Book V Chapter 5 Finding Wi-Fi Hotspots Going Public 309 Now it’s almost expected, especially among mid- to high-end hotels, that you’ll have wireless Internet access from your room and possibly the lobby, too. Note that wireless access outside the United States is generally not free and can cost upwards of $25 per day. For example, these large hotel chains offer some services (if you’re in the U.S.): ✦ Hyatt. Most of the chain’s more than 200 hotels have Wi-Fi access; currently there are 414 properties that offer wireless. The service is available in the lobby, other public areas, and some guest rooms. Hyatt charges a daily rate that varies by location. ✦ Marriott. More than 1,200 of Marriott’s hotels have wireless Internet access. Hotels include Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, and SpringHill Suites. Access is available in hotel lobbies, meeting rooms, and public spaces. ✦ Hilton. As one might expect, almost every Hilton property (including Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden Inn) offer wireless access. Generally speaking, the Hilton properties charge a daily fee for Internet access; however, its partners (notably the two mentioned here) offer compli- mentary wireless access. ✦ Sheraton. Owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts has Wi-Fi connectivity in more than 150 Sheraton, Westin, and W hotels in the United States. It also provides access to about 40 properties in 10 countries and regions across Asia Pacific. ✦ Omni. All U.S based Omni hotels offer high-speed wireless access. In some hotels, this is limited to certain rooms or public areas. ✦ Best Western. Yep, you read that right. Even the lower end of the hotel industry is embracing Wi-Fi. And how: Best Western plans to install wire- less access in 2,300 properties throughout North America. In the (city) clouds A new movement is equipping many city centers with Wi-Fi access. The Wi-Fi service areas, called city clouds or hot zones, are a way for cities to differ- entiate themselves from other business and tourism centers. In many cases, the hot zones are dual use, with police and fire workers using it along with residents and visitors. It is good PR: If you can check your e-mail on your Wi-Fi–enabled laptop or PDA while visiting a city’s downtown, aren’t you more likely to remember your visit and have good feelings about the hospitality? Covering several or more blocks beats isolated hotspots at coffee houses and other limited locations. Going Public 310 Here’s a small selection of cities and states offering wireless access: ✦ New York City. In the Big Apple, thinking big is part of living. Officials are planning a Wi-Fi network for public safety employees. The price tag: a staggering $500 million to $1 billion. For the general public, you can find wireless access virtually anywhere just due to the sheer size of the city. ✦ Washington, D.C. You can get free Wi-Fi access from the front of the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the Capitol visitors’ site. The nonprofit group deploying the network has a hot zone stretch from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument. ✦ San Francisco. The real San Francisco treat is the city’s plan to install 360 solar-powered bus stops with Wi-Fi across the city over the next couple of years. ✦ Seattle. If you’re sleepless in this city, sometime in the future you might be able to access what city officials hope will be border-to-border wire- less Internet access. Of course, this city has what seems like a limitless number of coffee shops ready to provide you with Wi-Fi coverage in the meantime. Not surprisingly, the United States is the nation with the most hotspots. In fact, it has more hotspots than the next nine nations on the worldwide top ten list combined. The source of this list, JiWire (www.jiwire.com), counts over 273,000 hotspots worldwide. ✓ United States: 66,312 ✓ China: 28,678 ✓ United Kingdom: 27,458 ✓ France: 25,573 ✓ Russian Federation: 14,457 ✓ Germany: 14,434 ✓ South Korea: 12,813 ✓ Japan: 11,607 ✓ Sweden: 6,634 ✓ Taiwan: 5,386 When it comes to U.S. cities with the most hot- spots, New York City tops the list. Interestingly, half of these cities are in either California or Texas, as the map shows. ✓ New York City: 885 ✓ San Francisco: 871 ✓ Chicago: 788 ✓ Seattle: 624 ✓ Houston: 600 ✓ Los Angeles: 499 ✓ Atlanta: 451 ✓ San Diego: 422 ✓ San Antonio, TX: 416 ✓ Austin, TX: 411 Hot cities and countries Book V Chapter 5 Finding Wi-Fi Hotspots Going Public 311 ✦ Spokane, Washington. Its dual-use Wi-Fi network covers a 100-block area that is a mile long and a third of a mile wide. ✦ Rio Rancho, New Mexico. This is the first city to offer city-wide, free wireless access. It’s also home to Intel’s primary manufacturing center. ✦ Austin, Texas. A volunteer effort is under way here to keep Wi-Fi free. ✦ St. Cloud, Florida. The city is offering free Internet access, with its hot zone covering an area about 20 city blocks. ✦ Paris. For those of you traveling in Europe, there is an extensive public wireless access system in Paris. Many parks and other public spaces offer free wireless internet access. It’s not uncommon to see people in parks with their laptops, working. McWireless and others What’s left after the other locations? In many places, such as Seattle, Wi-Fi– equipped coffee shops are all the rage. (If you live in Seattle, check out the Caffeinated and Unstrung Web site at www.seattle.wifimug.org.) Wireless Internet access is also making inroads to fast-food restaurants and sports venues. Retailers Schlotzsky’s Delis, Apple retail stores, Panera Bread, and Krystal Restaurants are among the national chains that have Wi-Fi in at least some of their locations. Not only can you buy goods and services from these places, you can go online: ✦ Starbucks: While this national coffee shop famously keeps its customers wired, it also offers Wi-Fi access. The company says that Wi-Fi users stay in its stores longer, with the average wireless session lasting about 45 minutes. Now it’s safe to drink and (hard) drive. ✦ McDonald’s: I’m not sure how many people take their laptops or PDAs to a McDonald’s to get some work done, but 15,000 of the restaurants worldwide now offer wireless access. I’ll have a salad, a large fry — and my e-mail, please. ✦ FedEx Office: It took T-Mobile six months to wire (unwire?) this copy center’s 1,000 U.S. locations. They welcome your use of the stores as surrogate offices. ✦ UPS Stores and Mailboxes Etc: After starting with AT&T to offer high- speed access to customers, they were unceremoniously dropped, and I’m not quite sure what’s on the menu anymore. Clenching Your Security Blanket 312 Stadiums and arenas During baseball game broadcasts, I’m surprised how many people I see in the stands chatting on their cell phones. Maybe providing wireless Internet access is the next logical step? The San Francisco Giants is offering free Wi-Fi access to its baseball fans. Now you can attend a day game while checking your e-mail, making it appear you’re working. You also can check on scores and stats — anything you can do at home is available. The Charlotte Bobcats basketball team offers a similar service. Other stadiums and arenas have toyed with the idea, too. On the road You can be between points A and B and still get online: ✦ Airplanes: German airline Lufthansa has on-board Wi-Fi access. With regards to the U.S. market, Delta and Virgin America are the most advanced so far. This service is provided by Gogo Inflight, which is available at http://gogoinflight.com/. ✦ Truck stops: Truck drivers need Wi-Fi access, too. There’s family to e-mail and paperwork to file. Offering access differentiates one truck stop from the other, providing a competitive advantage. ✦ Highway rest areas: Texas, Iowa, and Maryland think they know how to encourage tired drivers to stop more often at highway rest stops: Offer them wireless Internet access from the comfort of their vehicles. It’s especially a boon to truckers and RVers. With the security lines in air- ports being so long, the highways may become an important alternative to business travelers. ✦ Campgrounds: The state of Michigan installed Wi-Fi access in a state park campground. It plans to do this in other state parks, as well. I’m sure this is happening elsewhere, too. My idea of roughing it is watch- ing TV on anything other than a big screen, so battling insects in a tent and foot fungus in the shower is not within my definition of reality. Yet I understand many folks like this return to precivilization days. Now they can swat the mosquitoes while surfing the Web. Progress! Clenching Your Security Blanket Most, if not all, of the public hotspots I discuss in this chapter provide unse- cured wireless Internet access. That means you’re out there naked, baby. The guy with the tall latte at the next table can easily access your laptop or PDA files if you’re not careful. Use a firewall and buckle down your file access, as I discuss in Book IV, Chapter 1. If you’re connecting to a corpo- rate network, do so through a virtual private networking (VPN) connection, which I discuss in Book V, Chapter 6. Book V Chapter 5 Finding Wi-Fi Hotspots Clenching Your Security Blanket 313 Don’t send out personal information like credit card numbers unless you’re connecting to a Web site that encrypts the data before sending it. You can tell if it’s a secured site by the Web address, which usually begins with https, and a closed padlock icon appears in your browser. T-Mobile, which operates hotspots in Starbucks locations, is very clear that you’re on your own when it comes to security. “The T-Mobile HotSpot net- work is based on evolving wireless technology and is not inherently secure,” it says in a security statement posted on Starbucks’ Web site. “We there- fore cannot guarantee the privacy of your data and communications while using the HotSpot service.” The statement cautions that an unexplained loss or deterioration of your connection could mean that a nearby hacker has gained free access to the Internet using your HotSpot username and password. If you suspect that’s the case, logging out knocks the freeloading hacker off the Internet. T-Mobile suggests you then call its customer service department. While I cover many of these security issues elsewhere, they’re worth men- tioning here as you consider connecting to a public hotspot. There’s no need to be paranoid (believe me, I know), but vigilance is diligence. T-Mobile makes these security recommendations: ✦ Don’t leave your computer or device unattended. (Duh! The worst secu- rity is a stolen laptop.) ✦ Don’t loan your computer or device to someone unfamiliar to you. (You might be a Dummy, but you’re not an idiot.) ✦ Watch for over-the-shoulder viewing of your login, credit card number, or other personal information. ✦ Log out of Web sites by clicking Log Out instead of just closing your browser or typing in a new Internet address. ✦ Create passwords using a combination of letters and numbers, and they should be changed frequently. (This is always good advice.) ✦ Keep passwords and account numbers secure; don’t store them on your computer or device or share them with anyone. ✦ Avoid using Web-based e-mail or instant messaging that uses clear, unencrypted text to send confidential information. ✦ Remove or disable your wireless card if you’re working offline and you are not planning to connect to a hotspot. Any way you sip it, it’s worth letting this advice brew and considering it the next time you connect to the Internet through a public Wi-Fi hotspot. Book V: On the Road Again — But Without Wires 314 Chapter 6: Setting Up a VPN Connection In This Chapter ✓ Creating a VPN connection ✓ Using VPN to connect to a far away computer ✓ Putting together an incoming VPN connection W ireless networking security is an evolving area. Though wireless networking has some built-in security features, you can’t be as con- fident with it as you can with wired networking. What if you want to wire- lessly move information from your PC to a computer located elsewhere? You’re in an airport, using public Wi-Fi access, and you want to connect to an office computer — and don’t want anyone to see the information you’re sending. How can you pull this off? I’m glad you asked. I show you how to create and use what’s called a virtual private network (VPN) to move your data safely over a public network such as the Internet. When you create a VPN connection, you’re creating a virtual tunnel. Everything moving through this tunnel is encrypted, or scrambled, so it’s safe from prying eyes. Once the data reaches the computer on the other end, the information is decrypted so users can see what you sent. Setting Up a VPN Connection Follow along with these steps and you find it’s pretty easy to set up a VPN connection (one of which is shown in Figure 6-1). If you have set up other network connections using Windows Vista’s Network and Sharing Center, it is even easier for you. Here’s how you set up the VPN connection: 1. Click the Start menu and select Control Panel. The Control Panel opens. 2. Click Network and Internet. The Network and Internet dialog box appears. Setting Up a VPN Connection 316 Figure 6-1: Data moving through a secure VPN tunnel. 3. Click Network and Sharing Center. The Network and Sharing Center appears. 4. Under Tasks, click Set up a connection or network and then Connect to a workplace. Figure 6-2 shows this being done. The Network Connection dialog box appears. Despite the menu selection’s name, the VPN connection can be made anywhere, not just to a company network. 5. Select whether to create a new connection or use an existing connec- tion, as shown in Figure 6-3. This procedure creates a new connection. Figure 6-2: The first step in creating a VPN connection. Book V Chapter 6 Setting Up a VPN Connection Setting Up a VPN Connection 317 Figure 6-3: Selecting a VPN connection. 6. Click Next. The Connection dialog box appears and lets you choose how to connect, either using your Internet connection or dial-up. 7. Select your Internet connection, as shown in Figure 6-4. 8. Enter the domain name or IP address of the computer to which you are connecting, as shown in Figure 6-5. You can get this information from your network administrator. Figure 6-4: Entering a VPN connection name. Setting Up a VPN Connection 318 Figure 6-5: Entering a domain name or IP address. 9. Click Next. You can enter the login name and password for the VPN connection. 10. Click Create. Your new VPN connection appears in the Network Connections dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-6. Figure 6-6: You created a VPN connection. [...]... need to buy before you are up and running Even though the installation process is pretty straightforward, you’ll have to have some familiarity with wireless technology and a general level of patience for computers To get an idea of what you’re going to need to get started, visit the Web site www.slingmedia.com From a technical standpoint, you’re going to want to make sure that you have a wireless network... it optimizes for the best possible Making the Most of the Experience 331 Making the Most of the Experience I should also point out that although the SlingPlayer software is free, you can purchase a version for mobile If you have a wireless device that supports Internet access (a given, these days), you can buy a version of almost any mobile operating system, as well as iPhone For more information on... 2.4, or 5.8 ✓ Getting someone to speak up (or move things out of the way) I t’s bad enough that buying a cellular phone and wireless networking equipment is so complicated Now, with new options for cordless phones, even that once straightforward purchase is forcing you to reach for the aspirin Consider me the aspirin — and you don’t even have to call me in the morning In this chapter I discuss the different... here, and streaming technology? Forget it Jumping ahead to 2009, times certainly have changed For starters, my ISP has download speeds that I hadn’t dreamt possible just a few short years ago Thanks to VOIP technology, I am able to have a local number from the United States so family and friends can call me for the price of a local call Finally, thanks to one great leap for mankind, I can watch my beloved... station and handset A wider range of channels means interference is more easily thwarted The breakdown is as follows: ✦ 10 to 25 channels for inexpensive 900 MHz phones ✦ 20 to 60 channels for most 900 MHz phones ✦ 50 to 100 channels for high-end 900 MHz phones and for 2.4 and 5.8 GHz phones Table 1-1 breaks down the megahertz and gigahertz by range Table 1-1: Cordless Phone Ranges Frequency Band Range... one of the coolest, more practical gadgets for road warriors of the past 20 years It’s especially useful for those who travel out of the country frequently Once you take care of the hardest part (finding someone who will share their television with you), installation is easy, and you’re on your way within minutes Of course, there is some mild inconvenience for the host, as I discuss later in this chapter... username and password, as shown in Figure 6-7 You can get this information from your network administrator If you select Save This User Name and Password for the Following Users, everyone with access to your PC can connect to the remote computer The username and password are saved on your computer, so users won’t need to know that information to connect Figure 6-7: Entering a username and password... there were cordless phones before that (usually with big, metal, telescoping antennae), the newer frequencies were a big jump in clarity and range from the old 43–49 MHz band As manufacturers began making digital models, cordless phones grew even more practical; they were more secure (allowing for less eavesdropping) than analog versions Also, more channels are available for use by the cordless phone... SlingLink that you can connect between your wireless router and your Slingbox to create a wireless connection between the devices when they are not in the same room Now that your host is ready to broadcast, it’s now up to you to get things ready on your end This is a simple process, but it does require a little bit of configuration on your end, so look sharp! 1 Sign up for a free Sling account You can do... this DSS?” sidebar in this chapter for further information Not all digital phones have DSS, but all DSS phones are digital Choosing Your Frequency Can you imagine if when purchasing a cell phone and a calling plan, you had to tell the company what technology you want to use? Of course, you have some choices when it comes to handsets and choosing a particular carrier for its network You don’t have to . before you are up and running. Even though the installation process is pretty straightforward, you’ll have to have some familiarity with wireless technology and a general level of patience for. offer wireless access. Generally speaking, the Hilton properties charge a daily fee for Internet access; however, its partners (notably the two mentioned here) offer compli- mentary wireless. city blocks. ✦ Paris. For those of you traveling in Europe, there is an extensive public wireless access system in Paris. Many parks and other public spaces offer free wireless internet access.