Internet Access in Chicago

August 7, 2005 4:26 PM

Is there a place (Starbucks, Kinkos, etc) in the Southport / Wrigleyville area of Chicago where I can physically plug my laptop into the internet? It's not connected in my house yet, and I don't have wireless. Any suggestions?
posted by TurkishGolds to technology (9 comments total)

Without meaning to be rude you should possibly consider purchasing a wireless LAN card, they are very economical of late.

Secondly, investigate the data services of your cellular call provider - often you can use either Bluetooth or a data cable (again, a small peripheral purchase) with the added advantage of being able to use it anywhere with decent signal coverage - but speed of course will be very limited.

Physical cabling is too much hassle for general café's - the installation, maintenance, liability and low demand are enough to make it a non-starter. You may find dedicated Cyber Café's might let you have direct access if you ask nicely - however most of them should really be concerned with keeping their networks secured and content filtered effectively.
posted by rc55 at 4:41 PM on August 7, 2005

I believe most Kinko's have ethernet ports available for use with laptops.
posted by yclipse at 5:10 PM on August 7, 2005

I agree with rc55. Paying for the wireless card is likely to be the most economical option.
posted by winston at 5:13 PM on August 7, 2005

And if Kinkos *does* allow you to plug in directly, there's one right on Southport just south of Addison. It's open 24 hours and has free parking. And they have about 8 computers you could use if you're just checking email or something.
posted by awegz at 5:35 PM on August 7, 2005

Word of warning if for some reason you'll be needing to VPN in to somewhere from a Kinko's: At my last job, we found that whenever our folks went to a Kinko's and tried to connect to our network (IPSEC VPN -- Nortel or Cisco), they couldn't. Just plain-vanilla internet works fine though. Your mileage may, of course, vary.
posted by GreenTentacle at 9:10 PM on August 7, 2005

Get a USB-to-wireless adapter. They're like $20.

(go here and change Bus Type to "USB", then change Sort By to "Price Low to High". Voila.)
posted by intermod at 9:32 PM on August 7, 2005

Does your laptop have a PCMCIA slot? (on the side, about the size of 5 credit cards stacked together)

If so, a PCMCIA wireless card should do the trick. It'll cost between $5-20, depending how well you search around for it.
posted by k8t at 5:00 AM on August 8, 2005

Some libraries have ethernet jacks for you to plug your laptop in, depending on how much money they have and how many of their patrons had laptops a couple years ago. They may or may not require you to have a library card. But, yeah, get wireless, it's cheap and easier.
posted by dagnyscott at 9:31 AM on August 8, 2005

I don't know bupkiss about Chicago, but...

Warning on Kinko's: their rates, at least here in Philly, are truly outrageous. It was something like $7 for 10 minutes. Furthermore, they filter nearly everything that's not moving over port 80 (the world wide web). I couldn't even SSH or telnet out.
posted by Netzapper at 11:54 AM on August 8, 2005