It's my first time using wireless internet on the notebook....i was wondering if you need to have a subscription for wireless connection for notebooks? What are those places you can go to that have wireless access and ppl just surf the net at a cafe or at school or something....are they using it for free? Does it cost anything to use it?

it depends on whether the person/company has set the access point up and encrypted it. some coffee shops/restaurants/hotels/etc. offer free access (and generally don't encrypt their connections), whereas, others require you to pay per day or have a subscription (and use encryptions to prevent free access). a lot of colleges, from what i understand, have campus wide wifi and some are open access others require an account, which if you're a student is free.

thanks ya

think of it like a cordless phone. you need to be in range of the main set to get a signal and that receiver needs to be hooked up to a phone line that a communications company is servicing. libraries and airports also provide wireless in some places and wherever there is wireless access setup, the owner can decide whether to lock you out with a password or let you in unrestricted (since they are paying for it). your average neighbor may be one of those people that let you in for free simply because they don't know any better about setting up wireless security but it is technically illegal to steal bandwidth if you get caught (then, who's going to find you if they don't even know how to setup a password).

if you find this very limiting you can suscribe to satellite broadband which some major phone companies (verizon comes to mind) offer so you can be online almost anywhere you travel (sort of like a cell phone plan). this can get very expensive, think upwards of 80 dollars/month.

in the future cities may install free wifi for everyone to use (like wimax). central park is supposedly supposed to have it installed this summer.