WiFi....eh?

[Guest slinkey]

hi guys,

a no brainer question for all those much further along the handheld path of enlightenment than me.

What is wifi?-ok, i know it's a way of connecting to the internet without wires-eg in the airport etc or anywhere else they've got wifi hotspots-but how do you set it up and get it going?

i use wifi on my laptop-i click on the wifi icon and i'm given a list of choices for connection, i click one of those and then i'm on the web-click on the firefox icon and away i go.

i can't seem to get it to go quite so easily on the old m600. i'm i being a doughnut or is it actually more complicated?? please help me someone!!

thanks for your time.

Slinkey

[Guest Tech]

ewww @ firefox

anyway ...

you create a new connection or enter the network details such as SSID/network pass key and the correct encryption data if any and it should pick it up and connect to it - assuming the servers allow you to connect to it

my wireless is secured so its WEP and the SSID is disabled

I simply created a new connection, entered the network name, entered the network WEP encryption data...and away it went

I also put in the MAC Address of the wireless device in my wireless router to allow it access ;)

what is the OS of the m600? WM5?

Edited May 22, 2006 by Tech

[Guest slinkey]

ok, i got about 10% of that.

i don't know anything about WEP encription data SSID or MAC stuff either i'm afraid.

the m600 has got wm5

I got it because i use internet a lot for work and with my lap top, as i said, i just click on the wifi icon and i'm conected-i don't enter any info (although i've got alice adsl at home-not wireless though) and i log on to any free connections that the computer can pick up. i thought it would be just as easy using wifi on my smartphone but it doesn't seem to be-you seem to need much more knowledge than i've got.

thanks for shedding light!

slinkey

[Guest chucky.egg]

Basically...

1. Press your Comm Manager button (on the left side of the device, near the top)

2. Press the WiFi button to enable WiFi (first icon on the second row)

3. On the top row of the display you should get an antenna symbol, probably with blinking circles around the top of it

4. Click the Settings button (right Softkey in Comm Manager)

5. Choose WiFi Settings

6. Click Advanced (tab)

7. You should have an "IP" field in there. If it shows 0.0.0.0 then you haven't connected successfully, if it shows pretty much any numbers instead of zeros then you are probably connected.

Try that first and see what you get

If you get no IP address then you're going to need to know how to logon to your router to check the SSID, WEP key (if any) and other stuff.

Glossary:

SSID = The descriptive name you (or someone) gave your wireless router

WEP = "Wireless Encryption Protocol" a system for securing wireless communications

MAC = A 12(?) character string of letters and numbers that's unique to your device.

[Guest jimbouk]

And just to add to what the guys have said:

If you turn your wifi on, simply by the icon in comm mgr, and wait a few seconds. The device will tell you if it can "see" any wifi access points - with a pop up on the today screen. If you select "connect" it will attempt to connect. The only problem with the pop up notification is that is doesn't inedicate whethger the access point is protected with WEP or not. If not, then you should connect. If it is protected then you wont get access.

(You can see a list of available access points if you want to check for protected/unprotected ones, go to settings, connections, network cards and a list of access points will appear - with a padlock next to WEP'd ones).

[Guest Tech]

sorry where are you connecting your wifi? at work? could be the fact that the work has MAC addressing filtering allowing you to only connect your laptop as you may/they may have put it on their access list?

[Guest slinkey]

Thanks for thte advice, i can see the 'free' wifi connection i use with my laptop (it's not connected to my office or anything-just one that's near by) but on the Prophet it has the padlock next to it so i guess it's 'WEP'd' (no idea what that is or how to get round it) but it IS meant to be a free generic one for all and sundry to use.

thanks again guys.

Slinkey

[Guest EvilDaz]

Hi

Wifi works fine, however the wireless network you are connecting to MUST have a DHCP server. I have found no way of hard coding a static IP address to the device without using a 3rd party wireless network card in the SD slot. If you look in the wifi settings after attempting to connect to a wireless network and the IP address is listed as 0.0.0.0, yet your mac address isn't filtered and you are using the correct WEP key, then the probability is there is not a DHCP server on the network to hand out an IP address to your M600.

Hope this helps.

Daz