My wife wants a laptop computer. At first blush, it seems like one can go just about anywhere with one - coffee shops, libraries, hotels, etc. Many places advertise wireless internet access. I gather these sites have their own wireless routers or somesuch that broadcasts in a small area and anyone can use it. And I presume most of this access is free. Is it secure? How do you make it secure? And then, how about if one wants to take the computer to the park? How does one use wireless technology there? Do you have to use a different system there? Is that where you might use your cell phone system? I think I liked it better when you just had a book and a pencil and a piece of paper. It’s not easy being a dinosaur. xo C.
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- -802.11g is the short-range type, 300 ft or so with a regular antenna. A lot of laptops have this built in now, but if they don’t you can get a $20 USB adaptor for it. These are a hassle because they can get stolen, but are kinda nice because you can unplug them when you don’t need it.
- The “public” wireless places are NOT secure; their computer might be logging all the info that passes through it–and even if they aren’t, someone else might be–so accessing critical data over a public connection is asking for data theft. Just use it for regular generic web-surfing. Sometimes these places (or unknowledgeable people) leave their wireless access points “open” (unencrypted) and you just fire up your PC and it connects, or sometimes they set a password that you have to know (places like StarBucks).
- For using wireless anywhere, now you can get pcmcia cards that you buy through a cell-phone company and they provide wireless internet access anywhere that has phone reception. These are sold as "mobile wireless’ or some similar name. Usually of these provide DSL-speeds; 144Kb/sec is what I’ve seen advertised locally for a plan that costs roughly $30 per month over the cost of a typical cellphone plan.
- Also with a lot of mobile phones you can use them as “wireless modems” at the normal calling rate, but the transfer speeds are slow–14.4 is typical.
- If you are using wireless, you need a software firewall (for Windows PC’s), unless it is your home unit that you know is not exposed (if you’re not running the wireless access point behind a router).
- You can also transfer files between two PC’s with each hacing a 802.11X wireless adaptor, which can be kinda nice.
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Well if you buy a wireless router for your home, then obviously you can set it to be a secure thing where only you can get online with it.
But to my knowledge (and somebody may come along and correct me), if you’re on a public server (such as at a coffeeshop or a park… and yes, at least here in NYC, they do have wireless access in parks) then there’s no way to make it secure. You get the convenience of having internet access, but I wouldn’t recommend doing anything you wouldn’t want anyone else to see at that time.
The cool thing about the whole wireless laptop thing is that it’s just a matter of turning on your laptop, clicking the server icon, and boom, you’re online (and still out of the house, so you can fool yourself into thinking you’re doing somthing productive).
If you’re at a park where there’s no wireless access…there’s no wireless access. You can only access the internet where you can send and receive data, which is only when you’re within range of a wireless access point. They aren’t “everywhere” (yet) though if you’re in a big city they’re certainly more ubiquitous than if not. Many if not most services are free, though some charge. As far as security goes, I’m not knowledgeable on the subject other than “have a good firewall.”
Add an “e” to that “somthing”… I was distracted by the birds in the park I’m sitting in as I write this. Yeah, that’s it…
Free wireless access isn’t as prevalent as it may seem, even in major metropolitan areas. As already mentioned, only very small areas are covered - sometimes as small as one building or part thereof. There are larger pay networks, of course, usually operated by cellular providers. Shops that offer wireless (or wired) internet access usually charge a fee.
Don’t think that free wireless access is going to let you do a lot of serious web surfing, online game playing, etc., and don’t expect any degree of privacy. Free access points are only efficient at basic tasking, such as receiving and sending e-mail and private messaging or downloading/retrieving a file.
What about if you’re accessing a site via SSL? Are you still wide-open? I thought that was the whole point of SSL.
You’re fine: SSL will prevent the contents of the site you view, although people could still easily determine what site you’re visiting.
The risk with open, public wireless networks is that other people can monitor the “packets” of data being sent and received by your computer. This means that, essentially, they can read everything you send and receive that isn’t encrypted. In most cases, this means not just the contents of your emails, but also the username and password you use to login to your email server: it’s sent in plaintext.
FTP clients also send your username and password in plaintext.
There are ways to avoid these problems: if you use a corporate VPN, all your communications are always encrypted. Some email servers allow you to connect in a manner similar to that used by HTTPS. If you want to get fancy, you can use an SSH tunnel. Or, just access your email through an HTTPS-hosted web interface. The same applies for FTP.
Depends on where you are. My laptop at work in Berkeley found itself access to 27 unsecured wireless networks. My home in Oakland sits on five. Wireless networks are entirely expected at coffee shops- except one specific coffee shop chain that is desperately trying to flog their pay network against the changing tide. It’s a $100 investment that makes your coffee shop infinitely more attractive. I’d imagine most public spaces are covered here just by overlap from the residental areas. But in a less tech-oriented area, it might be different. There are also people (larely hotels and airports) trying to sell network access at rediculous fees. A good idea is to borrow a laptop and see if the places you are likely to go have access.
Ok, so back to my OP - if I get a laptop, I should set up an in-house network with an in-house router so that my wife and I can use her laptop and our desktop computers at the same time and our neighbors cannot somehow tap into our radio waves and know what we’re sending and receiving, including e-mail, passwords, and so on. And, when we’re out and about, we should use a pcmcia card that will be paid through a cell phone service and that will permit use far from the 300 foot radius of coffee shop and that will provide an added level of security. Do I have that about right? I don’t know what the SSL reference is.
Diddy–Tell me more about the access in NYC parks. I just got a wireless laptop and it would be great if I coud work in the park (Well, not today, but in the warm weather–wow.) Is it in every NYC park? Just certain places in certain parks? If the latter, which places in which parks give the best signals, IYE?
Also has anyone used STARBUX’s T-Mobile laptop internet access? I went into the Starbux across the street today and they gave me a brochure and a tiny CD, but I’d just as soon avoid a T-Mobile sales pitch–if anyone uses it, how much do they charge per month? Can I have this charge added to my T-Mobile bill (I use them for celll phone service)? Does it work anywhere other than Starbux?
Well, you certainly CAN do this. You’d be hard-pressed to buy a new laptop these days that did not have wi-fi as standard. If you never use it, it’s no big deal… Or it could also be something you use 24/7.
If you have a cabled internet connection at home, and no router or switcher, and you want to use more than one computer on the internet at once, yes, you will need something. That could be a wireless router-switch (many ISP’s supply these with a new net connection), where you can plug in several computers to the internet, and also use wireless ones (tho, there is some setting up to do, these days it’s trivial if you’ve any IT expericence).
If your wife is likely to use the laptop in places where is difficult to cable to (ie, through a brick wall), or use it in a range of locations (my beloved uses her in the lounge for writing stuff, but on the kitchen table for spreading out and researching stuff), then wireless is an ideal solution. It’s kinda fun as well. You can use your lappy anywhere in your house or yard, really.
However, if you’re not IT savvy, dragging around a 40’ network cable that’s plugged into your router is probably easier in terms of setup. Depends if you have any geeky friends, or want to pay a local IT guy to set you up a wireless network (it’s about 30 mins work for a pro).
The security stuff is over-rated IMO. Sure, plenty of apps transmit stuff in plain text, and someone COULD intercept your stuff… But consider (1) does anyone really want to? (2) if they do, what’s the chance they are going to get your data than anyone else’s? (3) if they DID get your data, what are they going to do with it?
Depends on your data, of course! The 30 minutes I mention above would include an IT ensure your wireess network is very secure.
All internet banking sites, pretty much every site that takes credit card info, will use SSL automatically (secure socket layer) (wired or wireless), where your web browser encrypts data for you, and the server you’re sending stuff to decrypts it, so there’s no need to worry in that regard.
You will want your wireless network secured if you’re the sorta person who does not want to share stuff, or are paranoid about the stuff on your laptop, but I kinda like the idea of free public internet, and maybe one day you’ll want to use your neighbours wi-fi LAN when yours is broken.
It depends on what sorta stuff you need to do, and how urgently you need to do it.
The PCMCIA card will work pretty much anywhere a cell phone will work (I am at SFO right now, using a Verizon one, cos the wi-fi here is supplied by t-mobile, and costs around $1 per minute). It’s going to be more expensive to buy ($300 up front or so if you cannot find a deal), includes a certain amount of time or data transferred per month, and you’ll be on a 12 or 24 month contract. It’s going to be around $50 per month to subscribe, even if you do not use it much. In my experience (a fair bit) these are reliable and very cool things. I have one for the US, and another for Australia, use them alla time.
So, you’d get one of these if you travel a lot - travelling salesmen getting orders from a customer back to base, sorta thing.
If you’re in for casual browsing, as others have said, many places have free wireless (coming from Australia where it’s common as well, in downtown San Francisco, it’s nuts. I am sure that’s not accidental). Starbucks, McDonalds, etc will have free wi-fi. Pretty much every hotel or motel will have it for free as well (lobby and rooms). Many uni campuses have it. More and more IT savvy businesses have it for visitors (and themselves).
As someone suggested, you can borrow a buddy’s lappy for a few days, and see what reception is like in the places you spend time… You can also buy a $10 wireless signal level meter tool, that shows what the action is like (tho, it will not tell you if it’s unsecured (and thus free)). A few years back, geeks were war-driving around downtown areas, and marking the sidewalk with chalk to indicate where free networks were. These days, there are so many no one bothers.
Hope this helps. If you care to post back with some specific examples of what you’ll be doing, I’d be pleased to offer more specific advice, as would many others here I am sure.
G’luck!
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If you are going to set up a home wireless network then be sure to secure it with WPA or WPA-2. Most newer access points support these protocols. They will encrypt any information you transmit and will keep unauthorized people from accessing your network.
WEP is not secure and should not be relied upon.
Bryant Park is my favorite. In the warm months, it’s so great to sit there and be surrounded by a park, but also the sounds and sights of the city. Wireless access is also in parts of Battery Park, and I think Madison Square Park. I don’t think it’s updated, but this website mentions many places you can find free wi-fi in all five boroughs.
I never have anything less than all 5 bars of signal in Bryant Park though… I love it!