Wireless Internet access

I have a question about laptop PCMCIA cards - I ran into a woman at a
Starbucks who was on the Internet with a laptop. She said the PCMCIA
card she had would connect to whatever wireless Internet access was
available (if any) and that in this particular Starbucks she had to
use her T-Mobile account but many places she did not, meaning that she
can just connect to the Internet by booting up the computer. She also
said it was broadband speeds. This sounds too good to be true,
especially the free part.

My question is, is this possible to do without some kind of cellular
account, and if so, what kind of card do I need?

Thank you.

If shes in New York, then there are Verizon Wireless hotspots that let
you ascess the internet for free on your laptop aslong as your a Verizon
DSL Customer.

If she doesnt, then she has satellite internet and it is not free.

Many areas in cities or airports have wifi hotspots that you can access free
if you have a wifi card in your laptop. Many of them are not encrypted or
require a password. People have made a hobby of looking up these free
hotspots and there are even websites that list them. Do a google to search
for them.

Pan

"Mary" wrote in message
om...
I have a question about laptop PCMCIA cards - I ran into a woman at a
Starbucks who was on the Internet with a laptop. She said the PCMCIA
card she had would connect to whatever wireless Internet access was
available (if any) and that in this particular Starbucks she had to
use her T-Mobile account but many places she did not, meaning that she
can just connect to the Internet by booting up the computer. She also
said it was broadband speeds. This sounds too good to be true,
especially the free part.

My question is, is this possible to do without some kind of cellular
account, and if so, what kind of card do I need?

Thank you.

"Mary" wrote in message
om...
I have a question about laptop PCMCIA cards - I ran into a woman at a
Starbucks who was on the Internet with a laptop. She said the PCMCIA
card she had would connect to whatever wireless Internet access was
available (if any) and that in this particular Starbucks she had to
use her T-Mobile account but many places she did not, meaning that she
can just connect to the Internet by booting up the computer. She also
said it was broadband speeds. This sounds too good to be true,
especially the free part.

My question is, is this possible to do without some kind of cellular
account, and if so, what kind of card do I need?

Thank you.

Such "hotspot" access certainly exists, some free and some included in the
normal business costs and some paid outright.. My former neighbors sold
their house and moved onto a 42-foot motor vessel and travel the
Florida-Carribean-Gulf circuit. Recently they been tied up at a marina in
Florida that provides such internet access for their customers. A local
upscale coffee shop near that marina offers access for their customers too
so the wanderers have a couple of options both better than their usual slow
and unreliable net access via cellphone. As for cards, you need whatever
matches up to the hotspot's standards and which will work with your laptop.
Virtually every manufacturer of wireless exquipment has at least one 802.11G
PCMCIA card which will allow access to the two most popular wireless
standards (B & G). I recently bought a D-Link DWL-G630 largely because it
was on sale and had a rebate and it works fine for my limited needs but
there are probably a dozen others that are virtually indistinguishable from
it on the market.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com