voyager does appear to be an unreliable modem. I changed to a speedtouch 330 and haven`t had any dropped connections over two days. I noticed that bt are no longer selling the voyager 105

I have a wireless router. The connected speed seems to vary anywhere from 50 odd MBs down to 11 during the day. Is this normal? I'm assuming it is a bandwidth issue with my ISP - onetel?
Also the reason I noticed was I wanted to check if their promised upgrade to 2mb had taken place but I can't seem to find a line speed figure?

I'm looking for some general advice. My GF spends a lot of time in hotel bedrooms (she's a rep, or so she says ;-).

Anyway she's splurged out and bought a 399 ibm thinkpad r50 laptop from Staples and want's to connect to her email on BT Yahoo when in the various hotels. I'm now lumbered with the task of setting it up.
The question is what to? The laptop has a wireless connection but do hotels supply wireless connectivity? And how would I set it up so she can just point, click and connect (lovely as she is her knowledge of computers is err.. not good and that's being kind).
Or do I set it up for modem dial out? She's on BT broadband at home and presumably she can connect to her account on dial up I pressume?

Sorry to bother folk but I never stay in hotels these days so haven't a clue what reps etc. do to connect or what hotels offer.

Cheers in advance.

brianboro, ideal opportunity to join your girlfriend in the hotel bedrooms....just to see how the laptop connects...... sorry I can't help you with the technicals :-)
opto

kernow, no that is the wireless speed and is to do with the transmission between the base station and the client computers, dependent on local conditions. You can do things like try siting the base station aerial away from metal objects, in a higher place, etc. etc. The manufacturer's instructions will have some more suggestions.

Somewhere in the router stats it should give you the connection speed, should be 2272kb for 2Mb/s.

Kayak - thanks very much for this advice. I've been able to check my broadband speed and it has not been upgraded. The variable connection speed to the router is a puzzle though - I don't move anything but still see variations. No matter as it is at least an order of magnitude quicker than the ADSL end.

Brianboru - The best solution for me was to buy a 3G data card (O2 or Vodaphone). This simply slots into the laptop and connects either via 3G (fast) or if not available then GPRS - reasonable for e mail and limited browsing. Some hotels, airports, stations etc have wireless networks but they are not the same and you need to subscribe in order to get connected. My data card works pretty much anywhere - even abroad so is convenient though not too cheap - various tarrifs are available. The great advantage is you pay for data downloaded not time elapsed, so you can leave the connection on e.g. for e mail all the time at little cost.

kernow, you could be seeing interference from base stations in other people's houses nearby. Try using a different channel.

Brian,
I don't have a BT/Yahoo a/c but many ISPs won't let you send mail unless you are connected to them directly. Some ISPs offer SMTP (outgoing mail) authentication.
I have a vodafone mail account (available to contract customers) which I use for outgoing mail while I'm roaming.

skg

Kayak - thanks again. Will fiddle over the w/e.

Brian,

When I used to travel around and spend a lot of time in hotels, I signed up to AOL. I hate the service, but you get an 0800 number that you can use from any phone line here or abroad (although abroad you have to pay).

14.99 a month if she isn't too bothered about speed.

The idea of plugging a cable into the wall is a bit dated now, but it is still cheap and reliable.

our office computers are all XP but we have just taken on somebody with a Win98
and he can not get on the network should it work through network neighbourhood or something else or do i give him the dell broucher

BRESIE, connecting Windows 98 computers to Windows 2000/XP networks has outfoxed the best minds. I did get it to work eventually once. First thing to do is to set the workgroup correctly on the Windows 98 client (Control Panel/Network if I remember correctly) since the default is unhelpfully different for 98 and XP. If that isn't enough these notes I made a couple of years ago (W98 connecting to W2000) may or may not help.

W2000 server
------------

Client username must be set up on server, password may be blank (minimal privileges)

W98 client
----------

Network properties:

Client for Microsoft Networks: quick logon

File and Printer Sharing: Browse Master automatic, LM announce No

TCP/IP: IP address (address of server)/mask 255.255.255.0, DNS configuration disable, gateway all blank,
WINS configuration disable WINS resolution, Advanced Set this Protocol... unticked,
NetBIOS greyed out (ticked)

Primary Network Logon: Windows Logon

File and Print Sharing: both ticked

Access control tab: Share-level access control

Server username/passwords need not be set up on client

Thanks Kayak ,Space and SC all good stuff will have a go on monday

Thanks for the info on Hotels folks - I think I was expecting them all to be wireless enabled and hi-tech these days- dream on it seems!
looks like I'll just set her up with a modem dial up connection and hope she can find a socket in the room.

Brian,
To answer your question directly you can check to see if the network "ANY" or "WIRELESS" is listed in Control Panel/Network Conections/Wireless Network Connection[or similar]/Properties/Prefered networks see the link from Dell:
How Do I? .................from Dell

skg

I installed Java Sunmicrosystems 5 yesterday cos some p2p software wanted to, but thought nothing of it untill I started to load up my webpages for cmc deal4freelite.com/spreadbet the popup java boxes etc dont work, did as it suggested remove files/folders etc but it would not re-install the cmc platform/software. in the end I uninstalled Java 5 and got cmc back up and running ;-)

I need to installed Java 5 but also need my money pages how do I do this? ;-)

I need to buy some tft monitor brackets/stands so I can put maximum of 4 in a square on my desktop minimum 17" to 21" each monitor

Rich see the header. Trader PC.com

Could anyone recommend a spreadbetting company whose system works with Macs?

I run a G5 with OS 10.3.8 and Safari 1.2.4. All I've spoken to say they're working on becoming Mac-compatible but I haven't yet found one that is.

Thanks