Your Guide To Wireless

Would You Like Wi-Fi with That?

In this year, McDonald’s began offering free Wi-Fi to its customers, doing away with the $2.95 fee it had been charging for two hours of wireless Internet access. It’s the result of a new partnership between the restaurant chain and AT&T. The company’s decision to make the switch to free Wi-Fi comes as the chain tries to transform itself into a social hangout and not just a greasy burger joint. In addition to its wireless plans, McDonald’s will also begin selling frappes and smoothies in ...

Tools that help find hot spots

Any Wi-Fi discovery tool can find a hot spot, but some network operators also provide connection managers for their Wi-Fi services, mainly to integrate account information easily on both ends of the link. A good example is Wi-Fi aggregator Boingo Wireless. We installed its GoBoingo client on our Windows XP machine. Operating this application is a bit counter intuitive, it wakes up when near a Boingo hot spot, but otherwise remains invisible. So, while GoBoingo is frequently listed as a discov...

Where’s the Wi-Fi? Part 2

Continue from Where’s the Wi-Fi? Although it's unlikely you can have your pick of airports, a little planning can help you make the most of the Wi-Fi-friendly ones. Have a layover in Atlanta? Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport tops the Forbes Top 30 Most-Wired Airports report, with airport-wide Wi-Fi access via five providers. Heading to Las Vegas, Denver, or Phoenix? Forbes' No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 most Wi-Fi-friendly airports, respectively, all offer free hotspot acces...

Where’s the Wi-Fi?

Since 2006, when Wi-Fi information and services firm JiWire proclaimed Wi-Fi hotspots had topped the 100,000 mark globally, the list of hotspot locations has continued heading skyward. As of March, JiWire reports there were nearly 250,000 free and for-pay hotspot locations in 136 countries. (That number isn't 100% all inclusive, but JiWire's registry is likely the most comprehensive available.) The good news for U.S. travelers is that more than a quarter of those hotspot locations are located...

Canary Wireless Sings A New Wi-Fi Tune

Another CES has come and gone, giving us more new-product announcements than an army of tech journalists could give their proper due. As usual, the big players grabbed the lion's share of the pub, while smaller companies garnered less, including Canary Wireless and its second-gen Digital Hotspotter HS-20, a Wi-Fi detector/analyzer with a scrollable, backlit LCD (96 x 64) displaying network ID, encryption status, signal strength, and other details of 802.11b/g/n networks. The 2-ounce HS-20 run...

Build Simple Free Hotspot : Set Up the Wireless Router

To set up your wireless router, follow the manufacturer instructions that are included with the product. Some vendors might have written guides, and some might want you to use a CD that will help with the wireless router setup. The installation instructions will most likely have you configure some initial settings, but you will need to keep in mind several things, as discussed in the following list. Do not worry if you are not prompted during the setup to configure all these items, because you w...

How To Build Simple Free Wireless Access Hotspot

A free access hotspot solution is simple and inexpensive, but it does not provide any real "hotspot features," such as user control and management. However, some small setup might not need these features. Your small free wireless hotspot might simply want to provide the public with wireless Internet access without the thrills. By offering a free hotspot, you might attract more customers to your business. The simple free hotspot solution is set up just like any other simple wireless network, s...