I'm wondering why the following situation exists:
There is a free open city owned WiFi hotspot covering Union Square in San Francisco.Union Square is in the dead center of the city for tourists,shoppers,and business,so it's useful to know for anyone coming to SF.It seems to have a large footprint.I've connected to it from a bookstore (Borders) off the Square.
But my question is this:I have 2 older 802.11b cards someone gave me.One of the cards sees the AP,but the other doesn't.Why is this?Here are the details.
My P3 laptop has Win98SE.The card that sees and automatically connects to the AP is a 3COM 11Mbps.3CRWE737 96B.The 3rd party apps that I have to find hotspots don't work with this card,but the SW that comes with the card shows the details of signals it detects. It actually doesn't show their SSIDs,but the APs MAC addresses.However,when it automatically associates with an AP,it shows the SSID highlighted in the text input field of the connection utility that allows you to enter an SSID.Alternatively,I can manually enter an SSID and then the card will only connect to that SSID and it works when I do this.So, I know I am connecting to the U. Square AP.
The other card is a little newer,I think.It's a US Robotics
11 Mbps USR2410.Boingo's SW and Aerosol work with this card .I have changed the variables in the connection SW that comes with the card:5Mbps,11Mpbs,Fully Automatic.I have manually entered the SSID: UNIONSQUAREWIRELESS2.It won't see the AP.The signal strength of the AP is extremely strong,so that couldn't be the issue.And Boingo's SW and Aerosol detect many other APs when I'm in Union Square (all WEP enabled).Any ideas?