Hey there,I have issues with my brand spanking new Acer 5635Z laptop, which runs Win7 64 Home Premium, and whatever hardware came with it.I connect wirelessly to my home network (3 year old D-Link G604T router wunning WEP) without a hitch.... Full connectivity to the router and the outside world. So far so good. I work in a remote site, where we have an unsecured wireless network (as in an internet cafe` style of thing), router is Netgear (model unknown) and was purchased new less than 2 months ago. This new laptop will connect to the network locally (to the point where I can see other machines also connected) but NOT give me an internet connection.Here's where it gets fun..... I've updated drivers for the internal bits (no change). There is NO WAY to have anyone on site in this place do anything regarding changing/updating any router settings, as nobody on site in administration has the slightest clue about even whether the network is working, never mind how.Just to add that my 3 year old Toshiba Satellita A100 connected flawlessly to this network prior, running Vista 32 Home Premium.Now, I'm pretty upset and looking for a solution here. Others here are NOT using Win 7 and have no issues. Altering/updating/fiddling in the router is NOT going to be an option, so I need a solution I can run from MY END as it must be an issue with MY MACHINE and not an already existing and perfectly functioning network. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect my machine to work with existing systems, and am expecting a solution to reflect this.Please note that ANY solution which requires any kind of working within router settings WILL NOT BE SUITABLE, and will be noted as a "Not Answered". Please don't spend any time berating me for this, you need to accept that this is the reality of living in a mining camp in the middle of the outback in Western Australia, where there is no local support available, and online support to administer the network is expensive.

A good starting point would be to open a Command Prompt, run the commandipconfig /alland report its output. About your observation that online support is expensive where you are: The cost of online support is largely independent of your location since support staff do not need to travel to the Outback.

Haven't had a chance to do the command prompt thing but I will and report back... The cost is related to how many times and what the site calls about.... I know it doesn't mean tech support bodies coming on site, but apparently the deal they have here means that each and every call to support costs a minimum amount, and I've been told it's something like $175. Don't know how that works out, but you can see they're going to wait till it's a crisis before making any calls. What a sweet little support contract to have... do bugger all except charge like mad when there's an issue. We really are quite isolated at this site... it's basically right in the middle of Western Australia, and most communications are satellite based simply because there's no other option at this time. I get that limits connectivity somewhat, and contributes to the costs of running the site. So I understand they're not going to make a call just for me, but if more people show up with Win 7 machines, maybe the problem will escalate to the point where they will... Or, what I'd actually hope for is a solution I can give them, in the way of info to hand out to make life simpler. I can dream can't I?

Mining operations in the Outback are known to incur high overheads and to pay very generous salaries for those prepared to work in this hostile environment. On the other hand $175 per hour for remote support does sound excessive. There are lots of people who'd love to do it for $120. On the other hand you probably don't have much of a choice because you need someone who is prepared to come to site once every so often.

It's not $175 per hour.... It's per call. And yes, we're tied in to exclusivity with the company for I dunno how many years. They also administer the main work site,but the network I'm trying to access is in the accommodation camp, and is seen most definitely as secondary and unimportant. Even the admin computers here are part of the main mine network, this wireless thing is a separate stand-alone installation. I've talked to people who've been here as long as 18 months, and nobody can recall a visit to site from the system administrators or even a consultant.