Does Decatur Wi-Fi Work with Mobile Devices?
December 31, 2009 | 11:41 amIf it does, I haven’t figured out how to make it work with an iPod Touch yet.
I can get to the Decatur Wi-Fi access page, but then I can’t click any of the buttons. Has anyone ever had success connecting to Decatur Wi-Fi with ANY mobile device?
Is it just an issue with the free access? Do I need a monthly subscription?
If I could add on with an even more neophyte question: How does one get Decatur Wi-Fi to connect with one’s wireless router for desktops at home? I’m pretty sure that my home gets some kind of signal because I’ve sometimes had work laptops at home that connected up to the Internet spontaneously without my having to find a broadband or other connection. But when Comcast, my broadband service for my home desktops, goes down, our wireless router doesn’t seem to switch over to Decatur Wi-Fi spontaneously. I have a feeling that there’s a way to use Decatur Wi-Fi to connect until broadband is working again but it isn’t happening spontaneously.
Karass, your wireless router is designed to send out a wireless signal, not receive one. In order to receive the signal from the Decatur Wi-Fi on your home computer you would need a wireless device (PCI card or USB). Your notebook has one built-in or installed and can receive the signal from your router or Decatur’s router.
Thank you. My kids haven’t yet reached the level of technical proficiency to help me out with this stuff yet. Their intimate knowledge of Playstation 2 and DSI is not useful to me.
i haven’t been able to get it to work on an ipod touch either, but when i had a blackberry with wifi capabilities, it was able to connect to the network without any problems at all.
I have used mine with my Ipod Touch many times. My issue is that the coverage seems to be really spotty. There are tons of places I can’t detect it at all, some where it flashes in and out a LOT (enough to make surfing extremely frustrating) and some places where it comes in great but I happen to be like, in my car at an intersection. When I am trying to detect it, I open Safari and if it’s going to show up it will usually bring up the log in page. Then if I zoom a ton (using the finger-sweep) I can get close enough to check the box to log in. Then, 3+ minutes later I am usually connected.
So there is hope!
So you just have to zoom in really close? I could have sworn I tried that and I just couldn’t click anything….however my fingers were freezing off at the time. I’ll have to give it another try.
Thanks much!
Works fine with my iPhone.
I’ve had no trouble connecting with my iPod Touch at the Adair Dog Park. But, yeah, you do have to zoom in on the web page until you can click the buttons and log in. Would be nice if they had a mobile log in page in addition to the regular web page.
I’ve used it several times with my iPod Touch too, but like everyone else says, you have to open Safari, zoom in (with a pinch), and accept the terms.
I also found free WiFi near Raging Burrito from SkyBlox (I think that’s what it was) that worked well with the Touch.
Decatur Wi-Fi was a good idea, but in reality I find that it is pretty lame. I’ve never been able to get a signal at my home and occasionally I can get it on my iPhone when I’m downtown.
Status update: OK, it took a few tries but I was able to get wi-fi to connect in the heart of downtown…though I was surprised that I had very weak service in front of the courthouse and library.
I agree that there has been a certain amount of disappointment with Decatur Wi-Fi, but I think there are ways to improve it. For one, Nancy’s idea of a mobile log-in page is great. I’m going to pass the idea on to the city and Get The Speed.
In terms of getting a signal inside your house, you generally need Get the Speed’s wireless modem to get any kind of decent signal indoors.
I’ve often not been able to connect even when standing right by one of their wireless base stations. I find it generally works very poorly with mobile devices and Macs, and there’s a higher degree of latency/packet loss than expected.
That explains it. I am Mac only and when my internet was down for a week, I tried to get onto Decatur wifi and failed completely.
ditto my experience with a mac.
Nellie – not necessarily a Mac issue. I have a MacBook Pro and can jump on to the Decatur wifi easily when my Comcast connection is down. I’m usually connecting from my den at the front of the house, there’s a transmitter on a pole about two houses away. My MacBook is less than a year old. I did have trouble connecting with my old 2003 Mac Powerbook which it replaced, the connection would drop frequently and was fairly weak. Either the wireless network was pumped up last spring or my new MacBook does a better job of hooking up to it.
Has anyone had any experience trying to connect a Playstation 3 to the Decatur WiFi network? Does it work? Should I get one of the Get The Speed wireless modems? I will have that and a brand new MacBook that I will be using in our new house and any advice would be appreciated.