Can't Access Free Wireless in Public Odd Menu Symbol 1

[sirslacker]

I'm having trouble using wireless on my Powerbook Titanium running Tiger 10.4.3.

When in some locations like airports or coffee shops where there is free wireless (and others using PCs get on with no problems) I can't get on.

Instead of my regular signal bars in the top right menu, I see a triangular grey icon with a white square in the middle. I have no idea what the icon means or why I can't pull a signal. Any ideas?

 

[ObviousTroll]

It means you connected to another laptop, not to a free wireless network.

Be sure you have "Ask before joining" selected before you select a wireless network to join.

The reason you can't access anything is that you're probably being blocked by the other machine.

 

[sirslacker]

I did have "ask before joining" selected. The other thing was, in the menu bar the airport was selected to "Free Internet" which was the name of the building's wi-fi.

 

[ObviousTroll]

Sorry, but that "funny symbol" you described is the symbol for connecting to an "Ad-hoc" (computer to computer) network.

 

[ObviousTroll]

I realize this is late - but this is too funny not to share:

The "Free Network" you are trying to connect to is actually a windows bug:

http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2006/09/free_public_wif.html

Apparently, what you saw was not a real public access point, it was a Windows laptop that was displaying a bogus network identifier.

 

[drlex]

ObviousTroll,
Nice spot and good memory - have a purple heart for your diligence in plugging this one.

soi la, soi carré