Technotard here… help.

Help.  Just got a new tablet. Never used one before.  I haven’t got broadband, use a mobile plug-in.  The new tablet takes a microsecond not the normal one I use with the laptop, so 3 sent me a mobile wifi that takes my normal simcard and powers up the tablet remotely.  All fine and well, set it up etc, got the home screen up, but when I went to access the net, got a padlock symbol and it said locked, no simcard.  

Well of course there isn’t a f***ing simcard, it’s in the little wifi remote.  What do I do now?  Probably have to go miles into town to get the shop to sort it out.  I hate technology!  Could ring the kids but I’d probably get…

Tess wrote:Help.  Just got a new tablet. Never used one before.  I haven’t got broadband, use a mobile plug-in.  The new tablet takes a microsecond not the normal one I use with the laptop, so 3 sent me a mobile wifi that takes my normal simcard and powers up the tablet remotely.  All fine and well, set it up etc, got the home screen up, but when I went to access the net, got a padlock symbol and it said locked, no simcard.  

Well of course there isn’t a f***ing simcard, it’s in the little wifi remote.  What do I do now?  Probably have to go miles into town to get the shop to sort it out.  I hate technology!  Could ring the kids but I’d probably get…

Did the mobile dongle, if that is what you mean Tess, come with a sim card?
They normally do and you would plug the dongle in and set this up?
Or am I misreading you?

Phil Didge wrote:



Did the mobile dongle, if that is what you mean Tess, come with a sim card?
They normally do and you would plug the dongle in and set this up?
Or am I misreading you?

Hi Didge - yes that's how my laptop's always worked, but the new tablet has a microsim. I could have replaced the simcard with a micro one but I wanted to use the laptop and tablet. As they use different types of simcard I was told to use the wifi device, which works fine on the laptop, and worked setting up the tablet, but then locked it because the simcard wasn't physically in the tablet, which of course it isn't as the device is wifi.

That's the trouble with living in the wilderness, it's a long trek into town. I do miss having all the shops in walking distance. Never mind though, swings and roundabouts...

Tess wrote:
Hi Didge - yes that's how my laptop's always worked, but the new tablet has a microsim. I could have replaced the simcard with a micro one but I wanted to use the laptop and tablet.  As they use different types of simcard I was told to use the wifi device, which works fine on the laptop, and worked setting up the tablet, but then locked it because the simcard wasn't physically in the tablet, which of course it isn't as the device is wifi.  

That's the trouble with living in the wilderness, it's a long trek into town.  I do miss having all the shops in walking distance.  Never mind though, swings and roundabouts...

NIghtmare, what make is the Tablet?

Have you clicked on the lock symbol Tess and does it ask for a password?

I am on same time with one of the IT guys at work and he asked the above.

Phil Didge wrote:Have you clicked on the lock symbol Tess and does it ask for a password?

I am on same time with one of the IT guys at work and he asked the above.

Thanks for helping Didge. It's a Lenovo A00-H

I set it up with the password and stuff - it let me set up a google account on it, then when it got to the homepage there was the lock symbol. When you tap it it just stays there, there's no choice to enter anything.

Tess wrote:

Thanks for helping Didge.  It's a Lenovo A00-H

I set it up with the password and stuff - it let me set up a google account on it, then when it got to the homepage there was the lock symbol.  When you tap it it just stays there, there's no choice to enter anything.

No worries
He says there should be a fucntion  to disable the sim card function, might be under something like SIM Management or Edit or change or something.
It might be this that is creating the problem, though difficult to tell not being able to see.

I figured it out Didge. I'd set up the wifi on my laptop. I switched the network settings to public so I could share the connection with the tablet. Now it works. Not that impressed though; can't do a lot of things I do on the laptop.

Tess wrote:I figured it out Didge.  I'd set up the wifi on my laptop.  I switched the network settings to public so I could share the connection with the tablet.  Now it works.  Not that impressed though; can't do a lot of things I do on the laptop.  

Glad you sorted it Tess.
I do not have one myself, what things are not as good?

From a PC expert's point of view Tess - get rid of the tablet and buy a PC.

And get fibre installed.

Hope that helps.

I got a tablet 2 years ago, very rarely use it ..... but very useful when travelling when I don't want to take my laptop.

Agree with Andy ....... fibre optic is the way to go!

Glad you sorted it Tess, I've not got a tablet but heard they are not really much cop, generally quite low spec with minimal storage space in comparison to a decent laptop or pc, but was going to suggest it would be something in settings at one device or other.



Make sure you put some password security on your wifi connection, as if it is public and open to all, anyone will be able to access it if within range.

Smash it againt the wall 

Always works

Tess wrote:

Phil Didge wrote:



Did the mobile dongle, if that is what you mean Tess, come with a sim card?
They normally do and you would plug the dongle in and set this up?
Or am I misreading you?

Hi Didge - yes that's how my laptop's always worked, but the new tablet has a microsim. I could have replaced the simcard with a micro one but I wanted to use the laptop and tablet.  As they use different types of simcard I was told to use the wifi device, which works fine on the laptop, and worked setting up the tablet, but then locked it because the simcard wasn't physically in the tablet, which of course it isn't as the device is wifi.  

That's the trouble with living in the wilderness, it's a long trek into town.  I do miss having all the shops in walking distance.  Never mind though, swings and roundabouts...

is it a dongle that you plug into a usb slot on the laptop or an actual wifi hotspot.

with the hotspot you should just need to connect to whatever the wifi id is.
ie
tesswifi
and put in the password

as long as the dongle/hotspot has a sim card you should be able to access the net.
Although if it is plugged into a usb slot then the device it is plugged into will need to be on.

BigAndy9 wrote:From a PC expert's point of view Tess - get rid of the tablet and buy a PC.

And get fibre installed.

Hope that helps.

the chances of getting fibre in the back end of beyond are remote to say the least

mattiducatti wrote:Glad you sorted it Tess, I've not got a tablet but heard they are not really much cop, generally quite low spec with minimal storage space in comparison to a decent laptop or pc, but was going to suggest it would be something in settings at one device or other.



Make sure you put some password security on your wifi connection, as if it is public and open to all, anyone will be able to access it if within range.

the thing with tablets is the apps are small so massive storage is not usually required.
16GB onboard and 32-64Gb on an sd card is usually enough. Office appas can be replaced with polaris which comes in at about 40Mb for spreadsheet, word processor, etc.
It can run and create MS office files, although it runs DOC/XLS files it only creates DOCX and XLSX files so if you have an older version of office before the new file structure came in it is best to create files on the PC and sync them over to the tablet.
They are a replacement for a proper PC but they can be an excellent supplement, especially if you have one with a pen function as you can use them for writing as well as typing. also excellent for GPS nav as a laptop in the car is a little tricky to use.
my Mrs has the samsung note 10.1 and it is good at what it does, great for nav, we use sygic which has to be the cheapest around. about £40 for the world.
she connects it to her phone via wifi for on the move internet as it does not have a sim slot.

Not bad for watching movies as well. And I can access all my network drives from it and its files from my network. And it is a lot easier to transport than a laptop. fits in her handbag.
And I bought her cover for it with a bluetooth keyboard so it is not that bad for typing. Using screen typing is no where near as fast as using a keyboard. But then you can dictate to it and the voice recognition is pretty good these days so it will type what you speak.

My wifi is called VOTE UKIP 

Gets the message out