Rodney O. Lain - 2000.01.17
This article was originally published on The
iMac.com, a site which no longer exists. It is copyright 2000 by
RAC Enterprises, which also seems to no longer exist. It is thus
reprinted here without permission (which we would gladly obtain if
possible). Links have been retained when possible, but many go to
the Internet Wayback
Machine.
Is anyone at Apple reading this?
While at Macworld, my boss, Rob Aldridge, was kind enough to
loan me a Lucent WaveLAN PC Card to enable my PowerBook to access
the AirPort wireless network.
I fell in love.
It's another home run, Apple.
After being home for a few days, I couldn't resist, so I went to
CompUSA and bought an AirPort base station for my home. A manager
said that the base stations were RTV'd (Returned To Vendor),
because of some problem with the FCC certification.
I don't know if that's true, but it'd be nice for someone else
to follow up on that - oh, not me; there's an obvious conflict of interest
there for me. Since there aren't any more base stations around, I
ask if I can buy the demo unit. I buy it for a below-retail
price.
Anyway, I get the base station home, excited about surfing the
'net without having to strand a 25' phone line from the kitchen
down to the living room level of the house, where there isn't any
phone jack.
I notice that there is no AC adapter. I call Apple's tech
support, and the support guy says AC adapters are on back order for
a couple of weeks. He orders me one anyway. It arrives the next
day.
Good going, Apple. I've heard gripes about your customer
service, but it worked much better than I thought it would.
So, I plug the base station in, get my PowerBook ready and start
having visions of wireless 'net surfing dancing in my head.' but
nothing happens. I can't connect to the web. Ditto for my e-mail
servers.
No problem, I think. Maybe I'm just not doing it right. I then
do something I've never tried before: I RTFM.
I go through the monkey-see-monkey-do instructions, and I start
the base station up again. Nothing happens.
I then remember that John H. Farr, over at Applelinks had written two columns
about having the same problem, so I cruise on over to see how he
fared. Can't find the articles, so I e-mail him. He writes back
that he has an AirPort-equipped iBook, so his solutions don't jive
with my Mac.
I then go over to Apple's Tech Info Library to find help. I find
a link to the Mac Resource Page, where there is an helpful article
on Using the AirPort Without an AirPort-ready Mac.
I follow instructions, which consist of resetting the firmware
in the base station. I fire it up again. Nothing happens.
I reset the base station again. And again. And again.
Frustrated. I give up.
At CompUSA, I talk with a coworker who says he had to reset the
base station five times before he gets it to work.
Good God.
So, I'm at the end of my rope - which brings me to this last act
of desperation:
Hey, readers! Is there anyone out there who can help me get this
frickin' thing to work? Any Apple employees out there? I want this
thing to work. I'm not trying to bash Apple. I just want my
wireless networking to work!
Somebody help me! Please? Plee-hee-hee-ease!
>uncontrollable sobbing commences<
- Rodney O'Neal Lain
Rodney O. Lain is The iMac's Associate Editor. A
former professor, he lives in St. Paul, MN, where he is a freelance
writer and a supervisor at a major US corporation. He enjoys comic
books and pencil drawing. He adores Mike Royko, Zora Hurston, Lewis
Grizzard, Maya Angelou, John Byrne, bell hooks, Frank Miller and
Henry Louis Gates. He also writes for Low End Mac, Applelinks and
My Mac Magazine. When no one's looking, he rants and raves on his
home page
Free Your Mind & Your Behind Will Follow.
