choirfarm Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Ok.. how is it that my husband's smart phone works in our house if we don't have the wireless device on?? Thanks for answering my questions about the IPAD Ipod touch...though I really still don't understand. All of this just seems so mysterious.. some works some doesn't... But he can look at x-rays all the time just by having his phone on. We don't have to have our hot spot on. So why wouldn't an IPAD work? Or are they different? Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelbe5 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 (edited) I may be wrong, but I am guessing the phone can be "online" because it is working through a cell phone signal, which is different from using wireless internet. This is why most smart phones have a monthly data plan fee. The phone is also using plan minutes when online this way, which could cost more $ if the user exceeds monthly plan minutes. My dh has an iPhone. It will seek the wi-fi signal first, but if that is not available it will use a cell signal to go online if my dh wants to surf. Hope that makes sense. Is your iPad a wi-fi + 3G device? If it is, it should be able to tap into a cell phone signal. If it is a wi-fi only device it can only go online through wireless internet; it can't access internet through a cell phone signal . . . Edited October 14, 2011 by jelbe5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weddell Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 There are two main ways for devices like these to connect to the internet: wifi and 3g. Wifi is using your home wireless internet connection. You have to have an internet connection that you pay for and a wireless router that sends that internet connection all over your house so devices can connect to it. Often places like Starbucks and McDonalds will have free wifi within their stores that you can also use. 3g is an internet connection using cell phones towers. Because it is using a connection like a cell phone, it will work anywhere that a cell phone will normally work--you aren't restricted to your house or a Starbucks for the internet, instead you can connect to the internet WHEREVER you are. Most smartphones can connect to either but mainly rely on 3g. That's why they can work anywhere whether or not there is wifi (home internet). Some ipads only work with wifi, but some people are paying extra per month to their cell phone company for their ipad to connect to 3g. That means those people can connect to the internet anywhere using their ipad. So some ipads will connect to the internet anywhere by using 3g and others can only connect at home using wifi. Does that help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Does that help? YES!!! Finally, something that makes sense... OK, so if I wanted an IPAD then I could use our mobile hot spot that we have with Verizon. However, I would need a router..to be able to use an IPAD with it... I think we have one.. Our printers are wireless.. and we have a family network?? Because dh's laptop can print as well... Anyway, I can either pay an additional subscription to use the IPAD 3g or use the hotspot whenever my children don't have it hooked up to our desktop to do all of their online stuff. Someone said you could somehow do a router to make all of them work, but it would make it slower. That wouldn't work, it is already slow as it is... though still better than dial-up. But dh complains how slow ours is here compared to his office and my mom hates coming here to use our internet. Oh well, the price you pay for living among the cows, I guess.. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Someone said you could somehow do a router to make all of them work, but it would make it slower. That wouldn't work, it is already slow as it is... though still better than dial-up.The speed would not be slower, but rather it would be the same. It's possible it could be faster, perhaps much faster. One problem with putting your wireless device in the computer is that it MUST be wherever the computer is. If you instead put it into a small wireless router, you can place it wherever you have the strongest signal in your house. We do that here with a 3G device: In one corner of the house we get good-quality signal, so we get speeds of ~ 2Mbps instead of less than 200 kbps or over 10X faster. Whether this is possible for you depends on the cellular data signals in your house. You could test this possibility now by trying moving your computer around to different parts of the house to see if you get better speeds anywhere. Just a thought... Also note that sharing internet among several computers will only slow them down when multiple computers are accessing the internet simultaneously, which is not often. You are not likely to notice that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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