Travel Technology - WIFI connection dificulty

I am renting an apartment in Nice, FR. There is free WIFI included in the rent. I have an HP Pavilion PC. The owners have a MacBook. Their computer connects to WANADOO C248 with the key with no problem. After entering the network key in the appropriate box, my PC gets as far as a screen that says "searching for the network" and eventually goes back to the listing of networks in range. I am using their MacBook but would prefer to solve my connection problem and use my own laptop which I have dragged across the ocean from the US for this purpose. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Do they have a MAC-Adress filter activated in their WIFI-Router? What WIFI standard does the router use? 802.1g or 802.1b? Which one does your laptop support? What kind of encryption is used WEP, WPA or WPA2? Does your laptop support the encryption? Check all these points.

Is their network listed as one of the ones in range when the list comes back?

I'm guessing they have mac address filtering turned on, where you can see the network, but it will never see you.

Is their network listed as one of the ones in range when the list comes back? I'm guessing they have mac address filtering turned on, where you can see the network, but it will never see you.

I would guess that also. Some more info is at http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wirelessproducts/qt/macaddress.htm mac address filtering

MisterNice

What specific wireless router are they using?

What specific machine are you using? Does it have built-in wireless, or are you using a card?

Are you able to connect if you move closer to the router?

I've had similar problems in many situations, where one computer can join the network, while another can't. The most recent issue was solved by moving the router from the floor to on top of a cabinet. Others have been solved by replacing routers (Netgear has not been great, ditto d-link; Belkin and Linksys have been fine).

If you can connect when closer to the router, you might want to consider a repeater (range extender (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1130267578138&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper)).

Please let us know how this is resolved. It's a common problem.