Originally Posted by
uncertaintraveler
I have a Macbook (bought in 2007). Intermittently, when I am in a free/unsecured wifi location, I can sometimes connect to a network (usually named "linksys") and the airport icon shows "full-power". Yet, when I try to open Safari, I get an error message stating that I'm not connected to the internet.
My guess is that when this happens, you are connecting to an access point that doesn't have Internet access
How can I be connected to a network (that didn't ask for/require a password), but not be able to connect to the internet?
The network and the Internet are 2 completely different things. "The network" consists of the local network infrastructure within whatever facility you're in, be it a hotel, coffee shop, airport, etc. For the sake of discussion though let's say you're in a hotel. The hotel is going to have wireless access points located throughout the structure, and it may also have physical network jacks in each room. This all connects into structured wiring within the hotel itself and routes back to a central data center or closet somewhere within the hotel, and connects into servers, switches, routers, and other gear.
This is "the network", or LAN (local area network). This is the hotels private network. This is not the Internet. Just because you can connect to the hotels private network does mean that you're on the Internet.
Also in the hotels data center or closet they will have communications lines coming in from the street. These lines connect into the same equipment that the hotels private network connects into, and voila, provide Internet access. So from your room you connect to the hotels network, and then you travel over the hotels networks to connect to the Internet.
Jason