Wi-Fi connection problem.

[Say again s l o w l y]

Hi all.

I've recently decided to join the 21st century by getting a wirless card for my lap top for those boring times stuck in hotels and airports.

The problem is that although it seems to be running fine (it finds the networks and the signal strength is usually excellent) when I try to start up internet explorer it comes up with an error message saying that I don't have access due to the access control list.

What is this? How do I get rid of it?
I used to use the lap top at my old company and I cannot remember the administrator password and no one there has a clue either. Is this the problem?

Thanks in advance

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Are you trying to log in to open networks (yes I know there are lots of them about) or are you trying to use the internet connection of a deliberately shared access point where you are charged a fee for internet access.

At a guess your machine is hooking onto an open network which is looking for authentication. The most common way of preventing access to these networks is by allowing a particular list of machines (using their MAC address) access to the network.

If your not on the list you ain't getting in...

[Say again s l o w l y]

It's a free service from some of the hotels. I've only tried it in one place so far, so I may need to organise access rather than just assuming it?

[Front_Seat_Dreamer]

Yes I think you probably will.

In my day job I 'find' lots of networks which you rightly point out give you a 5 bar signal but it is becoming more frequent that you have to arrange some sort of access onto these networks.

Someone with a little knowledge can access areas of the network that they really shouldn't be in especially with whole organisations becoming wireless. Not that I have ever even thought about doing this when finding an open network you understand...