I was coming home a little early yesterday so I decided to have some fun and stumble around the neighborhood. What that means is popping open a laptop with an application like MacStumbler running, which will tell you what wireless networks are around and how strong they are.
The first surprise was that DeVry, which is a registered free hotspot was putting absolutely nothing out on the airwaves. But a little company across the street was broadcasting in the clear and very strong. I could have easily parked, switched to their network and surfed for free.
Another place I checked was the set of $800K executive homes across Union City boulevard from us. When that set of home was built they brought in fiber to serve it. Wow, the second surprise wasn't that it had some Wi-Fi, but that the Wi-Fi was glowing. At the stop-light across from the Fire Station, which is a little outside the group of homes you could get a strong signal off of a Linksys router and it got even hotter going in. At one point I had four reasonable quality service from four different routers in the middle of the street. Almost all of it was un-secured.
Another thought I had was, "Can I take my laptop to the park and surf while Megan plays (when se is old enough)?" Answer, yes. The local park is hot from one of the nearby houses and service is un-secured.
It's fascinating stuff. If you want to try it yourself just download the software or pick up one of these gizmos. If you want some more signal strength and you don't mind directionality try this productized Pringles can.
The net effect is that you can buy your coffee at Starbucks then drive around, find a free node, and save yourself the T-Mobile Hot Spot day charge ($9.95).
BTW, I went to see Hidalgo last night and I took my machine with me because I was running a little early. The theatre was flat dead for Wi-Fi. Oh well.
Posted by jherr at March 9, 2004 07:30 AMI can't believe your even thinking of surfing at the Park with Megan when you already spend so much time online. You know your eyes are going to glaze over if you don't give your self a break from computers...at least a few minutes a day.
Posted by: Lori at March 9, 2004 07:58 AMYeah, taking a computer is the wrong thing to do. What I need is one of the new Sony CLIE handhelds with built-in wireless with stumbling. That way I can stumble onto anyones network and read my mail and RSS. ;-)
Posted by: Jack Herrington at March 9, 2004 10:17 AMnah, what you need is it enjoy a few moments with no internet access what so ever. You need to appreciate the green grass, and the freedom from anything plugged in.
but ... what ever floats your boat I guess.
How could you tell they were unsecured with Macstumbler?
if your apple is part of a wireless network, will it be indicated as open?
Posted by: William Cutherell at March 9, 2004 03:49 PMIt's a question of whether WEP (the wireless access password) system is enabled on your router. By default it is not, and anyone can access your router. So MacStumbler has a column in it to tell you whether WEP is enabled or disabled.
Posted by: Jack Herrington at March 9, 2004 04:17 PMI set the wep on the router but couldn't find where to set the password in the mac. I had to turn it off again. neither of the missing manuals was enough help.
Posted by: wcutherell at March 9, 2004 07:21 PMOn Panther I go to the Network system panel, then I select the Airport card and change the 'By default, join' dropdown from 'Automatic' to 'A specific network'. At that point I am prompted for a WEP key. The system panel is different on Jaguar, so your mileage may vary.
Posted by: Jack Herrington at March 10, 2004 07:21 AMbecause people still value ionic breeze personalized gift type products. online education We feel that we add so much link exchange personal value to our products link exchange that people will continue to cigars buy. Digital images also give green card the consumer so much more control caribbean cruise of their photo that they will air purifiers continue to want to do creative online degrees
Posted by: human touch massage chair at June 6, 2004 05:20 PMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)