I told Onin my problem and was very patient enough to walk me through some processes.  Each time he’d tell me to do something; I’d hang up and call him again.  This went on for about thirty minutes and when I couldn’t make a connection at all despite out concerted efforts, he decided to get his own WeRoam card and I stayed on the line with him for the next thirty minutes.  We compared settings and did the same things but I still couldn’t make a connection.  I was running out of time already because I had to leave for my class so I thanked Onin for seeing me through my dilemma and told him I might have more luck when I get to Manila.

After hanging up the phone, I just couldn’t accept the fact that I messed up the connection so I confined myself inside a room and recalled the things I did with the notebook until after I clicked on the warning button.  Something inside me told me to check the anti-virus program’s Internet Security menu Onin and I failed to check the first time.  It was there that I saw that the Personal Firewall was turned on.  With the firewall on, my laptop was able to transmit data to WeRoam but the firewall prevented the laptop from receiving anything.  This did the trick and I was able to connect to the Internet again!  A great surge of relief enveloped me when I got connected again.  I felt redeemed from my early mishaps with networks and definitely buoyed my spirit.

Now, I continue to use WeRoam and I even brought it to Bacoor, Cavite and was pleasantly surprised that I still got a connection.  If only I don’t suffer from motion sickness, I’d still use it while in transit.  Its speed may not be as fast as broadband and I’d be ignorant to expect it to be, but it’s better than dial-up because not once have I been disconnected from the network which I couldn’t say the same of dial-up.

But this was not the end of my experiment with wi-fi.  I got in touch with Gakken Philippines to use my laptop with one of their wireless projectors for a workshop I was going to host to which they wholeheartedly agreed. 
The team from Gakken came early with plenty of time to set up the equipment on the day of the workshop.  I allowed Gakken’s technical team to make the necessary wireless connections with me observing from the sidelines.  Setting up the U4-237 wireless projector was a snap.  Once the wireless card was inserted into the DLP’s (digital light projector) slot, it was ready to project.  The software that came with the projector was easily installed into the laptop.  Despite the ease with which the equipment and software were installed, connection between the two could not be made and participants were already starting to fill the venue.  Voltaire, Gakken’s tech representative, was trying to enable the laptop’s wireless capability and much as I wanted to help him I couldn’t.  (The set up looked rather complicated to me although Voltaire was trying to explain what he was doing so I didn’t stick my nose into the issue.) He then took out a laptop they brought along to test the projector and everything worked out fine so he went back to my laptop.  After several attempts at enabling the wi-fi, he successfully established a connection between the laptop and the DLP.  I was running late on schedule and had to apologize to the participants for the delay and briefly explained to them the technical problems we encountered.

To emphasize the wireless connection between the laptop and DLP to the audience, I placed the laptop a few feet from the projector with the resource speaker conveniently walking in between the two. 

As for the U4-237, it looks like the average DLP: silver and lightweight.  But a very interesting feature of this unit is that it has a built-in CompactFlash card slot such that files saved in the card can be directly projected without the need of a laptop or a PC!  That is the height of convenience and the answer to every presenter’s dream – to present minus the load of carrying one’s own equipment because the tension before a speaking engagement is already heavy in itself.

I wanted to take wi-fi to the extreme and attempted to access the Internet while the laptop was still connected to the projector but this was not at all possible.  The DLP could handle only one wi-fi connection.

And this is where my experiment in wi-fi ends and I would like to express my deep appreciation to my editor, to PLDT WeRoam, and to Gakken for allowing me to experience the convenience of wireless technology. But if someone out there has a wireless equipment or gadget and would allow me to give it a try, you can reach me at openingpagemb@yahoo.com or leave a message at my website – http://techiepeachy.blogspot.com.

Erratum: I misspelled the name of EDO’s scriptwriter in this column two Mondays ago.  His name is Lewis, not Louie.  So sorry.