WiFi Hot Spots

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

In the travel section of the Sunday New York Times had an article on "hot spots" with some links I found useful and thought others who travel might find them helpful. Below is the pertinent extract:

 

On sites like jiwire.com, you can type in your location and find a list of nearby paid or free hot spots in 30 countries. In the United States alone, the site lists nearly 11,000 hot spots.

 

Because of the rapidly changing Wi-Fi marketplace, no site is comprehensive. Wi-FiHotspotList.com and locfinder.net, other wireless search sites, show connection points that others miss. And depending on where you are traveling, you may be able to find better information from local sites. NYCWireless.net, for instance, offers information and maps for 180 hot spots, while some others top out at 100.

[kjun]

Thanks for the tip.

 

the Cajun

[JamesK840]

I've seen a little key ring FOB that detects wireless activity, but I'm sure it cant distinguish between open and private hotspots, and may be confused by some wireless phones as well. Little PDAs with WiFi can alert you to hotspots as well.

[Will]

How do you get wired for hot spots? I'm going to be in NYC for almost two weeks soon, and I need to be able to use my laptop. But at home I connect with the web through the cable and therefore don't have nationwide service. Do I have to subscribe to AOL or something? Thanks for any help.

[+ Hoover42]

You need to make sure that your laptop or PDA supports 802.11b network connections. Some devices, like the Palm Tungsten C Handheld, have built-in support, others need to be equiped with an 802.11b PCMCIA card.

 

Once the device is 8022.11b enabled, you can access any of the free WiFi hotspots you find without any special account.

 

...Hoover

[JamesK840]

>Once the device is 8022.11b enabled, you can access any of the

>free WiFi hotspots you find without any special account.

 

The cards can be had for as little as $30-$40 with some weekend sales (Best Buy, CompUSA and especially Fry's), though you do somewhat get what you pay for as far as range. Free hotspots are great, but in places they can make a buck, like airports, coffee shops, and even fast food chains now you'll probablly have to sign up for something. Should be pretty easy to setup though. And sometimes you get free time with a purchase, something like an hour for a value meal purchase at equipped McDonalds I read somewhere. (Maybe try just outside the First Class lounges as well... ;o)

 

Make sure your computer is fully updated as far as MS security patches go first (in Internet Explorer go to the tools menu, select Windows Update and go to town, keep rebooting and going back 'till you have all the critical stuff at least).

 

It's a good idea to make sure any new laptop comes with wireless built in (prefferably 802.11g, the newest, backwards compatible standard), or can have it added internally (this is an option for most Toshibas I think). That's so much more convient then the card sticking out, begging to get snapped off.