Hi. I just got my first notebook.

Gateway MX6455 Platinum. AMD Turion ™ 64 mobile technology ML-37, 2Ghz | HyperTransport™ Technology up to 1600MHz | 1MB L2 cache, Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 20051,1024MB DDR (1 x 512MB) (PC2700) Expandable to 2GB.

I want to have a wireless connection. I want to be able to use it anywhere in the house. Is there also connections nowdays (Verizon?) that will allow you wireless connection as a cell phone would? So I could use this in my car, etc? I know I'm behind the times here, I've only had desktops before, and I have never had a cell phone. I have 2 desktops in my home and they are connected thourgh comcast modem and a wired router. I want a separate ISP connection for this notebook. Was going to go with BellSouth DSL and a wireless router so I can move all around the house. But I just saw the verizon commercial and am wondering if anyone is using verizon and how it works. I searched the verizon site and it says access is available in my town. Any comments would be appreciated. Is Verizon like DSL or Broadband except you can use it anywhere as you would a cell phone?

I'm taking the notebook out of the box right now.

James Lee

0. Goodluck with the lappie and I hope didn't "thrift out" extended warranty on that thing.

1. You don't need two separate broadband ISP's (maybe you have your reasons).

2. Get a Wireless/Wired router (Netgear and others have those).

3. Surfing via cellphone while operating a vehicle, I'm sure it's possible (though I haven't tried it, but it gives a new meaning to wardriving while armed with a 2500lb WMD).

4. http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/

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Sabertooth,

Thanks. I think I get it now. The wife wants her own ISP. Thinks that running a 3rd computer on the comcast modem/router will slow things down. I don't know about that. But she wants wireless on the laptop. I don't need it for the 2 desktops.

Not sure what you mean about the warranty "thrift out." I have never bought an extended waranty for any electrical appliance or computer or tv with a couple exceptions. My 18 inch Gateway flatscreen, and my 21.3T SyncMaster. And now, add to that the extended waranty on the new notebook that I just bought. Seems to be a good bet.

Guess I'll just go with Bell South and wireless for the 3 bedroom house.

Thanks for info!

James Lee.

Glad you got the extended warranty, I just wanted to emphasize the importance of that on laptops.

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Sabertooth,
Well the notebook is lots of fun. One thing that I wanted to ask you is this. I plugged my Comcast connection in to test the laptop and it works fine. Then I took the Comcast connection off and walked to another room with the notebook to show my wife. She clicked I.E. and asked how it was getting online without a cable! I see it is connecting anywhere in my house to the internet through something called "Wireless Network Connection" (Aphrodite automatic unsecured wireless network). It gives this info - Speed: 5.5 Mbps, Signal Strength: Very Low, Status: Connected. It shows packets sent:723, Received:1022. It stays connected for hours, it hasn't lost connection yet! When I go to status it has an IP address: 192.168.0.9, Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0, Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1. I can go to network connection details and it gives numbers for Physical address, Ip address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, Dhcp server, lease Obtained, Lease Expires, & dns servers.
Is this common? I mean to have wireless access in a house. I read your link about "hot spots" and found it very interesting. Is this what I'm getting? I live in a residential area. The hot spot link lists Starbucks, A Mall, Barnes and Nobel, and a couple others, but they are all about a mile and a half away.

I went to some bandspeed test sites and the download speed is showing 500 to 700 Kbps. Not like my Comcast 5 to 6 Mbps, but pretty good for free. I did my MacAfee and windows updates with this connection.

What do you think this is? You think it could possibly be dependable. Is this like stealing? Or can anyone see I'm using this connection? I'm sure it's too good to be true that I'm surfing with this in my house and no connection whatsoever. LOL!

James.

Those hotspots are places that you can go with your laptop and have access to the internet without a fuss, when you do that you are not connecting via your "home" ISP but through the hotspot's connection.

Is this common? I mean to have wireless access in a house

That is how it is supposed to work and you are actually still connecting to the internet through your local ISP probably because you have a router that is both a wired/wireless access point, you could tell you successfully joined a wireless network when your laptop's IP address changes to an assigned local number by the network's router as you noticed in the Network control panel in Windows.

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Sabertooth,

I am noticing something about the laptop that bugs me. When I am looking at photos in fullscreen, pictures of people look short and fat. I believe this is about the "widescreen" feature. I edit with adobe photoshop and have screen resolution on all my computers set at 800 x 600 (not what the pros recommend for editing but it's what I use) and the laptop looks weird. I don't like it. Is this laptop designed for watching movies perhaps?

James.