I have a wireless card for my laptop and I can connect to the internet out of my home.

What do I need for the n800? It is surely sleeker than a laptop and I like gadgets as any baby boomer would.

-- Do I need a new phone with blue tooth? A new phone account or can I do it with the same At&T or SPRINT (don't remember) service?
-- What are the steps for a connection?

Basically, will it cost me addional money to connect out of home???
At home I have a router and wireless LAN, so it would not be a problem

Please advice, young ones.

Wooki...

the Tablets have "wifi" (wireless) built in... find a hot spot... surf the net.

Enjoy your tablet...

Regards...
Omega <-- a young 50-11 year old (go figure...)

I can't really advise about your cellular phone service (I'm in the UK, so don't know much about Sprint/AT&T) however as long as your phone has Bluetooth, and the phone supports the Bluetooth DUN profile (so not Windows Mobile smartphones) you should be able to connect from an N800 to the internet while out and about by using your phone. How much it will cost you is the next question, and this will depend on your data plan etc.

There's a built in "Mobile operator setup wizard" which is activated when the device is first booted, and it's also available from the Control Panel (menu->Tools). Hopefully it covers your operator(s), and this will configure the N800 and your phone in a couple of minutes.

If you're not sure if your phone is compatible, post the make/model here and I'm sure someone will be able to find out.


Milhouse <---- thirty-something.

Your cell phone related questions are already covered - most any bluetooth-enabled phone should work, and depending on your plan you may either need a special data option (usually around $20/month), or be charged per minute or per kilobyte (which can run up quickly).

However, if you already have a wireless router at your house, you should be able to immediately use it with the N800. The setup is probably very similar to your notebook (i.e., if you use encryption on the wireless network (which is recommended), you'll have to enter the encryption key on the N800).

You will find four small icons near the top right corner of your N800 screen. For your wireless Internet connection, tap the second icon from the right. You will see options such as "Set Connection." Select it, and your N800 will start listing the wireless network connections it finds around it. Choose the one you set up for your home, and if prompted, enter the key. That should do it.

This all sounds very exciting. My phone does not have bluetooth. So that is something that I have to further research.

Now... HOT SPOTS

Most hot spots I undertand are not open or secured so you need a key to connect through them and have to pay a fee by the hour. Am I correct?

I wonder how people connect at Borders and Cafe places. Are these free?

Are there FREE hot spots that are easy to find? I mean, wholeave stheir wireless unpr otected?

Wookishly wookish

It may depend upon where you live. Free hot spots are fairly easy to find in the Seattle area, especially around downtown. Borders bookstores have hot spots, too, but they are not free. Tully's and Panera Bread do offer free hot spots, though.

You can use the Wi-Fi connection setup wizard to find a free Wi-Fi near you. The N800 will show you which connections require keys and which don't.

Now I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It is almost worthless unless I find a free hot spot which I think is not common here in California, or I am at a site where I can pay for the connection and I am given the access key.

So that alternative is almost null. I don't want to pay if I can connect "free" (NOT REALLY) from home. Which is good since powering up a laptop just for e-mail and browising nowadays does not seem like a good alternative.
---

Which part of California do you live in? I'm pretty sure there are tons of free hot spots available in the Silicon Valley and SoCal areas.

Now, how do you connect your laptop to the Internet at home? If you're using a broadband connection (such as DSL and Cable Internet), then you should be able to buy a device called "wireless router" and expand your home network to the wireless world fairly easily.

I HAVE DISCARDED THE HOT SPOTS as a practical alternative. Now, what about the phone signal? If we already have a card and an account for wireless connection; * I THINK * It means that I can access that same signal with the harware enabled Nokia n800, using the parameters, keys and anything I was given by the phone company to connect via the wireless card .

The wireless card - bought separately - only enables the laptop to catch the signal, so if the Nokia is inherently enabled to detect and use the phone signals I just have to use its detection setup to connect to my service.

*** Unless I have to use the software they send in a CD to install in the
computer so you can connect, I don't see any problem.***



ANY COMMENTS ON THIS???
-- Thank you all folks. I need to be this simple and I may be repeating myself, but bear with me if you can. It is worth the time if I make a good buying decision.

Later on, I am going to ask if am ONLY able to make conference calls via web cams with other Nokia users???? I



Is this right???