Do Laptops/Notebooks require a 'Dongle' to connect to Internet

[kioti]

Simple question. Does a Notebook with inbuilt Network card :
Network Card Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
and
Wireless Connectivity 1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN
require a USB 'Dongle' adapter to receive/send WiFi to/from a Modem that transmits / receives WiFi signal to the computer device?

[chiefnz]

No it doesn't.

[kioti]

No it doesn't.

cheifnz
hi and thanks. I didn't think it did. I won't get too involved explaining and this has nothing to do with other threads I have relating to the friends internet problems. Basically here it is;
She lives in Montevideo, Uruguay, Sth America... has been getting crap 8Kbps download speed for past 2-3 weeks. Cannot play her Facebook games...
Her device is this ... nothing high powered/specs...is ok for a 79 year old for emails/browsing and playing her 3 FB Games

The device is running W10 x64 Home v1709 ( Won't instal the update to 1903 but we won't go there in this thread )

https://support.hp.com/ie-en/document/c04770481

She has a Modem indoors connected to telephone to get Internet...Modem brand and model is here

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mkGE7cXZThE/maxresdefault.jpg

She also has a Huawei E8372 Wingle... hers is 4G and not exactly the same as in this link:

https://support.hologram.io/hc/en-us...372-LTE-Wingle

She bought the Wingle some time ago to use when she goes to her villa in Bello Horizonte, Uruguay, for short stays as there is no telephone connection there.

The Wingle she has to buy data to use it,

She is using the Wingle connected to her device and I ask why when she has the Large modem being supplied internet (ADSL I assume it would be and not Fibre) So she must be paying Monthly or Yearly or...for that service. She says the Modem is not working. Sent me pics of it so I could read and see what LEDS were / were not aglow and I couldn't make out the wording and see if the leds were Green/white/Stable/Flashing etc etc and the pic went out of focus towards the right.

She is getting a download speed of 8Kbps (I connected using Team Viewer and got Task Manager opened to see what Up/Down speed she was getting.... Up showed 0...Down 8kbps
I assume that those figures are from the Wingle she has connected to her HP Device.

On top of all this, there is no Internet Icon showing in Task Bar... so no Troubleshoot or open Network and Sharing options.
I get into Control Panel >Internet options > Connections and its showing 4-6 connections of different names/types. Shame I never took a snipping tool pic of it.
Strangest of all ( to my mind) is that when I was in TViewer and Task Manager > Performance, for Ethernet it stated Not connected and it said the same for WiFi!!! So she had no internet and there I was remotely connected to her device having a look around at things! Kinda absurd really. I attach a pic of Task Manager/Performance.
"no esta conectado" means "it's not connected"

It was thought that her slow internet was bought about by the Lockdown re: the Coronavirus and the TCP/IP being overloaded, but, I posted to my Facebook, mentioning my friends situation and asked if anyone in Uruguay or any other country in Sth America was having the same issue with slow/useless internet as my friend... I received 2 replies, the first from a woman in Argentina (basically next door) and she had no problems, the 2nd reply was from a woman in Colombia ( a bit further away) who didn't actually answer my question but she said that her ISP had offered her boost in speed at no cost.
Most probably being fed by different Servers that my friend in Uruguay. I wish I had gotten a reply from Uruguay, but......... shrug

My friend doesn't have an Ethernet cable to connect the HP and ZTE Modem, unfortunately, but she emphasizes in CAPS that the zte is broken(!!) & from 10,000km away I can't check that for certainty.

Is an annoyance to me because I cannot help her and I am daily playing her FB Criminal Case game to keep her up to date but she loved to play her games.... hasn't been able to do so for 10-15 days now. Shame.
She might have to get a techie in and that has not been too easy to do because of the virus lockdown and people staying safe.

Thanks for you reply. Much appreciated.

Cheers

Garry

[zqwerty]

I used to use a dongle of a similar type about 6 years ago, they work well, fast speed, I seem to remember that they cost a certain amount depending on the bandwidth you buy, say $50 for 8GB I think, I never bought them myself they were given to me every month by the company I was helping out at the time.

I found they always worked better if they were used at the end of a usb cable extension connection and closest to a window if possible.

They come with an installation program and will not work if that is not installed, hence you not seeing ethernet or wifi internet activity, it's working through the usb port

[chiefnz]

Your persistence is admirable and I applaud you for trying to help your friend BUT... it's time to get a "professional" involved and by that I mean she needs a techie to have a look at what's going on with her laptop and modem etc.

There is very little you can do given the current constraints.

Might not be what you want to hear but that's just the way it is.

[zqwerty]

Make sure the laptop and it's internet wifi dongle is not being used on a metal table or suchlike, or in some way shielded by being used in an internal room and not close to the outside walls of the house she is in.

I used to use my laptop on a large cardboard box close to a window to get the best signal on the usb extension plus dongle.

My dongle didn't like being close to a wireless telephone handset either.

Tell her to walk round in the garden using the dongle with the battery power on the laptop see if the speed increases.

[kioti]

chiefnz and zqwerty

Thanks but I have slung me hooks on it I was just in FB Chat with her as she had just woken up a short time ago, and I had the brainwave to ask her if her daughter who has internet and lives in Uruguay is getting slow speed, after some answers like "Not" i was eventually told "No, she is not". She (my friend the mum) said her "computer is bad and her BIG Modem is broken, the RED light should be white"................. I fired back in serious anger "What RED LIGHT? What is the WORD under it??" I gave up and am going to bed to sleep before my brain melts.

Thanks

Thread solved ... leave it to a pro closer to the problem to sort out Cheers

[kioti]

I used to use a dongle of a similar type about 6 years ago, they work well, fast speed, I seem to remember that they cost a certain amount depending on the bandwidth you buy, say $50 for 8GB I think, I never bought them myself they were given to me every month by the company I was helping out at the time.

I found they always worked better if they were used at the end of a usb cable extension connection and closest to a window if possible.

They come with an installation program and will not work if that is not installed, hence you not seeing ethernet or wifi internet activity, it's working through the usb port

zqwerty
hi and thanks...yep that USB Wingle she has is capable of fast speeds and she was paying about $50 (Uruguayan equivalent) for 8GB bandwidth data.
Thanks for the info about the wifi internet activity not showing because its using USB port.
The installation program would have been installed because I have known her for 5-6 years and she has used it and we could connect without any issues.
I think her OS has been damaged, guessing I would say from her computer battery dying when it was attempting to update to W10 v1903...... all guesswork but a pro's guesses will be much better
cheers

[kioti]

Your persistence is admirable and I applaud you for trying to help your friend BUT... it's time to get a "professional" involved and by that I mean she needs a techie to have a look at what's going on with her laptop and modem etc.

There is very little you can do given the current constraints.

Might not be what you want to hear but that's just the way it is.

chiefnz
ha ha.... yep, stubborn and incorrigible defines me.... but I have now accepted that I can't do anything.....
cheers

[piroska]

. She says the Modem is not working.

Then she should contact her isp and get another.
And a tech - remote tech even to sort the computer side out.