ESP8266 Community Forum

I am using ESP8266-E01 module thru USB Serial converter(Prolific 2303). I have taken +5V from USB Serial converter to feed an additional +3.3V regulator for feeding ESP8266-E01.
I am able to connect the ESP to my home router and also to my mobile separately. In both the cases I am unable to connect to internet. following are the observation.
1. with my mobile as hot spot:
my laptop gets connected to my mobile and internet browsing is possible. ESP is connected thru one of the USB Ports(COM3) of my laptop, using serial terminal (Putty) and AT Commands(AT+CWMODE=3) ESP also gets connected to my mobile but I am unable to browse internet thru ESP.
Same thing happens when ESP is connected to my home Router. i.e. it is getting IP address but internet browsing is not possible.
From different sources I understand that it requires programming and the compiled code need to be uploaded to flash of ESP8266. I need to confirm whether this understanding is correct or not and if that is to be done what is the procedure to do that. I don't have any Aurdino with me. I am having USB to Serial converter, USBASP with me.
Any help will be highly appreciated.

I'm not really sure what you're expecting the ESP to do for you.

To make things clear: the ESP8266 is not a WiFi-dongle.
It's a micro controller (like for instance an Atmel or PIC) with an on-board WiFi radio.
Once specific firmware is installed, it can be used for the purpose the firmware was written for.
By default (from factory) the ESP comes pre-installed with an AT command set, which enables the user to use the ESP as a WiFi equivalent of the good old Hayes telephone modem (they're not 1:1 interchangeable by the way).

So, to be able to use the ESP in its default state, you can "Talk" to it over the designated COM-port using AT-commands letting it list available access points and/or connect to a router.
From there on you can set up a connection to another device on the local network or the internet.

Using the ESP to set up an HTTP-connection is not impossible (I've tried it only once), but it's very awkward to get it going, since you have to process and calculate all the raw HTTP-data (headers and body) yourself.
The ESP is more suitable for a transparent (since the latest AT version 3.0) or plain socket connections.

If you want to get the most of the ESP8266, you'd better write (or use) custom firmware that's written for a specific job.

Thank you very much for the quick response. Sorry for my delayed response. My query is again given below:
My laptop having windows 10. Thru USB to serial converter I have connected my ESP8266-E01. Using serial console "Putty" I am sending AT Commands to ESP.
ESP is getting connected to AP and also getting IP address, which can be displayed by sending the command AT+CIFSR but in response to ipconfig given in command prompt(admin) it is showing "media disconnected". even ping is also not going thru.
What is required to be done to get the ip address displayed in command prompt(admin).

SubrataT wrote:My laptop having windows 10. Thru USB to serial converter I have connected my ESP8266-E01. Using serial console "Putty" I am sending AT Commands to ESP.
ESP is getting connected to AP and also getting IP address, which can be displayed by sending the command AT+CIFSR

...up to here it's clear what you're doing: you're letting the ESP connect to your router (did you use the AT+CWJAP command?) and with AT+CIFSR you're displaying it's received IP address, but then...

SubrataT wrote:but in response to ipconfig given in command prompt(admin) it is showing "media disconnected". even ping is also not going thru.

...now it's a bit vague what you're trying to achieve.

I'm assuming you're typing ipconfig in a command-prompt on your PC, but that will only give you all IP-addresses of your PC, which isn't aware of your ESP, since it's not a network adapter.

But, if your PC is connected to the same router as to which the ESP is connected, you should be able to PING the ESP from your PC (or actually any device within your local network) by using the IP address as reported by the AT+CIFSR command you issued earlier.

SubrataT wrote:What is required to be done to get the ip address displayed in command prompt(admin).

You can't: as said earlier, an ESP8266 is not a PC network adapter or

QuickFix wrote:the ESP8266 is not a WiFi-dongle.

You can only get the IP address of your ESP by issuing an AT+CIFSR command through the terminal.

Most important question I have is: what are you trying to achieve in the end or what purpose for the ESP do you have in mind?

[EDIT]
Here's a post/story/blog of a guy that's also playing with AT commands through a terminal session you might find an interesting read.