Five Things to Look At First

Before you roll up your sleeves to troubleshoot in depth, you may want to take a look at the five most common things that keep people from getting connected to the Internet on their wireless network:

• Check whether you have a working Internet connection—Using a computer that has a wired network connection to the ports on the back of the wireless router, confirm that you can access the Internet by trying to browse a web page. If you cannot access the Internet from the wired computer, you are not going to be able to access it from a computer that is wireless either. See the section “How to Tell if You Do Not Have a Connection” that follows for more information.

• Make sure the wireless NIC is turned on in your PC—If you have a laptop, it usually has a way to power off the wireless NIC to save battery life (and for required shut-off on airplanes during flight). Make sure it is turned on. See the section “Wireless Turned Off” later in this chapter for more information.