How can I connect to my home wireless network?

Posted by DTOXX
I'm really brand new to the use of a smartphone for web and email access, and I'm completely ignorant of how to gain online access at all. I have a wireless network set up in my home that I connect to with my laptop. Can I also connect to it with my phone without having to set up a whole new web access account with my cell provider? They charge an arm and a leg, I can tell you, and I'd rather just be able to connect to any available wireless network I can.

Posted by scotsboyuk
@DTOXX

Which handset do you have? Does it support Wi-Fi?

Posted by masseur
looking at the other posts of DTOXX he appears to have the O2 version of the i-mate SP3i that I had recently.

It does have a mini-SD slot under the battery but unfortunately there are no wifi cards in mini-SD format yet and even the full size SD cards are longer than standard SD cards so that the aerial can be external from the device it is plugged into. so it will certainly be a while before there is a mini-SD card that will fit under the battery

the only possibility is when you have the phone connected to the USB cable and thus connected to the PC because activesync provides pass-through capability to whatever network the pc is connected to

Posted by g7lgw
I beleave there is a way of doing this by bluetooth on certain phones. Through your PC then onto the net work just about to do some research myself on the subject. Regards Pete

Posted by masseur
yeah, the P series can do it via BT if your're using opera.

actually, now that I think of it even this phone that DTOXX has can do it via BT since you can also set up a BT activesync session. I actually did do that when I had the SP3i and it also works on my JAM and iPAQ too. I guess I didn't think of it when writing my previous reply because I use wifi on both device directly through my router rather than BT or cable through the pc. actually I also activesync wireless (using wifi) too :- isn't technology great (when it works!)

Posted by DTOXX
So, I can use BT to connect to the network thru my laptop? That sounds great! Truthfully, I've never used BT before for any reason, and other than the phone, I have no BT devices. I'll try this out. Thanks!

Posted by OluYom
How does one set up a WiFi enabled device (9500 or MPx300) so it can connect to any available wireless network?

Posted by masseur
I don't know about the 9500 or MPx but all the wifi devices I have used usually have some function that shows you all the wifi networks that are broadcasting their SSID and you can then click on the one you want to connect to in order to establish the connection.

For those that are not broadcasting their SSID you should be able to manually enter that if you know the value.

Once thats done if there is security on the network you will be prompted to enter the WEP or other security key

I can only assume it will be something similar for the 9500 and MPx

Posted by AMD
@masseur

I know its off topic, but could you tell me how to connect P910 to access internet (LAN) using opera via bluetooth.

Posted by OluYom
@masseur: Sounds easy enough. Thanks.

Posted by masseur
its been a while since I did that so someone can correct me if I remember incorrectly but I'm sure its just a matter of getting your bluetooth connection working in the standard way as though you were going to sync or whatever and then with that connection active you just use opera and it will connect via that bluetooth connection rather than creating a dial up or GPRS connection

Posted by AMD
you were right masseur, it worked exactly in that way. Thanks man

Posted by plasmadog
it worked on a palm device in this manner, maybe for windows mobile its the same.
first, u need to activate the "network access" function on your bt device on the computer and pair it with the handheld.
then u need to make the network connection on the computer a "shared" network.
connect to the computer using the bt function on handheld.
i tried with a palm zire 72 and a dsl connection. connection was really fast!!! but sometimes it was lost, and i needed to pair the device again. ( bluetooth on palms is kinda flaky)