Ask A Geek

Q: Hello, my mother and father are about 60 and have a 3g hotspot modem from verizon that they use for internet, they have a 10gb limit per month and have to really watch what they do or they go over their limit. I have a similar modem and only have a 5 gb limit and never go over 2.3 gb per month. The only thing they do that could take up very much bandwidth is farmville or frontierville or facebook poker. My question is two fold. How do i tell where all their internet is going so that I can help them budget their internet better and is it possible for farmville to eat up that much bandwidth?

Q: My Verizon Chocolate is pretty much outdated (S/W VX855P06 and H/W Revision 1.0). Is it possible to update the client? If so, how.

Q: Is it possible to download free non Verizon Wireless games on my Lg vx8550PP? If so, how do I do it. Sometimes my phone goes to something that looks like a formula.

Q: I recently got Verizon FIOS and it came with a free Actiontec wireless router. Can I use my old wireless Linksys router to extend the signal so that i can use the internet outside in my backyard (for example)?

Q: I have an HP laptop model dv6700 with Windows Vista. I was always able to access wirelessly through verizon modem and a netgear router. Now my connection tells me local only. I show a connection between the computer and an unidentified network but no connection between it and the Internet. This is on the network and sharing center, can you help?

Q: I have Verizon cell phone service and I’m wondering if there is a way for me to have a voice mail that is saved in my voice mail box sent to my computer. I would like to be able to save a voice mail to a cd.

Q: I am having serious problems with my laptop getting online. I have a Toshiba laptop running on Windows XP. In my home I have Verizon DSL, the modem (Westell model 327W) which I am told is the most up to date modem for Verizon. I also have a Westell PC card. The laptop is at least 5 years old, and I have had DSL service for over 10 years.

Because of the problems I am having, about a month ago, I called Verizon and they sent me a new modem and updated my connections. I still have the same Westell PC card that came with the original modem. I believe that my modem is working properly; the DSL light and the wireless light is lit on the modem. When I turn my laptop on, there is an icon at the bottom that tells me whether or not I have an internet connection and the strength. I know the lights on the PC card are suppose to light up to let me know that I have a connection. That is my problem. Sometimes the icon states that I have a excellent signal but I still cannot get online and my PC card is not lit. A screen comes up saying “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage.” In the past, I have right clicked on the icon that is telling me that I have no connection and clicked repair. A Repair Wireless Network Connection message box comes up and sometimes I can get online AFTER it says “renewing IP address.”

I thought that it was my PC card so I purchased a compatible Dynex PC card. I downloaded everything and still, I can’t get online but this card tells me that I have a good signal and it lights up!! However, when I try to connect, it says no signal.

I used to be able to go on my back porch or in the basement and get on my laptop. Now, I am about 20 feet away from the modem and can’t get online at all!!! There are no obstacles in the way of the signal and weather, time of day nor phones ringing have no effect on connection.

Please, please can anyone tell me what is the problem? Is it the modem, PC cards or laptop?

Q: I am researching phones for Verizon and would like to know the difference between “always on” and “wireless sync” for email access with the various phones.

A: Wireless sync allows a user to sync their wireless mobile device to a desktop PC for email, calendar, contacts and other tasks they may be performing. The term “always on” refers to an Internet connection that is “always on” meaning that the wireless device maintains a constant connection to the Internet. Wireless sync features a “push” email feature that automatically sends your emails to your device.

Q: We live in a rural area where our only options for getting on the internet are to either use dial-up or use Verizon’s wireless broadband service. Verizon’s wireless broadband service is the faster of the two options but since we have two computers we would like to try to share the connection between them. We talked to customer support at Verizon to see if we could connect the USB720 broadband modem to a wireless router but they said they do not support this. So now we are trying to figure out if it is possible or if there is another alternative that we could try besides paying another $59.99 a month to get another account for the second computer.

A: Verizon is correct in a way. There is no way to just connect your USB modem to a wireless router and have it work because the USB modem needs to be connected to a computer. However, once the modem is connected to your computer you can share the connection using connection sharing.

In order to do connection sharing you must either have an Ethernet card or a wireless card in the computer that has the Verizon broadband card in it. If you have a WiFi card in both your computers then you will be able to setup an adhoc network, which just means the two wireless cards will talk to each other instead of having to spend money on getting a WiFi router.

I am going to direct you over to the Microsoft site on how the exact steps to set this up but it is really easy there are just too many steps to list here. The page you want to visit is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306126 and it will walk you though the entire process of setting up your connection so you can share it with others on your network.