Connecting to the Network

Every teacher laptop, whether Apple or PC, can connect to the network / internet in one of three ways.  Every laptop has a port on the side or back with a small picture of a telephone and another right beside it with a different icon.  They look identical, but they are not.  The one with the icon, picture, of the phone requires a phone cable and you would make use of this one if you use a dialup connection at home.  Using this approach you would be using the internal modem built into your computer and will need to go in and configure the modem to dial into your ISP, internet service provider.  Those directions can be obtained from your service provider and often vary slightly from one to the other.

The port next to the modem port with the different icon, some look like several computers connected, some look like a double headed arrow, is your network or ethernet connection.  This cable is ever so slightly larger than the one for a telephone.  We have network cables in every classroom throughout the district.  If you also have a network in your home, use cable modem, or satellite you might use this to connect your computer at home.

The last method is going wireless.  For the Apple, you will be working with an Airport card installed internally in your computer.  You may have to turn on your airport card.  Look at the top toolbar for an icon that looks like a fan or radar.  If it is all grayed out then click and hold moving down to where it says, “turn airport on”.  If you alreay have black bars showing on that icon your airport is active.  Sometimes you can receive signal from more than one airport base station.  The more solid black lines you have showing the stronger the signal you have to the network.  If your computer has never been used wirelessly you may need to open the system preferences > network > and click to start an airport connection.  Your building tc can assist you the first time you try this.

If you work on a PC and are going wireless you will notice two computer monitors in the bottom task bar.  One is for a network connection.  The other has sound waves or radar looking lines coming off the right side of the little picture of the monitor.  This is your wireless indicator.  If it lights up and the lines glow green your computer has gone out an found a wireless network for you to join.  It tries to assist you as much as possible.  If there is no indication of life hover over the icon and right click on it.  Then click on view availabe wireless networks.  Choose one that you believe is closest to your location and connect.  If this does not work for you contact your building tc to walk you through the setup so that you can make notes and understand the process for future attempts.