Windows Media 9®
Works Well with Hotspots
"Organizations need to deliver training
and product information to their sales force, or promotional
information to external audiences such as business customers,
prospective students, and potential recruits. Digital media
offers an effective way of reaching out to these communities"
-from a Microsoft
ad
Hotspots make applications like this available
to salespeople who are on the road.
The New Mobile Workforce
Along with advancements in technology, the
mobile workforce is also evolving. A variety of new user communities
have joined mobile employees in moving out of the office and
into the field, including sales representatives and customer
service agents. These remote professionals have unique access
and support requirements. To fulfill their business responsibilities,
these employees need broad access to network resources, such
as databases, enterprise applications and host systems.
-Donavan Deakin in Technical
Support magazine Oct. 200
45% of workers are mobile
At a recent conference, Gartner analysts
said that 45% of all workers are mobile in at least some aspect
of their work. Gartner said that widespread mobility is being
enhanced, in in many cases enabled, by the simultaneous evolution
of a set of key technologies in areas such as phone networks,
wireless LANs, personal-area networks, and software infrastructure.
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Learn about WiFi Hotspots
Table of Contents:
What is a hotspot?
Hotspots are in reality small radio transmitters
that are attached, usually by an Ethernet cable, to a broadband
Internet source such as a telephone Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL), cable Internet service often provided by a TV cable
company, or wireless carrier service such as noWYR.
Various other connections are possible.
In any case, the type of connection is usually not
important to the user. What is important is that the average hotspot
provides an Internet connection that is considerably faster
than dial-up access over “plain old telephone service”.
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What is “WiFi”?
WiFi is just an acronym for “Wide Fidelity”
or another way of saying “broadband”. Usually,
it refers to the IEEE 802.11b standard which broadcasts
in the unregulated 2.4 GHz radio frequency band. The standard
includes a number of specifications which are really unimportant
to the average user. The most important points are compatibility,
effective range, and security. We'll talk about these things
in the following sections.
A new, faster, standard has made its appearance.
802.11g works in the same radio band and is backward compatible
to 802.11b.
Less popular is the 802.11a standard which
runs in the 5.7 GHz range.
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How can I access a hotspot?
You need a radio of your own to communicate
with the hotspot radio.
Naturally, you need a computer such as a laptop
or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). If your machine is
“WiFi enabled”, you're ready to surf without wires.
A compatible radio is built into your machine. You
may skip ahead to Security.
If not, you'll have to purchase a WiFi adapter
card for your machine, assuming your machine is designed
to accept adapter cards.
In the case of a PDA, consult your manual or manufacturer's
website to find out what you need. It should be 802.11b, or 802.11g
compatible.
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For most laptop computers, a PCMCIA (PC card) or
USB radio is the easiest way to go. They are readily available
from a variety of sources including computer stores, on-line
stores, Ebay, and sometimes from the owner of the store
that hosts a WiFi hotspot.
When you purchase a card, don't be too price
conscious. Low-priced radios are often weak (low signal
power) and can cause problems unless you're in a “sweet
spot” where the signal from the hotspot is strong.
These spots are not always close to the hotspot. The configuration
of a room or area can often do strange things to radio waves.
For instance, one site owner insisted that the hotspot installer
place the radio behind a refrigerator. The installer just
knew it was going to be a disaster. Instead, the hotspot's
signal was strong throughout the room. No one knows why.
Your best protection against a "bad room" is a
strong radio of your own.
Also, if you live in a boat or RV and want
to use a hotspot provided by your marina or RV park, you'll
find that fiberglass soaks up radio waves like a sponge.
A stronger radio will punch the signal through your hull
where the cheap unit will fail completely.
Look for a card that is either 802.11b or 802.11g
compatible. The 802.11g card will cost more, but may pay dividends
in the future if you end up in an area that uses that standard
or if you wish to set up a wireless network in your house using
that standard. Avoid 802.11a
cards which work on a different radio frequency (5.8GHz). There
are fairly expensive cards on the market that will work with all
three standards.
Look for the signal strength of the card.
More is better. Actual signal strength is expressed
as dBm. Sometimes the input power is used (mwatt). Typical
ranges are: (30mw/9dBm - 50mw/17dBm). There are now cards
on the market with input power up to 400mw.
Read the section on security below to decide
if you wish to make your selection based upon security considerations.
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Once you've purchased your card, install in on you
computer following the manufacturer's instructions. A caution:
when installing a PC card (PCMCIA), install the software first,
then plug in the card and reboot. If you're using Windows®
XP, you should be able to swap the card in and run without much
trouble. If you've purchased a USB card card, installation is
almost magic.
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Security
The average hotspot has no security
of its own. They are designed to make using them as easy
as picking up a phone. There are a few exceptions.
For most hotspots, you should be aware of
that someone nearby can “listen in” on your conversation.
Make sure any credit card information you send is protected
by encryption (look for the indicator on your browser).
If you are communicating with your home office, do so through
a VPN
tunnel (using AES or 3DES) or similar encryption scheme
such as Citrix'. Check with your IT department before
logging on to your office network using any wireless access
scheme. Remember, there are pimple-faced pukes without
a life of their own who are just waiting for you to slip
up and allow them access to your office systems. Some are
just looking for a thrill or a chance to inconvenience your
business. Some of them are thieves and some are terrorists.
Don't take chances.
And for the same reason, don't install wireless
access within your office without the knowledge of your
IT department. The signal goes through glass easily and
some weird people wander around just looking for stray signals
to play with.
At a minimum, your machine should have a software
firewall installed and active to keep someone from invading
your computer.
Read on if you are interested in current trends
in WiFi security. Otherwise jump to Find a Hotspot.
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Historically, the 802.11b equipment has sometimes featured
WiFi Encrypted Protocol (WEP) encoding as a means of protecting
transmissions. That protocol has been cracked. There is
software readily available on the Internet that allows
a hacker to find a hotspot's encryption key within a few
hours using a laptop computer. Since WEP enabled transmitters
don't change their keys, the scumbag can intercept any
traffic on that hotspot after solving the code. Again,
most hotspots won't even use an encryption code, but don't
depend on WEP encryption to protect you even if it is
available (and don't depend upon it in a home network).There
is a new protocol available called 802.11i. It won't work
on older equipment because it requires more program space
than is available on the 802.11b radios. A stopgap protocol
called WiFi Protected Access (WPA) is also available.
If you set up a home network, you might want to look for
one of these protocols in the equipment you purchase.
So far, WPA's proponents claim that it hasn't been cracked,
but it also has a couple of weak spots. 802.11i is based
on AES encryption which, so far, is bulletproof. Estimates
of the time necessary to crack AES with current technology
range in the trillions of years, longer than the earth
has been in existence.
A very few hotspot operators supply other robust security
schemes such as 3DES and AES which will protect your transmission
from the time it leaves your computer until it enters
the Internet. After that, you're on your own. Remember,
even the wired Internet is not a safe place.
Available Security Options
-
Restricted SSID access
- Use a separate VLAN for private WLAN with firewall/gateway
- MAC-based device authentication for private WLANs
- Using 802.1x, EAP, or LEAP
- Using point-to-point VPNs for each wireless user,
especially when using a public access point.
- Limiting WLAN user access to specific network resources,
such as applications or access to Internet
- WEP with automated or manual rotation of WEP keys.
- Relying on application-layer security (e.g.. SSL)
- Using proprietary WEP-enhancement scheme such as
3COMM, Lucent, and Cisco
- WPA, 802.11i, 3DES, AES, others
- Certificates
- Passwords
- Bio authorization schemes
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Find a hotspot
If you don't have a particular place in mind,
click
here for links to good websites that can help you find
a hotspot near you.
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Range
Indoor ranges vary considerably. Furniture,
fixtures, shelves, even other people can interfere with
or bounce the radio signal. Generally, a typical indoor
hotspot will deliver an acceptable signal within 100 feet
if there are no obstructions. However, to be certified,
a hotspot only needs to deliver a 2Mps signal within 15
meters (45 feet).
Outdoor hotspots can be picked up as far
away as 300 feet. However, your ability to receive the signal
(and transmit back) is subject to a number of factors. If
you are inside an RV, boat, or other enclosure, you may
have to move to a window or install an external antenna
if you cannot receive a signal. Trees, buildings, and so
forth can absorb or deflect the signal.
Some outdoor access points can broadcast a
WiFi signal that you may be able to use from 5 miles away.
With a properly shaped antenna, you might even be able to
connect to it up to 15 miles away. Don't count on that if
you're using a laptop. Special antennas are more suited
to mounting on buildings or other stationary objects. These
access points aren't really "hot spots", but are
actually "metropolitan area networks".
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Logging on
Intel® has created
a few pages devoted to this process. Naturally, it's devoted
to Windows® operating systems.
If you use 2000 or XP, jump to this
page.
Expect to pay anywhere from $4.95 per hour
to $39.95 per month, depending upon the network that services
the hotspot. You might have to purchase a coupon from the
cashier of the place you're in if you don't want to use
a credit card. Some are supported by businesses for their
customers use and are free. Remember, your time for hourly
or daily access usually starts when you log on and doesn't
stop just because you logged out. So, if you log in at 8
am on a 1 day purchase, your coupon will run out at 8 am
the following day.
A plan is usually only good for the system
for which you purchased it, however, some vendors are working
out reciprocal arrangements to allow customers to surf on
multiple systems.
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