So what exactly is Wi-Fi and Hotspots?
These days, when people are talking about ‘Hotspots’, they might not be talking about the latest hi-jacking location anymore. But what exactly are Hotspots and Wi-Fi, and how do you get included in the craze? Hotspots are venues that offer Wi-Fi access. The public can use a laptop, WiFi phone, or other suitable portable device to access the Internet. Of the estimated 150 million laptops, 14 million PDAs, and other emerging Wi-Fi devices sold per year for the last few years, most include the Wi-Fi feature. Wi-Fi is the latest technology in networking your computers, much like your standard office network. Only with Wi-Fi, you don’t need cables and you have the ability to roam while maintaining connection (think of cell phones). Now, a Hotspot is a Wi-Fi network that an establishment offers to its clients, with a connection to the Internet. So, essentially, you can wonder into a ‘Hotspot’, open your laptop and start checking mail, do your banking or just plain surf the web. This all sounds great, but what do you need? To connect to a Wi-Fi network, you need a Wi-Fi enabled component. This can be in the form of PCMCIA card (for notebooks), Flash card (for handheld devices), PCI card (for desktop systems) or a USB accessory (for general connectivity). You might be in luck, though. If you have an Intel Centrino notebook (as well as some others), it already has Wi-Fi built in. With your component installed, you’re ready to go find yourself some Hotspots. Just remember, when at a Hotspot, ask a waiter for information. They might be charging for the service or using encryption. For venues that have broadband service, offering wireless access is as simple as purchasing one AP and connecting the AP with the gateway box. Hotspots are often found at restaurants, train stations, airports, libraries, coffee shops, bookstores, fuel stations, department stores, supermarkets and other public places. Many universities and schools have wireless networks in their campus. Most hotspots are unsecured. User data is shared as clear text as all users access the internet via the hotspot.Some hotspots authenticate users. This does not secure the data transmission or prevent packet sniffers from allowing people to see traffic on the network. A "poisoned hotspot" refers to a free public hotspot set up by identity thieves or other malicious individuals for the purpose of "sniffing" the data sent by the user. This abuse can be avoided by the use of VPN. A virtual private network (VPN) is a communications network tunneled through another network, and dedicated for a specific network. One common application is secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN need not have explicit security features, such as authentication or content encryption. VPNs, for example, can be used to separate out the traffic of different user communities over an underlying network with strong security features.A VPN may have best-effort performance, or may have a defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. Generally, a VPN has a topology more complex than point-to-point. The distinguishing characteristic of VPNs are not security or performance, but that they overlay other network(s) to provide a certain functionality that is meaningful to a user community.

The Intertubes and the meaning of it all

All you want to do is connect to the web, but with so many terms flying about it is ­getting pretty confusing. Here is our easy to understand guide to Internet terms. 3G Third Generation mobile ­cellular technology. 3G gives you the ability to transfer simultaneously both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as browsing webpages). Nine times faster than GPRS with a maximum download of 384kbps. ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. This is a technology that allows you to connect at a very fast speed to the Internet. It usually takes place through telephone cables and is “always on”, meaning that you’re always connected. It does not engage your telephone line as dial-up does. ADSL Data Cap The amount of data you will be allowed to download per month. Depending on your Internet Service Provider (ISP) you will have options anything from 1GB up to uncapped, meaning no limit. You will pay more for a larger cap. ADSL Download Speeds Your ISP will offer you ­different speeds to download at, usually 384 kilobits per second (kbps), 512kbps or 1024kbps. Broadband A term used to refer to a high bandwidth Internet connection. Most high speed Internet connections, such as ADSL or 3G, are commonly referred to as Broadband. Dial-up This generally refers to using a modem to connect to the Internet through a regular telephone line. You pay for the amount of time spent online and not for the amount of data downloaded. 56kbps is the maximum speed you can expect. EDGE Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution. A cellular technology that allows for faster data transfer. Your 3G modem or data card will switch over to EDGE if there is no 3G coverage. Faster than GPRS, EDGE has a maximum rate of 236kbps. GPRS General Packet Radio Service. Cellular technology used for the transfer of data over wireless cellular networks. It is slow and realistically you’re looking at a download speed of 50kbps. You pay for the amount of data downloaded, not the time spent online. HSDPA High-Speed Download Packet Access, also known as 3.5G technology. This cellular technology has a maximum download speed of 1.8Mbps but usually fall between 400kbps and 800kbps. Faster than 3G.

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