Can a laptop access the internet by a wired connection to a phone socket?

[WSH]

“She has switched the laptop off between uses”…It’s not going to maintain a wireless connection when it’s switched off.  How could it?  It should, however, automatically reconnect when it starts up, providing it has been set to automatically connect that is.

Windows 10, you say…  Right click the start button and go into Settings.  Select Network & Internet and then select Wi-Fi from the list on the left.  Click on the link for “Manage known networks”.  The care home Wi-Fi should be in the list that appears.  Click on it and click the Properties button.  Make sure “Connect automatically when in range” is enabled.

You shouldn’t need to edit the registry to reset the power plan and from what you have just said, I think the problem is a bit more fundamental than that.  However, if you want to look at the power management, the old-fashioned method is the best on Windows 10.  Type “control” in the search box and select Control Panel.  Then click Power Options.  Click the link for “Change plan settings” next to the recommended power plan.  Then click the link for “Change advanced power settings”.  Open up "Wireless Adapter Settings" by clicking the little + sign next to it and then open Power Saving Mode.  Select Maximum Performance.

[giomach]

@WSH Thanks as always.  Any time I have connected the resident's computer to the care home network, I have always set it to automatically reconnect, but nevertheless the resident says it is disconnected when she returns to it.  I then manually reconnect it, till the next time.  I cannot imagine how the care home could override the "automatically reconnect" setting on the laptop, but that seems to be what happens. (However my opportunities to monitor the situation or to experiment with it are limited.)

I have — finally — had a response from the care home management, saying that residents are NOT granted free wifi. The network we have been using is for visitors, they say, and residents are welcome to "access it when required", but they are "generally responsible for arranging their own broadband or internet service within their individual flats should they require a dedicated and ongoing connection."  Very disappointing, but it may explain the reason for the disconnections, if not the method by which they are effected.

My next thought is to try and automate the process of manual reconnection, reducing it to a desktop icon which would be easy for the resident to use by herself (with network name and password built-in).  That's not a question for this forum, I suppose, but if anyone knows of such a Windows application, I'd be pleased to hear about it.

[WSH]

Ah, that explains it.  It’s probably a RADIUS server enforcing a “Session-Timeout” or “Idle-Timeout”.  The latter terminates the session if there is no traffic within a certain time.