Please help with Wifi

[TimothyP]

hello everyone, i am new to this forum as well as i am new to Wifi. I recently purchased the life drive and i love it. But i am a bit slow when it comes to wifi. I have never used it before. But anyway, im not sure how to connect to the internet using wifi. Here is what i do. I click the Wifi icon, select a network (hpsetup or tsunami, these were built in), it obtains an IP address and then connects. Ths signal is ad-hoc network. And it then tells me i need a vpn application. So i downloaded Mergic VPN. But when i open it up, it asks me for the vpn server name or address. where do i get this information from? I am trying to connect from home and work. Is there something else that i need, in order to surf the net from the life drive? Can some one please give me a detailed walkthrough of how to set this up, i would greatly appreciate. thanks everyone.

[Jomo]

Uhm, I think you're laboring under some misconceptions. There are no Wifi networks "built-in" to the Life Drive. What's probably happening is that your LD is detecting Wifi networks belonging to other people which happen to be within range. Without the passwords/encryption that those people are using, you will not be able to connect to their wifi network. This is why people have to pay for using hotspots. The router is encrypted. If you don't have a wifi router or access point of your own, you can't get on.

Things you need to do (and this presupposes that you have Cable or DSL broadband internet service):

1.) Research/Buy a wireless router or access point to connect into your own home network.

2.) Get your router setup to connect to your Internet Service Provider.

3.) Get your Life Drive setup to talk to your router.

That should get your setup at home.

For work (Tthis presupposes that your job has wifi in its office. You may have been detecting a wifi network in a neighboring office):

1.) Get permission from the IT people to connect your Life Drive. (This is unlikely to happen, but you may get some sympathetic geeks.)

2.) Get your LD setup to connect to the network at work.

--Jomo

[TimothyP]

Thanks so much for your help. You made it very clear to me what i need to do. Thanks again.

[TimothyP]

One other question, once i buy the router, will i still need the Mergic VPN application on my life drive? or is that what i need in order to configure my router. Thanks.

[poissonsouriant]

VPN is not necessary at all. There should be instructions with your router that tells you how. In 99% of cases, VPN software is used to connect to an outside network via the Internet, and thus not necessary.

I would, however, recommend that you have encryption enabled on your router, as without encryption, anyone with a WiFi device can access your network, and possibly steal information or plant viruses. Use WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key) if your router supports this, as it is the most powerful encryption that the LifeDrive supports.

[TimothyP]

Thanks, i will keep all this in mind when i am setting up my router. Thanks agains guys for your help.

[ptmin]

Hi All
I am having some difficult in setting up my wifi and need your help guys, i can not have my device to connect automatically but if i manually enter IP adresse i get a full signal but can not connect to the web, it seems dns issues, my router uses a key and a passphrase trying to use these seems unable connect to the router even though the LD detects the network any help is well appreciated
Thanks
Pee