The wireless adapter either installs permanently in your computer, or can be plugged into a spare USB port and it allows your computer to receive an internet signal broadcast thru the air (like a radio station signal). Who broadcasts it? Well, that depends...
In many public places (airports, coffee bars, McDonald's, bookstores, hotels, even some entire cities, etc) the internet signal is broadcast for free to anyone who can receive it.
In crowded suburban neighborhoods, sitting in one's house, one can sometimes pick up the wireless networks of your neighbors. Most are password protected so you cannot access the internet via their network. On the other hand, if you happen to find an unsecured network, your computer's wireless adapter can log onto it, and you can access the internet thru their network.
To set up your own home network, you need a wireless broadcaster (aka router). It, in turn, needs to access the internet via a DSL line, or cable, or some such. And, in turn, that internet service needs to be provided by an Internet Service Provider, ISP.
In my case, Bellsouth is my ISP and I have their DSL service (hi-speed access). Their DSL modem receives that signal over the normal phone lines (but not on the actual phone service, just 'borrowing' the copper wire). That, then, is routed to a wireless router which broadcasts that signal around my house. My home computer is hardwired to that router, but my sons each use wireless adapters to allow their own computers (one laptop with a built-in adapter, one desktop computer with a USB-port adapter) to access the internet. I can also 'see' my two side-neighbors' private networks, but they are secured, so I cannot log on to them, nor they mine.
I
think I got that all described correctly...
So, with your UM175 widget (a USB-port type, I see...), your computer should be set up to access the internet as soon as it can find a signal. So, the question is - who's broadcasting it?
Good luck!
Kirk
