Using free wifi at a cafe

[bright.ton42]

A lovely cafe/bar  I often go to gave me their wifi pass word so I can take my laptop there.

This is probably an obvious question but I'd have to rely on my battery wouldn't I, which doesn't last long, or can you recharge

there.  I've never done this before  As I usually sit in the courtyard I doubt they would have power outlets.

If I got a dongle thing would that work for me?

[kopenhagen5]

Yes to charge the battery you need to connect to a powerpoint.

Some cafes allow it.

A dongle is used to connect to the internet and like having your own account on it if you don't have wifi.

But does your laptop have wifi capabilities (wifi receiver built in) ?

In other words if you use wifi at home, you don't connect anything to the laptop which will mean you do have built in wifi in the laptop.

[bright.ton42]

Yes Kopes it does have wifi.  So to go to the cafe I'd just take the lappy and the power cord      as they said I can hook into their free wifi. I amaze myself with my dumbness    🙂

[kopenhagen5]

Too harsh on yourself, no such thing as a dumb question. 

(Unless of course I have already told you 3 times):smileylol:

And yes, just the lappy n powerchord.

[lyndal1838]

Ah, but think of the service you have provided for all those readers who were too scared to ask that question, dumb or not.

[bright.ton42]

Haha thanks Lyndal

[bright.ton42]

Well now........  major fail.

i'm not due to the go to the cafe until prob tomorrow but today I took  my car into majpr service at Toyota who have free wifi so I thought i'd give that a go as i knew i'd have to wait for ages ......so with the help of the receptionist we plug the lappy into the power,  bring up their wifi details .......      and   bogger all,   I'm tiold there is a fault and can't be connected.

We try and try, but zilch.

Then I;m told to go online and get help from microsoft.   Kidding, right?

There are all these othr ppl tapping away on their connected wifi except ..... me.  So after talking myself out of the victim mentality I end up doing a lot of housekeeping with photos.......  but just another To Do on mhy already long To Do list. 

[not_for_sale2024]

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@bright.ton42 wrote:

Well now........  major fail.

i'm not due to the go to the cafe until prob tomorrow but today I took  my car into majpr service at Toyota who have free wifi so I thought i'd give that a go as i knew i'd have to wait for ages ......so with the help of the receptionist we plug the lappy into the power,  bring up their wifi details .......      and   bogger all,   I'm tiold there is a fault and can't be connected.

We try and try, but zilch.

Then I;m told to go online and get help from microsoft.   Kidding, right?

There are all these othr ppl tapping away on their connected wifi except ..... me.  So after talking myself out of the victim mentality I end up doing a lot of housekeeping with photos.......  but just another To Do on mhy already long To Do list. 

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It's possible there was a glitch at Toyota's end or the wifi settings weren't being entered correctly. Whichever, I'd blame the receptionist and approach the cafe tommorrow with a clear conscience.

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

Hey bright- sounds like a nice cafe..

Charge your laptop tonight, and then take your lappy in to the cafe, you may as well take your electrical cord with you- just in case. A dongle is nothing to do with your battery- its just to get internet access where theres none. But this cafe has wifi, so you don't need it.

Have you ever used McDonalds free wifi? Its like that- you will be able to have access by logging in- from memeory, McDs allow you access by answering yes on your screen- theres usually not even a password.

They will have an account where you use their password to log in- you'll probably open up your lappy and their wifi will come up on screen, and then you will use their password. It will be easy- and Im pretty sure they will help you if you need it. 

I would recommend, though, to not use your internet banking, or anything needing a password- and make sure you totally log out.

Enjoy your coffee!

PS- Dont worry about Toyota- they ought to have tried to help you..as someone already said, it most probably was their problem.

[amalan11]

If you need more battery consider a powerbank  they are about $25 up but you just charge at home and it will give you a couple of extra hours power . You just use a usb port to conect it . Ebay,target and kmart all have them at resonable cost