[jenamaureen]

My laptop has a built in modem. If I out a Wireless PCI card in it, will it magically connect to the internet? IBM T22 Thinkpad. Do I still have to pay for an ISP?

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Welcome to Geeks2Go!

Not as simple as that I'm afraid! You'll have to pay an ISP for an internet-access account.

And you seem to be a little confused about what's fitted to your laptop. The built-in modem is for connecting to a regular phone socket allowing you to 'dial up' your ISP's internet-access number. Few people use this method today since it's very slow.

A wireless PC card (it's not called a 'PCI' card, that's something you fit inside a PC) fits into a slot on the side of the laptop and allows you to get 'broadband' internet-access through a 'wireless router' without the wireless card being physically attached to it. But even with that method you still need to sign up with an ISP.

As you can now see, the internal modem inside your laptop has nothing to do with a wireless card. They are two entirely different methods of getting internet access. One slow (the modem), the other much faster.

Edited by pip22, 23 May 2008 - 04:27 AM.

[pip22]

Welcome to Geeks2Go!

Not as simple as that I'm afraid! You'll have to pay an ISP for an internet-access account.

And you seem to be a little confused about what's fitted to your laptop. The built-in modem is for connecting to a regular phone socket allowing you to 'dial up' your ISP's internet-access number. Few people use this method today since it's very slow.

A wireless PC card (it's not called a 'PCI' card, that's something you fit inside a PC) fits into a slot on the side of the laptop and allows you to get 'broadband' internet-access through a 'wireless router' without the wireless card being physically attached to it. But even with that method you still need to sign up with an ISP.

As you can now see, the internal modem inside your laptop has nothing to do with a wireless card. They are two entirely different methods of getting internet access. One slow (the modem), the other much faster.

Edited by pip22, 23 May 2008 - 04:27 AM.