Connecting a Laptop to a Cybercafe
 

via a USB wireless addaptor .

I often need to use my computer , to send and receive data ,with some specialized software that won't run on a internet cafe computer.

The perfect scenario would be connecting to Internet via a wireless thing , but I reckon that In Africa that's gonna be really difficult .

But I have just thought that any of these USB wireless dongles/adaptors, could be connected to the computer in the Internet Cafe , use it to Relay wireless to my wifi-ready propper Laptop , hence enjoining all the convenience of having your own computer connected . Not some dodgy , dirty and malcfunctioning PC with windows in Arabic.

Anyone can see a reason that wouldnt work ?

cheers.

Hi javierCarrion

I don't believe that this would work.

The wireless system requires a wireless router so that the computers can talk to each other via that, they cannot, talk to each other without the router. The other problem is that you would have to set-up the local computer to talk to yours.

Surely the easiest set-up, assuming that there is no wireless connection avaiable, would be via a direct link using a network cable providing that you have a network card installed.

Another suggestion: why not download your info directly to a USB memory stick as a file, then open it on your own computer, maybe you could do the same with uploading, doesn't solve the keyboard problem but it should make life a little easier.

I thought I had the perfect set-up for my Tunisian trip. I had GPRS on the mobile and a bluetooth connection to the laptop. There were two problems; Tunisia doesn't have GPRS and I left the bluetooth dongle for the laptop at home.
Kevin.

Javier:

I try to keep things as simple as possible, because my experience has been that as soon as one starts to complicate things, they don't work!

99% of the Internet Cafes that I have visited use a wired (Ethernet) connection to hook their own computers up to the Internet. I bring my own laptop in (it has a network card in it) and ask permission to unplug the cable from one of their computers, and plug it into my laptop, whilst paying the same price that I would pay if I used their computer. Most of the time, the operators of the cafe are content with me doing this.

The more recent operating systems (e.g. Windows XP with SP 2) will automatically detect internet connectivity. Sometimes, I need to have a look at the network settings on the cafe's computer, and replicate these settings on my own machine. That is the exception, though, not the rule.

It's helpful if you bring a 2 meter long Ethernet extension cable with you - one that has a female connector on one end, and a male connector on the other end. If you can't easily find such a cable, just get a standard RJ45 cable (it will have male connections on each end), and then get a little 'lesbian' connector (female to female) that you can then stick on one end, to allow you to use the cable as an extension. I have found that very often, the cable that runs into the back of the cafe's computer does not have sufficient slack to reach up to the tabletop where I have put my laptop.

Michael