WiFi Savvy

There was a little girl, with a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good
But, when she was bad, she was *Horrid*!

Her name?

Wi-Fi!

Really - when it works, Wi-Fi is SO good.  You turn it on, click connect, and you’re browsing at high speed!  BUT!  If it doesn’t work, there are SO many possible causes.  When we were first learning to troubleshoot Wi-Fi, back in 2004, I wrote an article about it.  It’s a LONG article! 

I like to deal with the basics of logic - if light bulb ‘A’ lights up when plugged into socket ‘1′, that proves to me that both the light bulb and the socket are working properly.  So, I should be able to test light bulb ‘B’ by plugging it into socket ‘1.’  Since I know that socket ‘1′ is functioning properly, this should be a good test of light bulb ‘B.’  If it works, the bulb is good.  If it doesn’t work, it must be the bulb’s fault, because we’ve already proven that socket ‘1′ works fine. 

A in 1 = true (both A and 1 are in working order)
B in 1 = false (B must be faulty)

This is the logic I bring to troubleshooting Wi-Fi.  A guest’s Computer (light bulb ‘B’) is not getting online at the Wi-Fi Access Point near their coach (socket ‘2′.)  To determine where the problem lies (with computer, or with Access Point) I need to try a different computer at their site.  My Computer, at their location, works just fine.  Therefore, the problem must lie with their computer.

B in 2 = false (either B or 2 must be faulty)
A in 2 = true (both A and 2 are in working order)
B must be faulty

However, before digging too deep in their computer, I decide to bring their computer to my site and try it.  It works fine! And, these are both Toshiba laptops running Vista using their built in adapters.
Does not compute!

When it comes to using Wi-Fi, the most asked question is “What about Security?”   “I don’t want to do my banking online because I’ve heard so much about wireless networks being unsecure.”

Yes, we do hear a lot about security problems with wireless networks, but it’s usually referring to something other than using a Wi-Fi Hotspot for Internet access.  Take this headline for example:

“Wireless Security Puts IRS Data at Risk”

I prepared my taxes online using Turbotax and transmitted them electronically over a Wi-Fi hotspot in an RV park.  Does this article mean my tax return was at risk of being seen?  No.  Not at all.  The article is not referring to a public hotspot at all.  It is referring to an IRS office.  The people in that office use a wireless network to do their work; work that involves hundreds of tax returns.  If their network is not adequately secured, a hacker standing just outside their office could *possibly* gain access to that same data.

This is a completely different animal than my using a Wi-Fi hotspot to transmit my tax return.  A public Wi-Fi hotspot is almost always ‘unsecure’.  It has to be in order for people to connect to it!  When I logged in to my account at Turbotax, the Turbotax website takes care of making that particular connection ’secure’ by encrypting all the data as it leaves my computer, travels thru the local wireless network and across the Internet.  So, if a hacker was ’sniffing’ the air and grabbing the signals being transmitted by my computer, all he would see is gibberish; encrypted data.

I feel perfectly safe transmitting financial information over a website that is ’secure’.  How do you know it’s secure?  By the httpS (S stands for secure) and the little lock on your status bar.  By the same token, I would *never* send sensitive data in an email regardless of how I’m connected to the Internet.  That’s like writing on a postcard.  Rarely are emails encrypted or safe.  (Just ask Senator Foley!) 

One thing that is good idea when using a public Wi-Fi hotspot, is to turn off file-sharing.  It’s highly unlikely that anyone could gain access to the files on your computer.  And, it’s even more unlikely that anyone would even try because they’d have to be nearby, connected to the same network.  On a wireless network, you are not exposed to the entire Internet, just those connected to the same wireless network.  If you turn off file and printer sharing on your computer, then you’re not even exposed to them.

There’s lots more to know about wireless security, but these are the major points I make to RVers all the time.  So, go ahead!  Do your banking at Wi-Fi hotspots.  I believe your best protection against fraud is to check your account transactions often. 

This week we find ourselves back at our old ‘home’ RV park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  This park has Coach Connect as their Wi-Fi hotspot provider and it is very good.  So, we were quite surprised when a fellow RVer here said to us, “The Wi-Fi here is not so good.”  When we pressed him further, he explained that it is *only* 11Mbps when he much prefers those that operate at 54Mbps.  Oh My.  Another misinformed user.  He was convinced that 54 meant a better Web-browsing experience for him than 11.  Jim tried to tell him, but he had no interest in listening to the explanation of why it makes no difference.  I hope you will!

First, let’s review the measurement.  11Mbps stands for 11 Megabits per second.  Mega=1 million.  You also see measurements like 56Kbps.  That stands for Kilobits per second.  Kilo = 1 thousand.  So, 1Mb = 1,000 Kb.  A typical dial-up modem speed of 56Kbps is about the same as .05Mbps - right? 

Now, take a look at this diagram. 

Notice that the 11Mbps or 54Mbps is only within the WiFi Hotspot or wireless local area network (WLAN).  Only traffic between the computers and the Access Point/Router travels at those speeds.  The speed of data flowing from the Internet is only at 1.5Mbps (normal U.S DSL speed).

Think of it like a hose, or a pipe.  The pipe of data from the Internet carries 1.5Mbps.  Imagine a 1.5 inch diameter.  That dumps into the pipes in the Wi-Fi Hotspot which carry 11 or 54Mbps.  Anything over 1.5 is simply wasted.  So, the fact of a Wi-Fi hotspot operating at 54Mbps is irrelevant to the speed of browsing on the Internet.  It’s the Internet connection that counts. 

So why does the salesperson at the computer store tell you that that the G equipment (54Mbps) is so much better than the B equipment (11Mbps?)  Because he’s not referring to a public Wi-Fi Hotspot.  He’s thinking of an office network where workers need speed to share files and printers within the office, or a home network where kids are playing multi-computer games.  The speed within the network makes a big difference in those situations.  But not in an RV park!  In fact, the B type networks can actually go a little farther than the G’s.  So, which would you rather have in an RV park?  A Wi-Fi Hotspot that is 50 times faster than the source Internet connection, or a Hotspot that is only 10 times faster and goes a little farther distance?

So, how do you know what your Internet speed is anyway?  Hopefully, you now know that it is *not* by looking at the speed of your Wireless Network connection - that should be 11 or 54.  What we’re looking for is the speed of the stream of Internet data that makes it to your computer. 

What we want is ‘Broadband.’ Wi-Fi is broadband, it should be a lot faster than a dial-up connection.  Broadband is usually defined as greater than 200Kbps download speed.  Look at that number closely.  200Kbps = .2Mbps, right?  A nice, fast connection will be 800Kbps or more.  800Kbps = .8Mbps.  I’m telling you you have a fast connection, and you’re not even at 1Mbps!  If you want to see these numbers on your computer, go to a site like www.DSLReports.com or www.TestMy.net.  They have tools that will send data to your computer and calculate the speed.  These numbers are very interesting, but I don’t put a whole lot of store in them.  There are so many factors that can affect the numbers, like latency (delay) if you’re on a satellite connection, or the number of other users on the network and what they’re doing. 

The only thing that really counts is your browsing experience.  Can you get to websites quickly?  Do pictures appear fast?  Can you view a video without pauses?  A good test would be to watch one of our computer tutorial videos from www.GeeksOnTour.com.  Try the one on Connecting to a Wi-Fi Hotspot.  If you can open that link and have the video start right away then play all the way through without pause, then you’re on a good, fast Internet connection.  If the playback hiccups, stops, or starts over, then you don’t have enough speed on your Internet connection to keep up with the play.  You can pause the playback until the download catches up.

I guess I have to mention the ‘N’ type of wireless networks.  There will always be the new, improved version!  N wireless network products are supposed to be faster and go farther than any of it’s predecessors.  You should now know that the faster part doesn’t matter for public Wi-Fi hotspots.  The farther part would be awfully nice though, wouldn’t it?  The problem is that if you buy an ‘N’ wireless adapter for your computer, it will only go farther if you’re at a Wi-Fi hotspot that uses an ‘N’ router/access point.  And, it needs to be the same brand name as yours as well, because there is no standard for N’s yet.  In other words, don’t waste your money.

I am always reading about WiFi.  Sometimes it seems that is all I do.

Below is an interesting article about how simple changes in a WiFi hotspot can have a negative effect.  The article is talking about an office WiFi network and how Christmas holiday decorations can have a significant impact on their wireless LAN.

If simple, inocuous decorations have that kind of effect in a controllable environment like an office, imagine the effect of the constantly changing environment at an RV park offering WiFi. 

http://airmagnet.com/news/press/news.20061205.htm

In most cases, it is up to you, the end user, to overcome the obstacles to achieve reliable connections.

We are often asked if there are settings that need to be changed when using WiFi.  What most people mean is, “Are there different settings for using the WiFi at Flying J rest stops from the settings I use at a Coach Connect RV park from those at a Tengo Internet RV park?”  The answer to that question is generally ‘No’.  Other than the fact that you need to be sure your WiFi is connecting to the correct signal (coach, flyingj, tengo), there are no different settings to make it work at different public hotspots. 

There are lots of settings that can be tweaked to improve your performance.  Top among these are your Power Management settings.  Laptops especially want to save battery power by turning things off, or turning them down.  You don’t want it to turn off your WiFi adapter! 

To check your power management settings you need to go to your ‘Network Connections’ screen.  You can get there with Control Panel, but the easiest way is by right-clicking on your Wireless icon in the lower right corner and choosing Open Network Connections.  Once there, you should see a section for Lan or High-Speed Internet.  In that section you’ll see a ‘Wireless Network Connection’ (there should only be one.) Right click on that to see this screen:

Now you want to click on the button that says, ‘Configure’ next to the name of your Wireless Network adapter.  From here on, everyone’s screen will be different depending on your adapter.  But you should be able to find a setting for Power Management and turn it off. 

On mine, there’s a checkbox that says, “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.”  I have that checkbox UNchecked.

The next most important thing is to be sure you’re using the most current driver.  You will find the date of your driver somewhere in these same adapter configuration screens.  Make a note of that date, then go to the website for the company who makes your particular adapter and search for driver updates. 

Our friends at WiFi-Texas have gathered many of the updated drivers and put them all in one place for your convenience.  They also have a lot of information on other settings you can tweak to get the best performance. 

Diane called yesterday with a bunch of questions related to security.  She just got two new computers to take on the road.  Andy and Diane are getting into online trading.  They expect to connect at WiFi Hotspots as they travel in their RV.

What software does she need?  She already downloaded Windows Defender, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware.  Norton Internet Security is on one of the computers, the remaining subscription from her old computer.  AVG free is installed on the other.
I am no longer a fan of Norton.  It is such a resource hog these days.  Removing it can be a chore.

In our seminars, I say you need ONE Firewall.  I believe if your computer is clean and up to date, the Windows XP firewall is enough for most folks.  You need ONE Anti-Virus program.  I use AVG free.  Chris pays for the Pro version.  I use the three anti-spyware/adware programs listed above plus Spyware Blaster.

The most important thing is to keep your programs AND operating system UP TO DATE.  In addition, don’t fall victim to the scams and come-ons in emails and on the web.
Infections and malware most people get on their computers have already been fixed by security updates.  Meaning, if they were careful and up to date, they wouldn’t have the problem.

WiFi security is a different matter.  WiFi is radio.  Low power, two-way radio for digital data.  Radio waves travel in the air.  It is possible to listen in on these transmissions with the proper equipment.  Encryption is the way to keep your information secure.  Secure websites like financial institutions handle encryption effectively. You can identify a secure website with the lock icon in the lower right corner of your screen and the https (the s stands for secure) in the address.  If you’re using a secure website, everything you do on that site is encrypted even on WiFi.  From your keystrokes, thru the local area network, thru the internet to the destination, AND back.  If someone was ‘listening in’ all they would get is coded gobleydegook.

A WiFi hotspot is a local area network connected to the Internet.  The range is generally very limited.  An eavesdropper would need to be close to intercept your data.  
Public hotspots typically do not encrypt data.  They are not secure because they want people to be able to connect.  The user is expected to provide security.  To avoid others on the same network from seeing your computer, make sure to turn off File and Printer sharing.  Tools like JiWire’s Hotspot Helper provide encryption for public hotspots.

Practice Safe Computing.  Perform BUCS regularly.  You’ll save big bucks!

One of my soapboxes for RVers is that, if you really need the Internet, you better have multiple ways to connect.  You can’t rely on any one way because it may not be available. 

We proved that while parked in my Dad’s driveway.  Our normal way of connecting to the Internet is with our Datastorm Satellite Dish.  His driveway looks wide open, we don’t even consider that trees will be blocking our connection to the satellite.

But, no.  If you follow the line of sight where the dish is aiming, there are these trees in the neighbors yard.  Wimpy as they look to me, they are enough to block our connection.

Ok, on to plan B.  My Dad has a nice, fast cable connection to the Internet for his computer in the house.  Jim just hooks up a router and, voila, we have Wi-Fi out in the driveway.  Nice.

One night there was a nasty thunderstorm.  I’ve never seen such a dramatic lightning display.  The power never actually went out, but it dimmed enough to cause problems with electronics and the cable connection to the Internet was down.  At 7am I got a call from a client that had an emergency password problem with a website I made for them.  I *needed* to log in and change that password *now*.  Oh no, I have no Internet connection.  It probably was just a problem with the cable modem that needed to be reset after that storm, but that was in the house, and I didn’t want to disturb them this early.

Plan C: plug in my Verizon cell phone using the USB cable that came with the Mobile Office Kit.  Open the software and click ‘Connect’.  Aaahhhhhhh, I’m online again.  I’m so glad I have this backup option - but - I can just hear the dollars clicking away because the plan we have uses our minutes when we’re connected to the Internet.  It would be so easy to go over.  It’s better than paying a specific monthly amount just for Internet connection since we go for months without using it at all. 

There are more ways to connect, but those are my 3.  What are yours?

Yes!  All you have to do is ask.  I think you’ll find that RVers with 2-way Internet Satellite dishes are a pretty friendly bunch.  Like most RVers in general!  We have the Satellite Dish, ours is a Datastorm, because we *must* have Internet at all times!  We love the Internet and we love to talk about it and share it with our neighbors.  We find that most dish-owners are the same.  So, you might want to look for RVs that look like the photos below and park close by!

This next photo was taken at a Datastorm Rally.  There were about 60 2-way Internet satellite dishes deployed here!  No problem getting online here!

We don’t leave it wide open however.  The WiFi network that we have set up with our satellite Internet connection has WEP encryption on and you need to know the key in order to use it.  As I said, we’re a friendly sort and we want to talk to you about using the Internet.  We’re happy to share, but we want to know who is using it.

We have a little sign in our window that says, “Want Internet, Ask Us”.  And the name or ‘SSID’ of our Wireless Network is “Want Internet - Ask Us”.  We are probably a little more accessible than some others because we also sell the Datastorms.  But, an informal survey of other dish-owners confirm that they’re happy to share - all ya gotta do is ask.

Please be prepared for a ‘No’ answer though.  There are some people who are very dependent on their Internet connection and need every *bit* of bandwidth they can get.  The systems are expensive, and the monthly service ain’t cheap either ($60 - 200.)  Dish-owners are certainly under no obligation to share, but you’ll find that most of them *want* to. 

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.

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?