Arthur8,

 

The term "wireless" is one of the most misunderstood because there are so many "flavors" of it. 

 

For some years now there has been wireless internet access using a cell phone.  The technology is now quite old and has always been slow.  It connects your laptop to your cell phone and makes a dial-up connection.  It is technology that is no longer viable.

 

Today many cell phone providers are offering high speed wireless internet access, available in major metropolitan areas.   None cover the entire country.  The speed is about equivalent to DSL internet service.  Verizon offers their EV-DO service for $60 per month.  It requires a special adapter card which plugs into the laptop.  Your laptop is very new, which uses a new technology for plug-in cards called Express Card.  Unfortunately the providers like Verizon do not yet offer an adapter which fits the Express Card slot.  Their adapters currently only work with the older PCMCIA technology, found on laptops about one year old and older.  The Dell 1390 is not compatible with the high speed wireless internet access the cell phone providers offer.  It sounds like this is the type of service the Verizon store was trying to sell you.

 

A third kind of wireless internet access is wi-fi.  Wi-fi requires a special wireless adapter in your laptop, like the Dell 1390.  You say your laptop has the Dell 1390 in it, so you have all you need for wi-fi internet access.  For wi-fi to work you need to be within 300 feet of a wireless access point.  Many hotels, airports and restaurants offer wi-fi internet access, some for free and some for a fee.  For example, Starbucks coffee shops offer wi-fi internet access, but there is a fee to connect.  Panera Bread restaurants offer wi-fi internet access for free.  If you want wi-fi internet access at home you need a broadband internet connection, a wireless router and a wireless network adapter in your laptop.  Of course you have to pay for the broadband internet connection.

 

You need to decide what type of wireless internet access you really need.  Then get the necessary hardware.  Depending on what you want to do you may have everything you need.

Have you tried to ask the verizon tech guys to bridge the wireless router? This might do a trick on your wireless issue.