Locate Internet Wi-Fi hotspots to use your laptop outdoors.
A laptop is a portable computer. Unlike a desktop computer, easily transport and use a laptop anywhere. While it is possible to connect a laptop to the Internet via a wired connection to a cable modem, as is the tradition with desktop computers, this is not always practical for a laptop. If, for instance, you want to use a laptop to access the Internet while at the park or sitting in an airport, you need a wireless means of establishing an Internet connection. You can subscribe to a mobile broadband service or rely on Wi-Fi to make this connection.
Instructions
Wi-Fi Network
1. Click the "Network" icon located in the notification area of the task bar.
2. Select "Wireless Network" from the list of connection choices. Click "Connect" to reveal a list of the Wi-Fi networks within range. Wi-Fi is an acronym that stands for wireless fidelity that uses various frequency ranges such as cell phones do for communication. A router broadcasts these wireless signals. Laptops equipped with a wireless network card have the ability to receive the signal and connect to the Internet as long as the laptop is within range of a Wi-Fi broadcast. New laptops come equipped with built-in wireless network cards. If your laptop is not equipped with an internal wireless network card, purchase an external, plug-in wireless or universal serial bus connection device.
3. Choose the Wi-Fi network to which you desire to connect. If it's a closed Wi-Fi network, you will be prompted to enter the network security key. If you don't know the security key, you cannot gain access to the network.
Wireless Internet Card
4. Sign up for mobile broadband service with a wireless Internet service provider such as Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T or Sprint.
5. Purchase a wireless Internet card, also sometimes referred to as a wireless modem, compatible with your choice of wireless Internet service provider. This card will allow you to connect to the Internet via a cellular frequency signal.
6. Plug the wireless Internet card into an unused USB port on the laptop. Alternatively, depending upon the type of wireless Internet card you have, slide the wireless Internet card into the laptop's appropriate card slot.
7. Launch the laptop's Web browser.
Wired Connection
8. Subscribe to broadband Internet service.
9. Use a telephone cable, if you're using digital subscriber line or a coaxial cable if you're using cable broadband to connect a phone or cable wall jack to the modem.
10. Plug one end of an Ethernet cable into the modem's Ethernet port. Connect the other end of the cable to the laptop's Ethernet port. With a wired Internet connection, the range of mobility the laptop has stretches only as far as the Ethernet cable can reach.
11. Launch the laptop's Web browser.
