Make Dell laptop work with Verizon DSL

December 16, 2006 4:34 PM

Any ideas why my Dell laptop's wireless gets 'limited or no connectivity' to a new Verizon DSL wireless modem? Verizon says its a problem with the Dell computer and I need to get Dell to sort out the fault. Dell wants me to pay for the information. I figure Dell and Verizon must have encountered this problem before and hope there's some folks here who know where to get the information to change settings or otherwise set up a configuration to make it work. Suggestions?
posted by NorthCoastCafe to computers & internet (5 comments total)

Does the wireless modem have WPA or WEP encryption enabled by default? If so, are you sure you are entering the key/passphrase correctly on the PC? As I recall I've gotten the "limited or no connectivity" sometimes when I've screwed something up with the encryption settings.
posted by Good Brain at 5:34 PM on December 16, 2006

Was the modem working successfully with another computer before attempting to access with your new Dell laptop?

The reason I ask is that I recently helped a friend with a similar situation. She plugged in her work laptop to her cable modem after it had already given out an IP to her home desktop. It would give the same "limited to no connectivity". She ultimately had to powercycle the modem when she switched computers and everything worked. Now, this was a hardwired connection with no router in place, so it may not apply. I just figured I would throw it out there.
posted by bwilms at 6:23 PM on December 16, 2006

What IP address do you have (press windows+R, type "cmd", type "ipconfig", look for "ip address ..... XX.XX.XX.XX")?
posted by signal at 6:33 PM on December 16, 2006

I believe the DSL modem has some sort of encryption (WPA?) or mac limiting on it by default. The Wireless in the VZ Westel modems is crap anyways.

You have two fixes:

a. Buy a wireless accesspoint/router (like a buffalo airstation from newegg, ~$50)
b. http://gatewayip (see signal's directions, but look for the gateway) and configure wireless properly.

I would HIGHLY suggest A. I did so after having mine lose its config, or the wireless stop working 3 times for a client.

limited or no connectivity means no DHCP server (if it works over wired, your DHCP server is fine), or encryption/limiting.
posted by SirStan at 6:51 PM on December 16, 2006

This may sound really simplistic, but the first thing you have to check is whether there is power to the modem, and that it is not on standby. Sometimes the obvious . . .
posted by Neiltupper at 9:27 PM on December 16, 2006