Wireless compatibility

Peter Bandy · Feb 4, 2008

I just bought an IBM Think Pad and my son loaded ACT on it. I have internet connection via QWEST DSL Modem My desktop is directly connect to the modem. My old laptop was working using the wireless gateway on the modem and a Linksys wireless feature on the laptop. I have been unable to get my new Think Pad to operate with its built-in wireless feature.
The QWEST service person suggested I might have to turn off virus protection to establish a wireless conection and suggested I contact you to see if there is a compatibility problem.
Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on this? I have spent hours trying various approaches and am left frustrated! :4-dontkno
Peter B Bandy

elf · Feb 4, 2008

Well the first thing to note are the different versions of wireless connections. They are all based on the 802.11 standard but there are different variants 'a', 'b', 'g', and soon to be 'n'.

'b' and g are compatible with each other, they just operate a different speeds. 'a' however, is not compatible with either 'b' or 'g', but 'n' is backwards compatible with all them. The first thing to check is whether or not your thinkpad has a compatible wireless card ('b' and 'g' are the most common).

Did you ever setup your modem's wireless gateway? There are a few options that could have a similar effect. You could have disabled the Broadcast SSID, you could have setup some type of encryption, or you could have mac filtering on. This would determine all on whether or not you configured them (or a family member maybe) because they do not come set like this initially.

Wireless compatibility

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