wifi borrowing

I have pad mini . I visit my mom and use her neighbours wifi for internet. they live directly next door.
They have given me their ID and PW.
When in moms house, and turn on ipad....it does not show the neighbours ID which I thought wuld come up automatically.
I tried to type in ID and PW and it says cannot find.
I popped over to neighbours house, their son set up wifi on my ipad. It all looked ok.
I closed lid and went back to moms house.
No wifi connect. This seems so unusual.
I cannot get wifi connect on iphone either.
At first I thought it may be they have an added security on their wifi
BUT I can get their wifi connect on my HP notebook just fine.
What do I need to do to correct this problem?

lori60 said:

I have pad mini . I visit my mom and use her neighbours wifi for internet. they live directly next door.
They have given me their ID and PW.
When in moms house, and turn on ipad....it does not show the neighbours ID which I thought wuld come up automatically.
I tried to type in ID and PW and it says cannot find.
I popped over to neighbours house, their son set up wifi on my ipad. It all looked ok.
I closed lid and went back to moms house.
No wifi connect. This seems so unusual.
I cannot get wifi connect on iphone either.
At first I thought it may be they have an added security on their wifi
BUT I can get their wifi connect on my HP notebook just fine.
What do I need to do to correct this problem?

Click to expand...

Well, first I'm glad that you asked and received permission to use their Wi-Fi - quite nice of them - although the laws vary, in the USA, 'stealing' bandwidth from an unprotected wireless network might be considered a felony-theft and dealt w/ accordingly - this is just for others who may be reading this thread.

Now if your iPads (provide models & iOS installed, please) w/ the correct SSID and PW connect to your neighbor's network in their house but not in your mother's place, then you need to provide more information, especially concerning the 802.11 protocols being used (e.g. 802.11n vs. b/g has a greater range), the distance between your houses, and possible interference obstacles in the way (e.g. the number/construction of walls). The Wi-Fi radio on your HP notebook may just be better or using a different protocol.

Before continuing, let me stop and allow you to consider these questions and respond. Dave

dave
thanks for replying
yes, i realize that sharing band width is not the best plan
however I am only at moms 1week per month and does not seem feasible to set up and cancel internet for that short a period.

i have read that sometimes the cover on ipads can prevent signal tho this seems little odd.

the distance between the two houses is about 9' so is quite close. no concrete walls between either.

just confusing to me because I have no problems whatsoever in connecting to same wifi network with my HP notebook sitting in same location in mom house.

that's why i figured it had something to do with settings on ipad.

your reply was a wee bit techy for me.
I currently am not at my moms home, will be next week and will try again.

lori60 said:

yes, i realize that sharing band width is not the best plan
however I am only at moms 1week per month and does not seem feasible to set up and cancel internet for that short a period.

Click to expand...

Not a problem - you asked and got an OK, so not a problem - just wanted to make the point that 'stealing' w/o asking is the potentially illegal issue at least in some countries.

lori60 said:

i have read that sometimes the cover on ipads can prevent signal tho this seems little odd.....

Click to expand...

Don't believe that is the issue @ all, so not a concern - but still give us the iOS that is installed on your iDevices - there have been some Wi-Fi problems w/ these iOS versions.

lori60 said:

the distance between the two houses is about 9' so is quite close. no concrete walls between either.

Click to expand...

Well, 9 ft should not be an issue - I have an AirPort Extreme which is 3 rooms away from my porch and I have no trouble receiving my Wi-Fi signal there whether on my iPad Air 2 (or previously on my old iPad 2) or my MBPro - SO, distance is likely not the problem!

lori60 said:

just confusing to me because I have no problems whatsoever in connecting to same wifi network with my HP notebook sitting in same location in mom house..

Click to expand...

Again, iDevices vs. OS X or Windows computers may just be different - Wi-Fi radios vary & the wireless 802.11 protocols can be different - I would concentrate on what is NOT working for the moment.

lori60 said:

that's why i figured it had something to do with settings on ipad.

your reply was a wee bit techy for me.
I currently am not at my moms home, will be next week and will try again.

Click to expand...

Certainly, could be settings in the iPad but these have to be coordinated w/ the neighbor's router/Wi-Fi setup - I believe we need to wait until you're @ your mother's house again and try to resolve the issue there when you can do some testing - see you later. Dave

Hi again Dave
Fyi...i am running the newest IOS on ipad as I just updated before I travelled to moms.
Upon arriving tried to get wifi on ipad. No luck.
Was not sure what protocols are all about so investigated. Neighbors wifi is 802.11n. I did turn on Bluetooth thinking that may help.
When I tried to get wifi, their ID did not come up and neither did any of the others around that show when I open my HP notebook. No matter.
I persevered and kept trying over and over again entering the ID and of course it continued to come up with message, ‘ could not find’ and I dismissed it. Did this several times and then one morning...i got wifi. I was so happy!
Don’t know if it was cuz I turned Bluetooth on or not.
I do find if I try early in morning or later at night and the odd time early afternoon I have better luck.
While, it kicks out while in use at times and other times cannot get it at all, overall i can get sometime, and that is okay for the short time I am visiting.
Thanks for your help.

lori60 said:

Fyi...i am running the newest IOS on ipad as I just updated before I travelled to moms.
Upon arriving tried to get wifi on ipad. No luck.
Was not sure what protocols are all about so investigated. Neighbors wifi is 802.11n. I did turn on Bluetooth thinking that may help..

Click to expand...

Yep, you got the protocols correct - these are the 802.11a/b/g/n - the newest one is 'ac' - I have an AirPort Extreme router running 802.11n - your iPad has the same protocols. The 'Bluetooth' really has nothing to do w/ the functioning of your Wi-Fi, both operate on the 2.4 GHz frequency band (Wi-Fi can also use the 5 GHz band) but use different standards.

lori60 said:

When I tried to get wifi, their ID did not come up and neither did any of the others around that show when I open my HP notebook. No matter.
I persevered and kept trying over and over again entering the ID and of course it continued to come up with message, ‘ could not find’ and I dismissed it. Did this several times and then one morning...i got wifi. I was so happy!

Click to expand...

Believe that I asked this question before - but if you are in the neighbor's house next to their router, does your Wi-Fi work? The name of their network is the SSID - make sure that you are seeing that on your iPad in the Wi-Fi settings, especially when in their house. Also make sure that the SSID is being broadcasted - if not you might have to enter it yourself. I'm assuming that they are likely running password protection, such as WPA2, you'll need that pass phrase. Finally, make sure MAC filtering is not set on their router - w/ this enforced the MAC number of your iPad needs to be entered into their router's configuration program. Just a few more issues for you to learn and discuss w/ them; these may not apply since you seem to have connected intermittently. Finally, you can go into the Wi-Fi settings and 'Forget the Network' and then set it up again - sometimes solves these issues.

lori60 said:

I do find if I try early in morning or later at night and the odd time early afternoon I have better luck.
While, it kicks out while in use at times and other times cannot get it at all, overall i can get sometime, and that is okay for the short time I am visiting..

Click to expand...

Well, when you're connected you can check the internet speed of your connection using Speed Test - this will vary depending on what is coming into the neighbor's router (dependent on their ISP, i.e. the bottleneck) and also how many others may be sharing the bandwidth, likely the reason for the variation. See if any of this is helpful and post back w/ further questions. Dave

thanks dave
re: seeing their SSID on my wifi listing...nothing shows, neither them or any other. i have to enter their SSID and get message not found.

re: have not been to their house to check what shows on my ipad for wifi SSID. I feel i am so lucky that they allowed me to use their wifi, i do not want to start requesting they change things.

re: make sure MAC filtering is not set on their router - w/ this enforced the MAC number of your iPad needs to be entered into their router's configuration program. again do not want to rock the boat.
if they see me and ask i will say something, otherwise, i am happy i get a wee bit of wifi every now and then.

re: the Wi-Fi settings and 'Forget the Network' and then set it up again - sometimes solves these issues. hmmm that is another thing i can try.

re: they have wpa2-psk 802.11n

i ran speed test: PING 46ms; download 1.42Mbps and upload 1.60Mbps

OK - so you know their SSID and their Wi-Fi security password and you do occasionally get onto their network so MAC filtering is likely not activated or you would not be able to get on at all unless the MAC address of your iPad is in their MAC table (BTW, your Wi-Fi MAC address is in Settings -> General -> About).

Your download speed is really poor - just did the test on my MBPro (in the den; router in next room) - see below; I typically get about 20 Mbps DL - we actually have a thread on this topic - others get MUCH higher speeds - I'm throttled by my Time-Warner connection - curious, what speeds you may get @ home or at a Wi-Fi hotspot - might provide some help.

You can try 'Forget the Network'. Also, have you upgraded to the latest iOS, now 8.1.3 - there were some issues w/ Wi-Fi. Plus, if not already done, try a 'Reset' on the device - i.e. hold the ON-OFF & HOME buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears, release both and let the iPad reboot. Dave
.

hi dave.
forgot to mention the speed test figures i gave you were not from ipad but from HP notebook. tried to do speedtest on ipad, but prompted to buy on itunes and did not wish to do that now.

there just be a chance that his modem is in basement and that could be the issue...concrete wall.
haven't asked them yet, where modem is. if that is the case, i am out of luck.

when you refer to: MAC address of your iPad is in their MAC table.. that is the wifi address, correct?
how do they put it into their MAC. if it is something simple, maybe i will be brave and ask them to do it.

i have rebooted ipad and HP notepad since and still same. HP notepad responds a bit better than MAC and I get inet for a short time only...hence i am able to post this... ooh just re read and you said reset...home and on/off button...will try that. as long as I do not lose all my stats on my application games.
tried to view the attachment but i guess cuz reception is so low, i cannot view it.
ok nuf for now....better quit before i lose reception.
seems on both notebook and ipad...the icon for a small bar of internet pops up and then shortly goes away. almost like a hickup and as soon as I click on an account or application...it is gone again.

lori60 said:

hi dave.
forgot to mention the speed test figures i gave you were not from ipad but from HP notebook. tried to do speedtest on ipad, but prompted to buy on itunes and did not wish to do that now.

Click to expand...

Well the site I use on my MBPro is Speedtest - they have an iPad app (Ookla) that I believe is free - costs just $1 to remove the ads.

lori60 said:

there just be a chance that his modem is in basement and that could be the issue...concrete wall.
haven't asked them yet, where modem is. if that is the case, i am out of luck.

Click to expand...

Well, you side the two houses were 9 ft apart - assume outer walls - but the important issue is where their modem is located and where you are in your mother's house, i.e. could be many more feet than mentioned and also walls can certainly be barriers - that's why I would like to know if you could possibly go into their house, stand next to their router, and see how your iPad picks up the Wi-Fi signal?

lori60 said:

when you refer to: MAC address of your iPad is in their MAC table.. that is the wifi address, correct?
how do they put it into their MAC. if it is something simple, maybe i will be brave and ask them to do it.

Click to expand...

Did you find the MAC address on your iPad? Your HP's network card has its own MAC address - in fact, all networking equipment and other devices that attach to the internet (like my Roku boxes, HDTV, Blu-ray player, etc.) all have their own unique MAC addresses - it's like a SSN - see the attach screen capture of a portion of my System Information showing the Wi-Fi settings; the top blue arrow shows my laptop's network card's MAC address (i.e. 6 hexadecimal numbers separated by colons).

Also noticed the lower blue arrow - my router broadcasts 4 Wi-Fi networks (2 @ 2.4 GHz & 2 @ 5 GHz) - my MBPro is connected to the top one; the SNR (Signal to Noise ratio) difference is 45 dBm next to my router (less in my den chair) - this is an excellent signal according to the chart below. NOW, if you can figure out how to obtain that S/N ratio on your HP laptop then a comparison w/ the chart will provide the quality of your wireless signal (I've not been on Windows for 2 yrs so don't really remember).

lori60 said:

i have rebooted ipad and HP notepad since and still same. HP notepad responds a bit better than MAC and I get inet for a short time only...hence i am able to post this... ooh just re read and you said reset...home and on/off button...will try that. as long as I do not lose all my stats on my application games.

Click to expand...

The iPad 'Reset' must be done correctly as explained previously - none of your settings, apps, or data will be lost - it is a safe maneuver - may not help but simple. Dave
.

whoo hooo got internet for a bit now.
you asked possibly go into their house, stand next to their router, and see how your iPad picks up the Wi-Fi signal?
yes, i did that last month when i was at my moms. the son took my ipad into their house and it connected no issue but we were in their livingroom and i did not look for router so don't know where it is.
i closed the lid (sleeping) and walked back to moms. later on that afternoon, i opened case to play on ipad and no internet.

may try to visit them again and get connected and then walk to moms with lid up (not sleeping) and see at what point it loses connection. it should stay connected! thanks for the image of where I could look for wifi and mac address info. will work on that.

you mentioned 'reboot' must be done correctly as explained previously .... '
Reset' on the device - i.e. hold the ON-OFF & HOME buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears, release both and let the iPad reboot. does not seem to be too difficult.

thanks dave, i know it is difficult to help others with help of this sort via text or phone calls...sometimes best just to be there...but this is my only option for now.

hi dave
problem solved. spoke to neighbour. their modem is in basement on other side of house so is quite a few more feet away from mom house.
even dad said sometimes he has trouble getting internet when upstairs in house.
so i guess i am out of luck except for when i do get internet sporadically as now
cuz i got on line.
thanks for all your help and this topic can now be close.

lori60 said:

hi dave
problem solved. spoke to neighbour. their modem is in basement on other side of house so is quite a few more feet away from mom house.
even dad said sometimes he has trouble getting internet when upstairs in house.
so i guess i am out of luck except for when i do get internet sporadically as now
cuz i got on line.
thanks for all your help and this topic can now be close.

Click to expand...

Hi Lori.. - hope that I helped a little - but not to extend this thread, this is the first time yo've mentioned your Dad - does your family need internet in their house and do they have an ISP? Dave

When I said dad I meant the father of the boy next door to my mom, who helped me with my ipad connection in the beginning. The dad is not a techy person. the son has no problem with wifi in basement as i guess that is where is bedroom is and modem located...the dad 2 floors up sometimes has difficulty using wifi.

so since the internet connection borrowed from my neighbour is not that grea t at my moms, i will have to suck it up and actually get wifi hooked up in my moms house which is costly as i am only there for a week and few day per month...i live in another town from her location.
oh well....sometimes the need out weighs the cost.

thanks again

so since the internet connection borrowed from my neighbour is not that grea t at my moms, i will have to suck it up and actually get wifi hooked up in my moms house which is costly as i am only there for a week and few day per month...i live in another town from her location. oh well....sometimes the need out weighs the cost.

Click to expand...

Trade the iPad Mini in for a cellular model and then you won't have to worry about the extra expense of hooking up an internet connection at your Mother's home. ;D

chscag said:

Trade the iPad Mini in for a cellular model and then you won't have to worry about the extra expense of hooking up an internet connection at your Mother's home. ;D

Click to expand...

@ Lori.. - agree w/ Chscag on looking for an intermittent access to the internet rather that setting up a potentially expensive monthly charge in your mother's house if she has little use for the service.

A cellular iPad as suggested would be an easy option; another thought is whether you have a cell phone that can setup a Wi-Fi 'hotspot' which would broadcast a wireless signal. Finally, take a look at a MiFi Device - this is basically a portable 'hotspot' and is offered by a number of cellular services, some may have 'pay as you go' plans - check HERE for some discussion (but be careful for the lesser known providers that they have good service coverage where your Mom lives) - let us know! Dave

You could try buying a wifi extender/repeater and plug it in to the room where the signal strength is best.

..if you have access to an android phone or tablet install Wifi Analyser and then wander around your house looking for the best signal strength on your neighbours SSID

extender or router

Talk to the neighbor, offer to pay a portion - $10/month?
Then ask if you can work together to improve the wifi for the adults and you at the same time.
An extender as bcarteruk said, or (you) buy a wifi router and have the neighbor's kid relocate it closer to your wall - preferably by a window. If he can just move the modem, even easier.

Everyone benefits, and you paying gives you some say...

Good luck!

Can you afford the expense and buy a new router? Then have your neighbor set it up in "bridge" mode on the other side of their house...closest to your mom's house. It would be great if you could put it next to a window...or at least so the modem is high enough to be above the ground line. Bridge mode simply takes the original signal and repeats it. You may get a signal all the time & they may also have better reception everywhere in their house. It's a good trade-off for using their bandwidth. - ty