Network help needed

[Quickmarch 488]

Here's an appeal for help from the network gurus on MH - 

 

I'm in Spain at the moment. Moved into a rental in Altea that my wife thought would be acceptable. It is quite comfortable. 

 

Unfortunately, although the rental is advertised to come with WiFi, this is not 100% accurate. There is WiFi but it is encrypted using WEP. The apartment owners are in Asia on a holiday and are unreacheable. Suffice to say the cleaning lady isn't much help. 

 

My Win7 Pro O/S refuses to connect to this form of encryption. Here's the warning I get:

 

 

So I clicked on the "How do I...........?"

 

I got this page (the one in the background) and then clicked on "Click to open......

 

This resulted in the screen shown in the foreground. It never found anything, never mind in 90 seconds.

 

 

I made sure my firewall was set to "Public settings, ie: no shared files/printers/etc.

 

Then I went to: Control Panel/Network and Internet/Manage Wireless Networks - and attempted to set up a WEP network according to Windows' instructions. This process failed although I followed the instructions as presented. Here's the first screen:

 

 

And the second screen (which I clicked on):

 

 

Here's the next step

 

 

And the final step:

 

 

Clicking "OK" takes me back to the screen in the bacground and that ends the session.

 

I rebooted the computer and tried to find the "Spain" network - with no success.

 

Can anyone see where I went wrong, or supply another method of connecting? I'm connected to the internet (to send this message) over a next-door neighbour who is too dumb to encrypt his/her WiFi. The connection from this apartment isn't much better, but at least it has a password requirement.

 

Fingers crossed that the MH machine has the answers - otherwise it's going to be a pretty bleak month.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

check under the router itself;

if left untouched; the WEP key is usually printed on a sticker under the router

don’t reset it; as you may lose your ISP connectivity

[allardjd 1,853]

Were you provided with a password by the owners before they left?  Without one, you're screwed, though Chris' suggestion might just bear fruit.

 

John

[Quickmarch 488]

So that password, if it is under the router (can't check right now because jet-lag is keeping me awake and the router is in the bedroom) goes in the field "network security key" in the last screenshot?

[allardjd 1,853]

I think that's right, March.

John

[Quickmarch 488]

Ok, found two stickers - one is a 12 digit alphanumeric and the other is a ten digit alphanumeric. Neither one worked when placed in the "Network Security Key" field. A balloon pops up informing me that the key must be either 5 or 13 characters long. After putting on in, I checked the field and it was filled with a different number than the one I entered. I tried putting in the first 5 of the 10 digit number and, on checking, found a 10 digit number (completely different) had replaced the number I entered.

I may be completely snookered on this one as the folks who own the apartment are out of the country.

I do have one more ace up my sleeve, although it's likely to be an expensive one: I brought my "4G Hotspot" with me. This gadget requires a SIM card be installed, then it broadcasts for up to five connections. I've got to go out and get a sim for my phone, so I may inquire at the tel store.

Can anyone recommend the best sim supplier for this area - Altea, Spain?

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

try this

don’t setup any Wi-Fi connection manually; you could be setting your encryption wrong in the manual process

delete the connection; then let windows find the broadcasting network; and click to connect to it

at that point windows already knows the encryption type and will only ask for the key

once provided the connection setting will retain; you could check and see what it is then (pointless if your already connected)

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks Chris,

 

Unfortunately Win7Pro won't even let me get that far. When the pop-up appears (left click the network icon in the tray), the network for this apartment shows up fine - with a heck of a strong signal. I left-click the connection and Windoze immediately reverts to the "Windows was unable to connect to Alteatownhouse". That screen gives me the option to "Troubleshoot problems" - which results in the first screenshot that I posted last night (above).

 

The owners of this apartment have three apartments in this town, one they live in and the other two are rentals - across the street from one another. That's how I'm able to get any internet connection at all. I sit in the kitchen which is closest to the front of this apartment and connect to the one across the street. It's just by chance that my wife found a handwritten note in a bowl that lists the logons for the two apartments. Originally, I was under the impression that she was pirating the signal on an open network. This is not the case; she actually has a log on for the other apartment.

 

The connection is not too bad - varies from one bar (unusable) to three bars (acceptable for mail and forums). However, that's where it ends. I'm not going to be joining my VA in any flying this month.

 

EDIT: **************************HOT DAMN!*************************

 

Figured it out. This is not intuitive.

 

What I did was make a new network with the identical name (Alteatownhouse) as per the sequence shown in the screenshots in the first part of this post. I then went through the process and put the (supplied) password in to the field and Windoze accepted it. Now tell me why it was necessary to leap through all these hoops when I should have been able to enter the darn password in the normal manner. I got to the same place, just took me (us) 12 hours to do it.

 

Gad! I hate Windoze!

 

Now I guess I have to go in and edit all the permissions and treat this connection like a coffee shop public network. I'll also use, where possible https: rather than http: . I actually have a plug-in for my browser called "HTTPS Everywhere"

 

 

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

your first connection prob had already password or wrong connection setting to it
that’s why i suggested you delete and make a new one; anyway sound like your happy camper now
enjoy your vacation

[Quickmarch 488]

Thanks Chris,

No-I did delete the original as per your instruction. My mistake was in assuming that I could not use the same name for a manual connection and was trying to come up with another. As it turns out, you simply give it all the same info, except that you specify that it is a shared connection.

I tried to set up my wife's Win8.1 netbook and it does not give you the option to produce a shared WEP connection.