Sorry, if I'm a bit clueless here, but is the Apple store providing the wireless internet for you?  If so, you should talk to them.  Most of them time, if you connect, DHCP ensures you get an IP address automatically ... and from there, yes, you just open internet explorer and go

The Apple stores all have free wifi hotspots (so it says on the web) and when i sat outside the one in my mall where i work, sure enough, i got a wireless connection on my laptop. the icon in systray showed 4 bars.  in the dell utility for wireless 1350 card, it showed "apple store" and properties said it was "open". that's when i tried to go to the web.  i guess i don't know if a connection is all i need (and if so, how to make it work properly) or if i need something else to access the web beyond the wireless connection. i thought the whole point of free wifi was not to need a subscription or isp....but duh i'm new to this part. so - help please, if you can. and thanks!

Again, I've never used one of their hotspots.  Even if it's free, they may want people to register or something before they use it.  The easiest way would be to ask them, as they're the most likely to know what settings they need.

 

You can find lots of other free wi-fi spots at these sites. I usually go to my local Panera Bakery had guzzle coffee and bagels while I surf.

 

http://www.wififreespot.com
http://www.intel.com/unwire/service_offers.htm

It doesn't really matter how your 'connected' to the internet, IE should be able to see & use either one. I have both setup on my laptop, but have "Never dial a connection" configured for my dial-up. This allows the wireless or direct-connect first shot at connecting. I can still connect, via the dialup, later if I want to, superceding the wireless or direct-connect connection. Man, that's alot of 'connections' ... :) - it's starting to confuse me!

How did you know you were 'connected' at the Apple store? That might help us figure out what the problem is. Without more information, i'd say the 'hot' spot, or yourself, might be using MAC-filtering or someother form of wireless security that's not completely jiving with each other.

Mike.

OK, that might help, thanks. I tried again at another hotspot (Sip and Surf) and clearly was "connected" because the little wireless icon showed some colored bars and I went into the Dell Wireless Lan utility and the Sip and Surf was there and I clicked configure and it was open/disabled in the settings. No encryption. I could see my laptop trying to connect (the two little computers in systray.... one was blinking but the other didn't respond). I tried both IE and Mozilla and got page no load, no host. At first my dialup kept coming on...I will try clicking never dial, but then what happens when I want to connect to dialup at home? do I have to reset this parameter? Also I finally figured out to disable McAfee firewall.
Geez, this is frustration, because I know I'm just missing something small and I really wanna try out my new toy :-).
So - any other suggestions, leads to sites with instructions, etc. would be really appreciated!
thanks.
BTW if it matters, i'm on a dell inspiron 1150 384 mb ram dell wireles 1350 included.

I'm running primarily wireless at home. When I need to connect through dial-up, I just open "Network Connections", then double-click my dial-up icon, or right-click it and select 'connect'. That does seem strange. Here's a link with to a thread where someone seemed to be having the same problem are you, there might be something there that's helpful:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=aximwireless&message.id=4428&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Mike.

Message Edited by Midnight Star on 09-10-2004 03:05 AM

Hey Midnight,
thanks a lot. I finally connected wireless for the first time (woo hoo). I need to set dialup to "never dial" as you suggested, but also needed to change my browser Mozilla from proxy to direct connection. Bingo!
Thanks a lot for your help, and to everyone else who replied, thanks as well. this forum is great because of the folks who take the time to help each other.......
54 mbs is amazing!!!!
Mookie1150