should be more than adequate.

 

[Allswell]

What are you going to do when a ethernet connection is not available......?

 

[pbansen]

I want to set up a Wi-Fi hot spot in my home to accommodate the iPad. Any suggestions as to what I should do to get a Wi-Fi setup in my home for my iMac desktop and iPad?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've found home WiFi networks to be compatible with both Windows and Mac computers (including the iPad and iPod Touch). My home network supports an HP desktop connected to the router through the Ethernet port on the computer, another desktop (Dell) connected wirelessly with a USB port WiFi adapter, several Windows laptops connected wirelessly as well as my iPad and iPod Touch. When travelling, I've connected my Windows laptop through my Dad's AirPort with no issues.

We have several wireless routers at work that also accommodate both PC's and Macs

The ISP's now seem to be providing DSP or cable modems combined with a router (rather than using a separate modem and router), but I can't think of any reason why, if the router and computers are correctly configured, they shouldn't be able to support either a PC or a Mac.

Basically, my impression is that WiFi is WiFi - it shouldn't matter what the platform of the computer is, provided that the router and computer are configured to talk to one another. If the wireless router (or combination modem/router) is configured to that the network name is visible and the security is either turned off or configured to allow access by the computer, it should work.

When you get the iPad, see if your network shows up in Settings. If it doesn't, try going into the router configuration using the computer that currently works with the router and check the security settings and whether the router is set so that the network broadcasts its name - if it doesn't, that can keep it from showing up on potential client computers.

Bottom line - your current network may work perfectly well with the iPad, there's really reason to think that it won't until you try it.

 

[hpowders]

I want to set up a Wi-Fi hot spot in my home to accommodate the iPad. Any suggestions as to what I should do to get a Wi-Fi setup in my home for my iMac desktop and iPad?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've found home WiFi networks to be compatible with both Windows and Mac computers (including the iPad and iPod Touch). My home network supports an HP desktop connected to the router through the Ethernet port on the computer, another desktop (Dell) connected wirelessly with a USB port WiFi adapter, several Windows laptops connected wirelessly as well as my iPad and iPod Touch. When travelling, I've connected my Windows laptop through my Dad's AirPort with no issues.

We have several wireless routers at work that also accommodate both PC's and Macs

The ISP's now seem to be providing DSP or cable modems combined with a router (rather than using a separate modem and router), but I can't think of any reason why, if the router and computers are correctly configured, they shouldn't be able to support either a PC or a Mac.

Basically, my impression is that WiFi is WiFi - it shouldn't matter what the platform of the computer is, provided that the router and computer are configured to talk to one another. If the wireless router (or combination modem/router) is configured to that the network name is visible and the security is either turned off or configured to allow access by the computer, it should work.

When you get the iPad, see if your network shows up in Settings. If it doesn't, try going into the router configuration using the computer that currently works with the router and check the security settings and whether the router is set so that the network broadcasts its name - if it doesn't, that can keep it from showing up on potential client computers.

Bottom line - your current network may work perfectly well with the iPad, there's really reason to think that it won't until you try it.

Okay. Thanks for your help.

 

[hpowders]

What are you going to do when a ethernet connection is not available......?

So, what you are saying is I can't just go into a hotel room and plug in my Airport Express and get wi-fi.

 

[CybrDuke]

I just recently got my first iPad after being a PC all my life. I wondered about the network as well. I got the iPad home, turned it on, it recognized the network, I gave it my key and it's been happy sailing ever since. I have a net gear router, nothing special. Good luck.

 

[hpowders]

Thanks! I hope for a smooth story too!

 

[pbansen]

I just recently got my first iPad after being a PC all my life. I wondered about the network as well. I got the iPad home, turned it on, it recognized the network, I gave it my key and it's been happy sailing ever since. I have a net gear router, nothing special. Good luck.

Yup, same deal. I may have had to add the iPad to the list of recognized computers for the network, but other than that, smooth sailing.

I've had a couple of Netgear routers and have generally had good luck with them. You can configure home network security in any number of ways, but two things that I've found to be pretty painless are setting the network to not broadcast its identity (it doesn't show up on the neighbor's computer as "Smith Family network") and/or allowing the network to support only specific machines, which are listed in the router configuration utility. If someone is visiting and wants to get on your WiFi, you either disable that function temporarily or add their machine to your list