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Wireless A-Go-Go Eric Hellweg Maybe you're a frequent traveler, twiddling your thumbs in airport terminals and hotel lobbies while your competition for the Big Account downloads presentations over a wireless, or Wi-Fi, network. Or maybe you've set up a Wi-Fi network at home, as described in "Become a Wireless Wizard." You love roaming the house and surfing the Web with a notebook PC. But when you ask your spouse to watch you connect from inside the hall closet, you get the kind of look Teri Garr shot Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when he started in on mashed potato sculptures. Have no fear: Going wireless on the road may be just what you need to get a leg up (or get out of the house). Rarely a day goes by that another public Wi-Fi "hot spot" doesn't spring up in a cafe, airport, or hotel around the country. But how do you log into a hot spot? What does it cost? And does a public hot spot mean the public can access your data? Swap your sweat pants for some decent duds, read this primer, and soon you'll be checking e-mail while you order your lunch. Do Your Prep Work You can't connect to anything without the necessary equipment. Many new notebook PCs based on Intel's Centrino technology and most Apple PowerBooks released in the last few years have built-in Wi-Fi adapters (Apple calls its AirPort). If your notebook doesn't already have an adapter, you'll need a PC Card adapter. But be aware: There are different Wi-Fi technologies out there, some faster than others. To get on the wireless Web inexpensively, for as little as you could buy a Wi-Fi card that uses the 802.11b standard. The CompUSA sales kid may try to sell you on 802.11a or 802.11g cards because they're faster. But for today, the vast majority of public hot spots support 802.11b technology--and trust me, it's plenty fast (see "Get With the Lingo" for a rundown on the various types of Wi-Fi and their speeds). Before you go zipping off to find hot spots, you'll need to do some thinking: How much hot spot surfing do you plan on doing? Will this be an occasional hobby or something you do often? Maybe your job involves a lot of hotel stays and waiting around in airports, where logging on via a wireless connection will help you get a lot of work done. This personal assessment is important because there are several different kinds of wireless access plans, and you'll want to make sure you choose the one that best suits your needs. Although there are some free, public hot spots out there, the vast number of hot spots require a paid subscription. If your roaming Wi-Fi habits will be sporadic and relatively short (maybe you'll pop out of the house for a couple hours a week to work remotely, or you'll stop in a cafe to check e-mail or sports scores), then an hourly, rather than monthly, plan might be best for you. Pay-as-you-go plans range from 10 cents per minute to per day. But if you plan on spending a couple full days a week in your cafe "office," then you'll want to examine monthly plans, which typically range from to (for more information on service plans, see "Wi-Fi Directory"). Location, Location, Location Once you've investigated service plans, you'll want to find hot spots in your travel circles. Not surprisingly, the Internet is a tremendous resource for this. You can find lists of Wi-Fi-enabled airports, hotels, and other locations at EZGoal Hotspots, HotSpotList.com, WiFi411, and WiFinder. You can also go straight to some of the largest Wi-Fi service providers. Boingo Wireless and Wayport have targeted their Wi-Fi plans to business travelers. They offer hot spots in well over 1000 hotels and dozens of U.S. airports. Many airports offer vendor-neutral connections, meaning that whatever your plan, you'll likely be able to connect using that service, rather than having to add an additional service plan to your bill. If you plan on surfing a little closer to home, consider T-Mobile, which has set up Wi-Fi locations in Borders Books and Music stores and Starbucks coffeehouses nationwide. The company recently announced it will soon provide Wi-Fi access at 1000 Kinko's locations nationwide as well. If you live in one of the three towns left in the United States without a Starbucks, don't despair: Scores of smaller Wi-Fi access providers cater to local, non-chain pubs, cafes, and restaurants. Try a Google search of your location and "Wi-Fi provider," or go straight to Google's directory of access providers. If you don't feel like paying to use a wireless hot spot, you might be in luck. There are hot spots--usually set up by citizens like you, sometimes by organizations--that are available to use free of charge. Some people believe Wi-Fi should be free and have set up loose-knit groups to publicize where these free hot spots can be found, the codes you need to log on, and the rules for using them. In addition, there are cafes and other locations where proprietors feel that free Wi-Fi access will bring in customers and promote good relationships. How do you find these freebies? Get online and search. You can start with wireless user groups in your area. For example, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area you'd check the Bay Area Wireless Users Group; if you're in the New York metropolitan area, go to NYCwireless. There are also sites such as FreeSpot Directory, which lists free public hot spots. Answering Technical Questions Once you've selected a Wi-Fi plan and mapped out the hot spots in your area, you'll probably be itching to get out the door. But before you do, there are a couple of technical issues you should be clear on. You may wonder how you'll keep track of all the hot spots you can to access the Internet. One day you may be using a wireless network at home; the next day you may need access at the airport; the next day you may be surfing from Starbucks. You may need a different ID and password for each hot spot. Do you need to set up separate network profiles, with ID and password, for each Wi-Fi location? The answer is no. Windows XP automatically detects whatever network is available, either through your Wi-Fi card or the adapter built into your notebook. When you open your Web browser, the Wi-Fi service provider at your location will redirect the browser to the sign-on page. If you already have an account with that service, just sign in. If not, you can choose a pay-as-you-go option and use your credit card for that session. If you don't run Windows XP and you use a PC Card adapter, don't worry: Your Wi-Fi card probably came with software that locates available hot spots. In addition, large Wi-Fi service providers like Boingo and T-Mobile offer software that makes it easy to log in to different hot spots. It's relatively easy to set up a separate profile for each of your Wi-Fi hot spots, so that you can click on one to automatically log in with the proper ID and password. Boingo offers a free application for just such a purpose, and you don't even have to be a Boingo subscriber. The software lets you name each location (say, "Starbucks on Main St." and "Chicago Hotel") and store the SSID (service set identifier, an ID that gets you onto a wireless network) needed to log in to each network. In addition, many Wi-Fi cards come with software that manages multiple hot spot profiles. Batten Down the Hatches A vital technical issue is security. To put it simply: No public hot spot comes with built-in security. "It's a fundamental problem," says Glenn Fleishman, coauthor of The Wireless Networking Starter Kit. "With Wi-Fi, the second the data leaves your machine, it's open." Before security concerns make you decide you want no part of Wi-Fi, take a deep breath. The important thing is to ensure that if some rogue intercepts one of your wireless transmissions, they can't do anything with it. You can take a few simple steps to make sure the data you want to protect--your e-mail messages or any data transfer that includes passwords or credit card information--is protected. First and foremost, make sure you're running an optional security feature called Wireless Equivalent Privacy, which encrypts data sent over wireless networks. WEP isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than nothing. Check your Wi-Fi adapter's manual for instructions on enabling WEP, or read PCWorld.com's "Internet Tips: Lock Out Internet Pests, Lock In Network Security." You may also want to make sure that your e-mail program encrypts messages when sending them out. You can usually turn on this feature from your e-mail program's Options menu. As for Web-based transactions you might want to protect, just make sure you're using Secure Sockets Layer encryption to protect your information. Any e-commerce site worth its salt, such as Amazon and Yahoo, uses a secure server or offers customers the option of using a secure server for transactions. If you're concerned about security, select this option or shop only at sites that use SSL. You'll know it's turned on when you see a yellow padlock icon in your system tray; also, the URL usually begins with "https" instead of "http." Just as you would any time you use a broadband connection, you should run a firewall program like Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm to keep snoops from accessing your system. Sure, there's a lot to digest before taking your wireless show on the road. But when you sit down for the first time at your favorite coffee shop with a hot frothy beverage in hand and zip from site to site with the digerati by your side, you--and maybe even your spouse--will be happy you did. Eric Hellweg is a Boston-based freelance writer and devout Red Sox fan. When they set up a hot spot at Fenway Park, you can forget about reaching him at his desk. From PCWORLD.COM, Reproduce from http://mobile.yahoo.com/wifi/tutorials?art=2

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