WiFi Savvy

The purpose of a public WiFi hotspot is to share a broadband connection to the Internet.  In a small, indoor, hotspot, you only need two things to make this happen; 1) a broadband connection to the Internet (DSL, Cable, T1 etc.) 2) a wireless router (aka wireless Access Point). 

For example, we just finished a ‘gig’ for Coach Connect where they provided a free WiFi hotspot to attendees of the FMCA Convention in Pomona, CA.  Jim set up the equipment.  All he had to bring was the wireless router, FMCA had arranged for the broadband connection and they marked the ethernet cable ‘Coach Connect.’

The blue ethernet cable is the broadband connection to the Internet.  It plugs into the router which then distributes the signal wirelessly using that little black antenna.  The gray ethernet cable is optional - it was for Jim to plug a computer directly into the Internet instead of using the wireless signal. 

That’s it.  There is no computer involved in this WiFi hotspot.  There is no server.  It is just a way to take one connection and turn it into many connections so people with WiFi enabled computers can get high-speed Internet.

This is how most small public WiFi hotspots are set up.  It’s really quite simple.  An RV park requires quite a bit more.  For one, you would never see a consumer device like that D-Link router in a Coach Connect RV park hotspot.  They use commercial-grade gateways.  They also can’t use that little black antenna.  They use high-gain antennas mounted on rooftops with high-powered amplifiers.  However, there is never a computer involved.  There is no server. 

Ok, Ok, why am I beating this dead horse? 

Because we’ve had so many people say, “When I connected to the hotspot, I got a virus.  The hotspot’s server must be infected.”  or, “Browsing the Internet is slow at this hotspot, their server must be old or not have enough memory.”

There is NO server!

Blaming a WiFi hotspot for your computer getting infected is like blaming the on-ramp for an accident you had on the freeway. 

Slowness can have many different causes.  It may be the connection to the Internet.  If the broadband is coming from satellite dish, it will be much slower than if it’s coming from a T1.  Maybe it’s the number of people that are sharing that connection.  Maybe it’s the website you are visiting that is slow.  Maybe your computer is infected with viruses or spyware that slows down browsing.  Maybe your Internet cache is full.  But it’s NOT because the WiFi Hotspot’s server is slow.

What I’m talking about is public WiFi hotspots intended for the purpose of allowing Internet access for the public.  A wireless network certainly *can* be set up for a corporation.  In that case, the purpose is to allow employees to access the information on the corporation’s servers from their WiFi enabled laptops.  This is the WiFi that create headlines like “Wireless security is #1 issue.”  A corporate wireless network needs to take great care about security to prevent nasty people from accessing the private information on their servers.  Not so a public WiFi hotspot.

Security of your computer when you use a public WiFi hotspot is *your* responsibility.  Just like driving safely and wearing your seatbelt is up to you when traveling the freeway. Your computer must be up-to-date, you need virus protection, spyware protection, and you should turn file and printer sharing off.

A lot of people ask me how I make the maps of our travel route that are on our home page, http://www.jimandchris.com/ .  I use clipart of a map, then with a program called Fireworks I use the pen tool to draw the route. 

Most RV Travelers have a map of the states they’ve visited pasted somewhere on the outside of their RV.  Like the one in the photo upper right corner of this page.  We just love it when we visit a new state and we get to put it on our map.  But, what if you want that map on your webpage?  I’ve just run across a really cool website that let’s you do just that.  It’s called Visited States.  There’s also one called Visited Countries.  Since you’ve already seen the states we’ve visited, I’ll do the Countries:

It’s so easy.  Once you get to the website, you’ll see a list of states (or countries).  Simply check the box next to each state (or country) you’ve visited and click ‘Go’.  When it’s done, you should see the map.  Below the map is a box containing the HTML code you need to put into your webpage - just copy and paste it.

I did one more step because I didn’t like the size of the graphic - it was too big for this page.  I right-clicked on the map and used the ‘Save picture as …’ command to save the .gif file on my computer.  Then I could resize it as I saw fit and upload it to display on this page.

Note added August 2006: I found another ‘visited states’ map that I like even better at http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/.  The main difference is that it colors in each state with a different color.

We teach in our seminars that line-of-sight is very important to making a good WiFi connection.  That’s one of the main reason that we don’t recommend built-in WiFi adapters or even the PC card type of adapter.  There is no way with those to move them around for the best signal and connection.  We recommend USB type adapters because they’re on a wire and you can move them around.

Here’s the little USB adapter/antenna that I use.  Notice that it is taped to the window.  This photo was taken at an RV park in Pennsylvania.  I remember that when I had the adapter sitting on my desk, I couldn’t make a connection.  It’s only a difference of about 8 inches, but when I taped it to the window I had a solid connection for the whole 3 days we were there.

In this next picture, they took a simple little USB adapter/antenna and added a USB extension cable of about 15 feet so they could get it outside and up high.  They taped it to a pole and attached the pole to their RV.  To keep it from getting wet, they cut the top off a plastic soda bottle and placed it over the adapter!  This way it had line-of-sight over their neighboring coaches to the WiFi access point.  Worked pretty good!

Here’s an especially ingenious one.  If you think, ‘that looks like a kitchen wok’, you’d be right!  That’s exactly what it is.  And, attached to the center of the wok, is a standard little USB adapter in a plastic bag.  I believe he learned how to set up the ‘wok antenna’ at this website.  I especially like how he mounted it on top of his TV antenna.  Gets it up nice and high, and allows him to change the direction from inside by turning the TV antenna.

Then there’s the ever-popular ‘pringles can’ antenna.  Or, if you don’t fancy building it yourself, after eating a whole can of chips, you can buy the ‘Cantenna’.  Like the one below.  Notice that you need a card or other device (a bridge) to plug it into however.  The cantenna does not stand on it’s own as adapter/antenna.  It is just the antenna, you still need an adapter that will accept and external antenna.

My very favorite is the ‘antenna-head’.  That true geek who doesn’t go anywhere without his laptop and has an antenna growing out of his head.  Recognize this guy?

Yoh!  Fellow RVers!  It’s your responsibility to know how to use your computer. 

I just cringe when I talk to a busy RV park manager who tells stories of spending hours with guests helping them get their computers to work with the WiFi system.  “They didn’t even know if their computer had WiFi capability or not”, says the park manager. 

It’s not the park’s job to show you how to use your computer. 

(more…)

Wi-Fi is the same frequency as microwave ovens - 2.4 GHz.  I’ve seen our microwave oven interfere with our WiFi signal.  I’m not about to put my head in the microwave and turn it on … but, I have had my head in a WiFi ‘oven’ for over two years now.  WiFi is low-power where microwave is high-power. 

We use WiFi to create a network which includes our Satellite Internet connection, my computer, Jim’s computer, and our printer.  This is all inside our 8/5′ X 30′ motorhome.  If anyone would be feeling the health risks of WiFi, it would be us.  I don’t think there’s any problem - but, if you’re curious, you may want to read this article. 

News » Wi-Fi Killed My Baby! - Make it wear Faraday cage diapers?

An interesting note for RVers … the article suggests that a Faraday cage will protect you.  What’s a Faraday cage?  Well, it’s kinda like an RV - a metal box that shields everything inside from electrical and radio frequencies.  And people wonder why their tiny built-in WiFi adapter doesn’t work so good inside their RV. Signal will drop 30 - 70% just by moving from outside to inside your coach.  Make that 90% for a Prevost!

As RVers, the road is a big part of our life.  Depending on the size of your rig, there are some roads you should not drive.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know which ones they are before you plan your route?  Maps aren’t always good enough.  And, even if you can find someone who has driven that road - their opinion of it’s driveability may not be the same as yours. 

Most RVers have stories of ‘the road that gotcha’.  The road they’ll ‘never do again.’  It was so steep that you slowed to a crawl going up, or burned your brakes going down.  So narrow that you sucked in your breath passing another vehicle afraid you’d lose your mirror.  Or on the side of a canyon such that the person on the outside edge feels they’re hanging over the abyss and had to close their eyes to keep from screaming.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get a preview of the road before you start driving?  Now you can.  With Google Earth. 

When Jim and I were getting ready to drive to Sedona, we noticed some pretty sharp-looking switchbacks on the map.  So Jim opened up Google Earth on his computer and zoomed in on highway 89.  He set a beginning point and and end point and asked Google Earth to ‘fly’ him over the route.  Here’s a screenshot of the beginning:

When Google Earth finished the ‘flight’, Jim said, “That looks like fun!”.  See our personal Blog for actual photos of the drive.  Here’s what Google says about the product:

“For anyone who has ever dreamed of flying…” - NY Times

The idea is simple. It’s a globe that sits inside your PC. You point and zoom to anyplace on the planet that you want to explore. Satellite images and local facts zoom into view. Tap into Google search to show local points of interest and facts. Zoom to a specific address to check out an apartment or hotel. View driving directions and even fly along your route.

The personal version is free, or you can pay $20 for a few extra features. 

Every RVer should check it out!

This is the 4th year in a row that I’ve used TurboTax for the web to prepare my personal tax return.  You gotta understand, me and paperwork don’t get along.  I can ignore it for months, even years.  Add to that the fact that we live in a motorhome and there’s no place to spread papers out, and you got the picture.  I avoid filling out forms until I have no other choice.  Web-based systems are *made* for me.

The fact that I’ve used TurboTax for the web for 4 years now helps SO much, I almost want to kiss the screen.  All our personal info is already filled in, I just keep clicking ‘next…’ ‘next…’.  All our acct numbers are already filled in.  The 1099’s that I received last year are all there.  My only job is to fill in this year’s numbers.  And, this year I didn’t even have to do that because my bank is a participating institution.  I do all my banking online.  This year TurboTax has a button to click to retrieve all 1099DIV info directly from my bank/broker.  I’m in heaven.

I always choose to file electronically and to receive my refund electronically.  I just pressed ‘Transmit my Return’ this morning.  I expect to see money show up in our personal bank account in 10 days to 2 weeks.  All this convenience cost me $19.95. 

I also had to file a corporate return.  TurboTax doesn’t have any online system for that.  But, I can get the forms I need from www.irs.gov and they are now ‘fill-in forms’.  In years past I either needed to handwrite in the forms or find someone with an old typewriter.  Neither of those would be a feasible option living in a motorhome.  The fill-in forms are great.  I have to do the calculations manually, unlike with TurboTax, but at least I can make a change and just reprint the form.

I know lots of people who would not like the fact that their income tax return information is all ‘out there’ online, in TurboTax’s computers.  Well, they don’t have to use it.  Maybe I’m not paranoid enough.  I may sing a different tune if I ever get burned.  But, so far, so good.  There are risks of identity theft no matter what methods you use to transmit sensitive information.  From what I know, I truly believe that electronic transmission is just about the most secure method you can use.  It’s certainly the fastest and the most accurate.  I’ve already received confirmation that my return was received. 

I *almost* look forward to using TurboTax online for filing my taxes again next year!

Oh yeah - and I’m using the free WiFi provided in this park to get online.  It’s a good thing cuz there are too many trees to raise our dish.

I do feel sorry for the people at the front desk sometimes.  When they have WiFi in their RV park, they get a lot of questions.  AND a lot of complaints.  We ask about WiFi availability whenever we check into an RV park - kind of a research project on our part.

At one RV park, I could swear the woman seemed overly happy to tell us that there was NO Internet access available.  Come to find out they had WiFi there at one point, but it was so problematic that they took it out.  She was probably so relieved not to deal with the problems that she truly was happy to announce that Internet was completely unavailable.

The next RV park had free WiFi, and the person behind the desk still sounded apologetic, telling us that lots of people had problems with it.  We used their system quite successfully the whole time we were there, which leads me to believe that most, if not all, of their problems were the users’ problems.  They certainly had enough antenna/access points.  Mounted on light poles, there were 2 of them on every other row of RVs.  There was a total of 5 AP’s there for 250 sites.  That’s pretty good coverage.  We never were able to tell how the Internet connection was delivered to those AP’s.  It could be that they were just repeaters, which could explain low signal and user problems.

The next park was the most interesting.  We asked, as always, “Do you have Internet available?”.  Their answer was NO, although they did point to a phone jack on the wall and, say we could bring our laptop up, during business hours, and plug in.  But, in further conversation they offered that, “There is a third party provider of WiFi available in the park - here’s their information.”  They made it abundantly clear that, “if you have questions call these people (Wireless Web) don’t talk to us!”

The antennas were sure nice and high - and in clear view of our site.  We had good signal, but when we tried to connect we got the message “Limited or no connectivity.”  Now, we know that usually means the connection between the Access Point and the Internet Service Provider is down or blocked for some reason.  Usually, a simple reset of the equipment will solve the problem.  But a reset needs a person physically there to turn it off and back on again.  Given the attitude of the staff, that’s probably not a simple matter here.  We just raised our dish and went on.

The next park with WiFi was Morro Bay State Park.  I was really looking forward to this because it’s a California State park and there had been quite a lot of press about how SBC got the contract to install WiFi in all the state parks.  And, I knew the price was $7.95/day which is pretty high by RV park standards.  We expected the service to be good.  We were disappointed.  They only had one antenna on the gatehouse.  It was low and it was omni-directional.  Omni-directional means that it sends the signal out 360 degrees.  That would be fine if the antenna was in the middle of the park, but the gatehouse was in the far northwest corner.  At the very least, they should have had a directional ’sector’ antenna to power the signal to a few more sites.  As it is, you pretty much have to take your laptop up to the gatehouse to use it.

Oh yeah - the staff had nothing to say, they just handed us a little card from SBC FreedomLink that says, “How To Connect: 1. Click Start, then Connect To, then Wireless Network Connection.  2. Choose Freedomlink, then open broswer and select usage session.”  We were about a dozen sites down from the gatehouse and we couldn’t even see the signal.

I’ll end with the only RV park during this ’survey’ where the staff actually smiled and offered, “We have wireless Internet in the park, it’s a great thing!”  That was Bakersfield Palms and their provider is The Wireless Web.  We actually had some trouble with our satellite dish while we were there, so, at $2.50/day we used the WiFi and were thankful it was available.