Talk:Wifi Connectivity

advice for Connecting through Actiontec

We've had trouble connecting through Actiontec. After a lot of trial and error, the following seems to work:

Go to the neighborhood page (the circle with nine dots).

The neighborhood screen will display three solid circles in the same color as your little man icon. These are mesh networks, and the XO conputer will search each one for a connection --- each one will blink in turn. If one of them stops blinking and is outined with a white circle, it is connected. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. So hover the cursor over the white-outlined circle and an option to disconnect should appear. Click on disconnect.

In the mean time, other circles in different colors may appear on your neighborhood screen. Each one represents a wireless network, and most of them will be secured (that is, they will need a password or code). The secured networks are indicated by a tiny padlock. Most of the circles will be only partially filled with color, the amount of color indicating the signal strength.

If you are lucky enough to find a circle without a padlock that is full or nearly full of color, hover over it to make sure it's not a mesh network, then click on it. It will blink awhile, then when it is outlined in white, you are connected. Go to your home page (circle with one dot), and click on the browse icon (the globe.)

If your own Actiontec network has not yet appeared on the neighborhood screen, click on one of the secured networks. You will be asked for a password, (which, of course, you will not know.) Click cancel. At this point, your Actiontec circle should magically appear. Click on it, and if it does not need a password, wait until it stops blinking and is outlined in white. You're connected!

(It seems like clicking on any wireless circle, secured or not, is a signal to your computer to look for other wireless networks, including your Actiontec network, rather than searching only for mesh networks. The searching for mesh networks seems to continue, although supposedly you cannot be connected to a wireless network and a mesh network at the same time.)

If your Actiontec network requires a passcode, type it into the box that appears and check the hex box. Then proceed as above.

Be forewarned that you may need to repeat the search and connect process several times before you have a stable connection through Actiontec. It seems to get easier each time you connect, as if the computer remembers that's what you want to do

This message is written by an OLPC Grandma whose eyes glaze over and whose mind stops working when she collides with Geek Speak.

further discussion

I'm dismayed at the attitude taken on WiFi connectivity page. Many suggestions seem to start with the assumption that the wireless access point to which one needs to connect is under the direct administrative control of the XO owner and further dedicated to providing wireless access to XO's without regard to the configuration needs of other wireless devices, or administrative policy.

Suggesting a change to access point configuration as a solution to an XO connectivity problem masks the problem with WiFi compatibility.

If the XO was never designed (or never confirmed) to work with a wide variety of consumer-grade wireless access points, why not just say so?