<p>Can someone clue me in?
How do you guys connect to the internet with a laptop? Wha'ts Wi- Fi? bluetooth? and ethernet? how much does it cost per month? DO these have wireless internet connections and how does it all work?</p>
<p>Think of your telephone at home. You have it connected to an outlet in the wall which in turn is connected to the outside telephone lines. If one of those phones is cordless, you can take it away from its base and use it without a wire because it is signaling to that base which is hooked up to the wall socket.</p>
<p>Computers are very similar. The first thing you need to be able to hook up to the internet is the internet's version of the phone company and telephone lines. Cable companies provide cable lines for computers; you can also have things called T1 or DSL which are other means of providing the same thing. Your computer then has in it the things it needs to hook up to those lines. One method is ethernet which is the computer's version of the telephone line that hooks into the wall but it will hook you up to the cable or other system that is providing high-speed internet access (all computers can also access the internet via a phone line by dialing in to such service providers as AOL but that is very slow access). The other method is wireless, which is the computer's version of the cordless phone. The computer has in it a device/card that signals to a base that is hooked up to the cable. Wi-FI includes that wireless access, but it is also a term that refers generally to any wireless communication methods for computers and computer like devices (which many wireless phone's are today).</p>
<p>LAN is a Local Area Network, which is basically a reference to multiple computers in a local location, like a home or office, being hooked up to communicate with each other and use the same source for access to the internet and often printers and other devices. Those computers can be connected to each other by wires or by a wireless method.</p>
<p>Bluetooth is very localized form of wireless communication. If your computer has bluetooth, it can communicate wirelessly with other devices nearby, like a printer or a wireless mouse or keyboard, which also have a bluetooth card. Bluetooth is useless in your computer unless you have other devices that also have bluetooth and most printers, mice, keyboards, etc. with bluetooth are significantly more expensive than those without.</p>
<p>The cost per month for internet access is what you pay the cable company or other provider for access to the internet. That varies from place to place but usually is in the $30 to $40 range per month. Most colleges provide internet access and ethernet wall hook ups as part of the overall costs that you pay if you live in a dorm. Many now also have wireless or just wireless access. The entire college system of computers is a LAN.</p>
<p>Whether your computer will access the internet in a hotel depends on whether the hotel has cable, wireless or other access available. Many now do but majority still don't. You will also find that wireless access provided by many hotels is abysmal. Too many of them bought cheap just to be able to claim they have it.</p>
<p>As to links to sites you provided, I could not open any of them so I am not sure what it is they show. I suspect you are looking at computers but cannot evaluate without knowing what it is you are looking at.</p>