Computing desk
< November 18	<< Oct \| November \| Dec >>	November 20 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 19

WiFi hot spots

I want to change ISP. However, our current ISP has about 100 Wi-Fi Hot Spots in the city and the other one has about 10. This doesn't matter to me, but it does to my wife. I understand that the range is maybe 50 meters. Is there something at a reasonable cost that will allow her to access the WiFi, for the one with only a few hot spots? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:38, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure I understand the issue. I can go to Starbucks and use their hotspot, whether or not the ISP I use at home is the same ISP that Starbucks uses. Starbucks grants me free access to the Internet through their ISP. If she has some software on her laptop/smartphone that ties her to one ISP, she should get rid of it. ‑‑Mandruss ☎ 05:01, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I don't really understand the system, since I don't have a wireless mobile device, except my plain telephone. When I suggested switching, she said "how can I access all of the X hot spots around town?" (where X is our current ISP) I checked online and the one I want to switch to lists only about 10 hotspots - every McDonalds and every Burger King, and not much more. The other one lists about 100. The brochure for the new one (call it Y) says "... accessing the entire national Y Wi-Fi Hot Spot network, which is included with all internet speeds." So to me, that says you can access their hot spots, but it doesn't say about ones from other companies. Should she be able to access all of them? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:11, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Every McDonald's that I've encountered uses AT&T for their Wi-Fi. I don't have an AT&T account and that has never stopped me from accessing their hotspot. Nor does it stop anyone else on Verizon, Sprint, etc. I don't see why your wife would be blocked from any of the 110 hotspots. Dismas|^(talk) 05:26, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Since I wrote my last message, I talked to my daughter. She said that McDonald's uses AT&T (as you said), which is not our current ISP. She says that she just has to go to a login screen - no problem. So I didn't know this stuff, and I think my wife should not be concerned. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:44, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

There are, broadly, two types of hotspots. Free ones, and paid ones. Those supplied by a store (e.g. McDonalds) are generally free, anyone in the store can use them, regardless of whether they have a subscription with the hotspot operator/ISP. Some ISPs or hotspot operators will also have paid hotspots which you can access if you have a subscription with them (either specifically for their hotspot service, or sometimes bundled with your home internet). Chances are that the only hotspots for your new ISP are free ones (given the low number), while the ones for your old ISP are a mix of free and paid hotspots. Other than going to the various places that she wants WiFi access and trying it out without using your ISP login credentials (i.e. making it look as if you're just a random person off the street), there's no surefire way of telling which she'll still be able to use. I'd expect any WiFi in a fast food place or a cafe to be free. MChesterMC (talk) 09:55, 20 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Why isnt my Java repaint call actually changing the look of my window?

Hello,

For fun i wrote a class that can display random walks, shown here. I will note that for brevity i excluded the "GfxConfigs" class, which only grabs an array of Rectangles that represent each monitor attached to the computer. Notice that i have listeners attached to a window so that when you left click and drag, the window is moved around. Also, when you right click, i intend the program to erase that random walk, and make a new one (I call "repaint").

The new random walk is not generated, although you can see that repaint is called since the program does the println of the string "repainted". What am i doing wrong here?

216.173.144.188 (talk) 20:31, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Edit: I have added debug println commands which verify that the paint method is called, and a new random walk is generated. The change just isn't being shown! It will "work" if i do this:

   w.repaint();
   w.setVisible(false);
   w.setVisible(true);

... But i don't want to accept this as the fix, because it kills the symptoms and not the problem, and it also makes my random walks disappear for a short time when right clicked. 216.173.144.188 (talk) 22:01, 19 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]