Wireless Internet Access : WiFi on the Road

Before a recent Air France flight from Houston to Paris, I sat at Houston Intercontinental Airport and waited. And waited. And waited. For at least a good Five minutes or so, though it seemed like forever. Not so much for the flight to take me to Paris, not even the line at the restaurant or the rest room for that matter. But for that reassuring “Wireless Network Connection” message to pop up above the task bar on my laptop PC.

The posters on the wall promoting free in-terminal WiFi access — The Airport calls them “Hot Zones” — I call them false advertising, with the promise of a connection as effortless as a baby’s first steps. Sure enough, finally, there was the message. At least that’s what I thought. My computer “saw” the network, but it wouldn’t connect.

For another 10 agonizing minutes, I tried to get into the “ZONE”, but was denied at every click. I even thought it was my laptops built in wireless Ethernet card. So i decided to reboot and try again. Not that it made the slightest bit of difference. I then proceeded to ask a gate agent for help, who was as useless as a toothpick in a gun fight. She offered to phone a tech-support line. No one answered. I asked several airport employees what to do. No one had a clue. Why was I even surprised?

Out of pure and utter frustration I signed up with Boingo, a WIFI provider that promises global WiFi roaming . It claims you can use one account at more than 100,000+ hotspots around the world and stay connected at more than 500+ airports, 20,000+ hotels, and 25,000+ cafes and restaurants around the world, including more than 14,000+ McDonalds® restaurants. I reviewed their service coverage for France and sure enough their web site listed both George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Charles De Gaulle Airport.

Sounded too good to be true and in less than 24hrs i discovered that I was right . I managed to get online using Boingo and was able to use the connection without any problems sitting at IAH waiting for my flight to Paris. Finally it was time to board the aircraft. I gracefully shut down all my applications and shut down my laptop for the trip.

Upon arrival at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris where i had a 9hr layover. I decide to sit it out at the Airport and get online again. Now bearing in mind that i had just registered with Boingo in Houston some 8-10hours earlier not taking into consideration the time difference. I was surprised to see an message on my screen indicating that my 24hr access had expired. How can that be.

The flight was 8hrs + time difference of approximately 8hrs is only 16hrs. So what happened to my 24hr Internet access for the day. I concluded that because i registered with Boingo the day before which was really only 8 – 10hrs ago and because i arrived in Paris the following morning due to the time difference. Boingo had terminated my 24hr Internet access. How frustrating.

I tried calling Boingo from my cell phone (International Roaming) and got no answer because they were all asleep in the USA. I say you should not have international service if you don’t offer international support. To cut a long story short I checked into a Hotel at the airport for the rest of my layover to grab a power nap and get on line

When you’re out traveling, and aren’t able to find too many places to leach some WiFi from, it can be a royal pain where the sun don’t shine. You’d think that most international airports would offer free Internet access and don’t get me wring some do. But very few.

So what other options does one have while on the go. Well it’s almost common place for cafe’s to offer free Internet access to attract customers, but they too have their issues. Certainly cafe’s at airports. For one you can see the cafe’s Internet access point, and your wireless connection displays it as being an excellent connection, but when you try to connect, it’s virtually impossible to get a reliable and consistent connection.

Make you wonder what the problem could be. It’s not long before you realize that your only one of may be a few hundred tying to connect for free. Therein lies the problem. The access point can only issue so may private IP addresses, and when you have a couple of hundred trying to access the Internet and the access point has limited IP it issues, it becomes apparent, very quickly that you’re wasting your time and have a greater chance of your flight leaving on time compared to establishing an Internet connection.

The situation can get much worse when your signal is weaker, as it often the case in hotel rooms. Like cell phones, wireless connections rely on a line-of-sight connection to the access point. Again, you know from your home wireless network that you should place the router antenna up high and clear of clutter, and you get a better signal on the remote computer if you are in direct line with the output. Move a few feet over so there is a wall between you and the source, and you still get signal, but it often suffers dramatically.

In your hotel, your proximity to the hotel’s base station or booster, which may be out in the hall or even in the lobby, dictates the strength of signal. Then there is the fact that the entire airport, hotel or location also has to connect up and out to the Internet; logjams can occur at every node along the chain, and you’re staring at an hourglass.

Connecting to a Wi-Fi network while you’re away may seem easy, especially if you have the wireless “sniffer” that comes with Windows XP. But don’t count on it. As with any emerging technology, there can be complications. The wireless access point may not be compatible with your system, or vice versa. Your laptop might not be configured correctly. The hotspot could require some kind of authentication (usually a credit card), or, worse still, you might not be welcome on the network, because it’s private. So the “Wireless Network Connection” message lingers on your screen. It taunts you.I’m hardly alone. “A significant number of Wi-Fi users would like to gain access in various locations, but can’t connect due to hardware limitations.”

Although no formal studies have been conducted on these missed connections, wireless access providers do keep data on failure rates — it’s highly confidential, for obvious reasons — but they know we know it’s a problem.

What to do about it? Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Go beyond the XP sniffer, if necessary. Having Windows XP is a good start, but if you don’t — or if, as a business traveler, your trips take you to places with some unusual WiFi networks — you might want to consider extending your sniffing capabilities. Other applications are available that can help you find and connect to a network, one option is a shareware application called WiNC by Cirond that offers data about the network, including security and signal strength. “If you are talking about a public hotspot, there should be no need to ‘hack’ into it,”.
2. A sniffer can’t tell you everything. But you can always try a “ping.” If you “see” a wireless network, go into a command prompt on Windows (click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt) and type “cmd” and Return. Then type “ping”¨ and the name of your favorite Web site. If the connection times out, it means your wireless connection works but the back-end wireless service — the connection between the access point and the Internet itself — is down.Get An 802.11g Card As I pointed out in a prior column, when it comes to 802.11, the only thing you need to know, for now at least, is “g” — as in 802.11g. It offers connection speeds of up to 54 Mbps, which is five times faster than 802.11b, plus it’s designed to be more secure. Most important, it works with an earlier Wi-Fi version, so that you can easily use it with an 802.11b network. “If you are just getting a card, you should go for ‘g’”. That’s because if you stumble across a “g” network, you’ll be able to take advantage of its mind-bending speed, stability and safety, but still work with previous wireless protocols. Put differently, it’s the most “connectable” of the cards . Don’t expect too much from your “g” card — at least not yet. Remember, 802.11g’s speeds are from your card to the hotspot. But you might experience bottlenecks between the hotspot and the modem, which may not be able to operate 54 Mbps. So if you think your network is running slow, that may be your problem.
3. Get To Know The War Chalk WiFi enthusiasts mark areas where there’s a free hotspot in chalk, and learning what they look like can be very useful. Most markings contain four components: a password at the top, a Web site on the left, the protocol on the right, and the connection speed on the bottom. Knowing what goes where could help you log on to the Wi-Fi network of your choice. One helpful site is www.wififreespot.com, which tells you where to find the free access points.
4. Get Safe – And Savvy Balancing the need for security with the need for a connection can, at times, be a challenge. I won’t sugarcoat the truth: Your laptop is vulnerable to all kinds of attacks when you’re on a wireless network, just as it’s susceptible to problems on a wired Internet connection. Protect yourself with personal firewall software. (Windows XP comes with a basic firewall protection, and there’s a free version of ZoneAlarm that comes highly recommended.) But don’t let the fear of what’s out there interfere with your connectivity — which is to say, don’t hold back when it comes to trying to make a connection to a WiFi network.So how do you get savvy about a wireless connection? If you know the network you’re on is meant for common use (more on that in a moment), but you’re having trouble using it, here are a few tips. Go to “View Available Wireless Networks” in your task bar. If you can see it but can’t connect, it means you’re associated but not authenticated. Check to see if you have 802.1X enabled. If so, uncheck it and try again. If that doesn’t work, check the box that says “allow me to connect to this network even though it may be insecure”¨ If all else fails, try to guess the password.

OK, so you’ve got the best sniffer, an 802.11g card, and security software, and you’re pretty adept at getting into a network. The only question that remains is: Can you? Sometimes you just aren’t meant to connect. Or are you?

Well there is one other option, and it’s one I choose to not use. It’s also one that is considered ethical if the owner of the signal asks for you to connect with their permission. Otherwise its considered wireless hacking. I’m not going into the details of how and what wireless network cards to use. But for those of you who are doing “it” for an educational purpose. Be careful who’s network your piggyback off and for what purpose.

Most wireless networks are setup by amateurs and even with WEP and other security measures in place are really easy to penetrate. Usually within a matter of minutes and seconds. If you have a wireless network within your business environment and are concerned about the security of your network and it’s data, I recommend you contact us and invite us to perform a penetration test to show you how secure it really is. We charge a flat fee depending on what you need done to scrutinize your network security and show you the gapping holes that may exist.

If you own and run a Small Business, you are more than likely broadcasting loud and clear to all within a 100+ ft of your WAP. If you value and take your business seriously, it would not hurt to learn what exactly the guy in your parking lot can pick up.

An ounce of prevention is better than a ton of cure as it relates to your network security and the welfare of your business data. Call us to ethically test and penetrate your wireless network before your competitor or some lay-about from the street corner does. Complete the form below by providing as much detail as possible and one of our friendly client services folks will be in touch to arrange a meeting and discuss how we can keep your network, its systems and your business data safe from the evil that lurks just beyond your walls.

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