Hello, folks...

Just registered. I found this board on a simple Google search while researching a problem I'm having.

First off, I do travel quite a bit, more than normal recently. For the last 3 months, I've been living at a Budget Suites of America location in North Texas. I more or less live up here now for a job.

Everything was fine until I had to switch rooms on account of an occupant next door smoking. Man, it went right through the walls! Had to move rooms. Nothing else could be done.

So, that was the first problem. The second was, when I moved rooms, I lost the floating internet signal someone was sending that I (shamelessly) latched onto. :-)

At Budget Suites, they only have the ethernet cord hook-up from the wall for free high-speed internet, but they don't encourage wireless or support it. But some people find a way to get it, though no one could tell me how--not the techplus guy, manager...no one!

So, I go out and get two routers, one to replace the other. Belkin G Wireless routers. The tech support said that the first didn't work, which was BS, because the second didn't either. 5 tech reps couldn't get it to work. The router transmits a signal, but there is no data. You have to accept a ToS when you begin surfing.

So, my initial issue is, how can I get me some of that wireless good stuff!

Hi,

Please confirm you have it set up as follows:

wall <-> Ethernet Cord <-> Belkin Router

and you have changed the default ssid on the router to something else "example1"

Then, from your laptop you have connected to "example1".

Being shown a TOS screen likely means that you are not connecting to the proper wireless network.

- Ztras

I disagree. It sounds to me like the Budget Suites requires accepting the ToS and since the OP is going through the router they are not able to get to that point and then access the Internet.

I'd try accepting the ToS with the laptop and then setting the router to spoof the MAC address of the laptop. That should have the wired network think that the laptop which accepted the connection is active even though the OP switches to wireless.

On a slightly different note, can you just plug in a 50' cable? Just as good as wireless without the pain of having to manage your own router.

PS - Welcome to FlyerTalk!

If the OP uses a "cable/dsl" router/firewall combo AP, then he won't have to worry about MAC address issues. He just has to make sure to plug in the WAN, not the LAN, jack into the wall.

I'm not sure I understand your instructions. I did rename the router, but I get no signal. The ToS everyone gets who uses the signal. You have to agree to it before you can proceed.

Thanks, all.

But no go. I have plugged in directly to the wall, but the rest of you guy's instructions I don't get. Please explain.

Good point, and probably correct. My thinking was that his (assuming male OP purely on percentages) wireless adapter was defaulting to the hotel's wireless network (paid) which was prompting him for his payment info. I doubt he got far enough to set up his router correctly and connect through it. A standard plug the wall into the WAN port should NAT the LAN side by default, so the WAN only sees the router's MAC. I've used VMware in similar configurations in the past.

I love posts that start out with a "nightmare".

I would just get a long ethernet cord. Unless you're really geeky, you will not be able to get it to work.

If when you connect to the internet with the laptop wired there is a screen which makes you accept the terms and conditions of the connection, the only way to use the wireless router is to set the MAC address of the router to the same as the wired port on the laptop. You would first have to connect the laptop, accept the terms, disconnect it, plug in the router and it should work.

It's way too much effort to do that, go to monoprice.com and get a 50 foot ethernet cable for under five bucks.

If you really want wireless it would probably be much easier to use two computers, connect one and accept the terms and conditions, and then share that connection to give you the wireless signal.

But anytime the connection requires you to enter a room number or accept terms or whatever, it's not going to be easy to just plug a router into the wall.

Yeah, couldn't even configure the router at setup.

SO....how are others with wireless routers doing it???

Come on, techies!

Your attitude isn't going to get you far here.

But, see this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...onnection.html

There are really two steps:

1. Setup the router
Connect your computer with an ethernet cable to a LAN port and set the router wireless settings such as SSID, encryption etc. Set the router WAN port setting to "get an IP address automatically". After this is done, remove the cable and make use you can get the router setup page via your wireless LAN NIC.

2, Connect to hotel LAN
Make sure you have a wireless connection with your router. Connect the router to the hotel LAN jack with the WAN port on your router. Open the brower on you PC and go thru the hotel internet access registration page.

Or, buy one of these : http://www.hfield.com/ and "borrow" someone's unencrypted signal that is nearby.

LOL. What's wrong with a pringles cantenna?

(http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html)

If the OP can't set up a wireless router, I'm guessing that the only thing he/she is going to get out of a pringles can is pringles!