Wireless Networking - USA

gazzae · 05-07-2006, 11:59

Hi All,

A friend of mine is going to the states to work for a few months and he brought a Sony laptop with wireless lan to use when over there.

He was about to throw the box out when he noticed a sticker on the side which said "Wireless Lan can only be used in the countries listed below." The US wasn't listed as one of the countries. Now he is worried that it won't work.

I said I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't and thought that it would be something like using an i-trip over here.

Does anyone know what the reason is?

Stephen · 05-07-2006, 12:03

I thought that Wireless LAN is a worldwide standard and should work anywhere.

Maybe its a security thing?

Derek · 05-07-2006, 12:05

I think the USA has slightly different wireless frequencies that Europe but it should still work the majority of the time. There may be a few places using a channel the laptop can't connect to.

I know Dell notebooks have different drivers for USA, Europe and Japan so he might be able to get some different drivers from the Sony support site.

MovedGoalPosts · 05-07-2006, 12:12

moved to networking discussion

punky · 05-07-2006, 12:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazzae

Hi All,

A friend of mine is going to the states to work for a few months and he brought a Sony laptop with wireless lan to use when over there.

He was about to throw the box out when he noticed a sticker on the side which said "Wireless Lan can only be used in the countries listed below." The US wasn't listed as one of the countries. Now he is worried that it won't work.

I said I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't and thought that it would be something like using an i-trip over here.

Does anyone know what the reason is?

I don't have the foggiest... I've bought a laptop in the US (Apple powerbook) and its worked fine back here...

gazzae · 05-07-2006, 12:46

Looking at the Regulations Guide, it only mentions complying with European directives so I assume thats why he says it can only be used in certain countries.

Stephen · 05-07-2006, 13:10

I bought my PSP in the USA and have been using the wireless LAN functions without any problems over here at all.

basa · 05-07-2006, 13:18

The whole world uses the same frequencies for Wi-Fi, but Europe allows 2 additional channels beyond US permitted ones.

Although I've never used wireless I did see that most locations in USA where wireless was available there was usually a wired connection not far away as well.