A trip through Wi-Fi wonderland

Do it anywhere
Hotspot locations vary considerably but most commonly you’ll find Wifi broadband access in coffee shops and pubs, as most WISPs view these as key destinations for their target audience of business users.

Although ordinary Internet cafés provide a similar service, Wifi has allowed a number of more interesting locations to supply broadband access to users on the move.

The Cloud, a neutral network operator, now offers its customers wireless broadband in places where Internet access was previously unavailable. Locations include the British Library, the Royal Festival Hall and, more recently, all 85 railway stations owned by Great Western Trains.

Major developments in Wifi deployment have also enabled T-Mobile to roll out its hotspot service across Southern Trains’ London to Brighton service. Not all trains were Wifi-enabled at the time of writing, but a substantial number (identifiable by clear T-Mobile branding) allow Internet upload and download speeds of up to 32Mbits/sec.

Connecting to the Internet via another method (such as GPRS or, more recently, 3G), can be slow and unreliable, but the T-Mobile offering is a persistently high-speed service that stays active even when the train enters a tunnel.

Access for the entirety of the 55-minute London to Brighton journey costs £5, with no restrictions on the amount of data you can download.

A similar service is soon to launch on Virgin Trains through Orange although, at the time of writing, Wifi Internet access was only available in its first-class lounges. Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) offers Wifi access on trains with technology provided by Swedish company Icomera.

Whereas the Southern Trains service operates on Wifi only, GNER’s is an aggregated service that works across a range of IP infrastructures (Wifi, GPRS and 3G).

This has a couple of drawbacks; namely fluctuating network connection speeds (depending on which connection method is being used at any given time), and the need to have a wireless data card that supports both Wifi, GPRS and 3G.

However, it does allow a greater number of rail routes to have Internet access. Pricing varies between £2.95 for 30 minutes access and £9.95 for three hours, but if you happen to get stuck on a section of track that only has slow GPRS connectivity, its value starts to diminish.

Broadband Wifi in airports is becoming commonplace, with most UK terminals providing web access. Connexion By Boeing is taking this a step further by allowing users to get online while in flight.

Currently the service is available on Jal, Singapore Airlines and Ana Airlines between Tokyo, Singapore, London and Los Angeles, and on Lufthansa from Munich and Frankfurt to several destinations worldwide.

Two pricing options are available. Unlimited use for the entire length of your trip starts from $14.95 (£8.19) for short-haul flights (up to three hours), $19.95 for medium-haul flights (three to six hours), and $29.95 for long-haul flights (over six hours).

There is also a metered service with an initial charge of $7.95 or $9.95 for short or medium-haul flights respectively, with a subsequent charge of 25 cents a minute.

While planes and trains are getting in on the act of wireless Internet access, the humble automobile also looks set to benefit. T-Mobile and BT Openzone have begun to offer wireless Internet access in petrol station forecourts across the UK.

These services are aimed primarily at ‘road warrior’ business users who are on the road more frequently than in an office. This type of user may have alternative methods of getting online or checking emails (such as a Blackberry handset), but access to wireless broadband after filling your petrol tank en route to a meeting is very appealing.

What makes these hotspots most attractive is their speed – large files such as Powerpoint presentations can be transferred in a very short amount of time.

Some rather unexpected locations are now introducing wireless network access. For example, Tottenham Hotspur football club recently became the first Premiership team to offer broadband Wifi to its fans and staff.

The entire ground, including the terraces, conference area and pitch, has Wifi coverage, with the idea being that fans can get online via their notebooks or PDAs to check the scores of games happening elsewhere.

Tottenham Hotspur currently charges £1.50 for 30 minutes of access time or £10 for 24 hours – although we doubt even the most ardent Spurs fan would want to hang around for a full day after any game.

A full month of access can be bought for £50. Given that the stadium typically only hosts two or three home games per month, this payment option seems unlikely to catch on.

Most major cities within the UK are teeming with Wifi hotspots, but awareness of Wifi is far lower in smaller towns. Many organisations are working to redress this balance.

Rockdirect, better known for its high-end notebook PCs, is offering unrestricted Wifi Internet access in various locations across Leamington Spa, completely free of charge.

Wifi Internet access is also cropping up in remote locations where fixed-line broadband has failed to materialise. Locust World is a small UK start-up using mesh networking to help small ISPs take on traditional telcos.

Mesh technology allows a single high-capacity Internet connection (via satellite, fixed-line, and so on) to be wirelessly shared over a large area via multiple mesh boxes.

The technology is being used by various WISPs to provide rural areas with broadband access in situations where a village is too far away from a broadband exchange.

Aperture Wireless Broadband now offers coverage to the town of Dundrum, Northern Ireland, an area that is devoid of fixed-line broadband access. To find out more about wireless Internet coverage in remote areas using mesh technology, visit http://www.locustworld.com/.

Do it yourself
It’s not just large ISPs that can create Wifi hotspots. Thanks to the low cost of wireless networking equipment, the technology is now well within the reach of the average consumer. Below are two easy methods of creating your own wireless network, and sharing files, devices or a high-speed Internet connection between several PCs.

Ad-hoc or peer-to-peer systems are the simplest form of wireless network. These allow two or more PCs to communicate without any centralised control. Setting up an ad-hoc network is fairly simple.

The only hardware requirement is for each PC to have a wireless network card that uses the same protocol, such as 802.11b/g.

Most modern notebooks come preinstalled with this type of network adapter but, if not, they can easily be upgraded using a PC Card or USB dongle such as Netgear’s MA111 802.11b.

This type of network is ideal for basic users, but large ad-hoc networks can become difficult to manage, and (in cases where the network consists of only two clients) they will cease to exist if one client is switched off.

But be aware that connection speeds for most ad-hoc networks is only 11Mbits/sec, even if you are using 802.11g technology.

Infrastructure networks have the same hardware requirements as an ad-hoc setup (each PC must have a compatible 802.11b/g wireless card) but, rather than access each other directly, individual clients must communicate via a wireless access point.

Access points generally distribute a unique IP address for each device on the network via a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, and ensure that your network exists regardless of whether any clients are connected.

The best method of creating a wireless hotspot is to use an infrastructure network, as they do not require any particular PC to be permanently switched on and they allow for greater security for devices that want to connect.

Another major benefit is that access points can act as a bridge to extend the range of your wireless network, should you want to create a larger hotspot.

The attraction of creating an infrastructure wireless network in your home goes beyond simply having Internet access in every room. Ofcom, the regulator for the UK’s communications sector, has recently made it legal to share your broadband Internet connection with other users, such as a friend or neighbour.

An 802.11g infrastructure network typically has a range of up to 100m, so users could resell their Internet connection to neighbours, provided they don’t violate the terms and conditions of their broadband contract (BT Business Broadband has an open policy).

Anyone going down this route should, of course, use some form of network security such as Wireless Equivalency Protocol (Wep) or Wifi Protected Access (WPA), where users require a password in order to connect.

You’ll also have to consider the implications of someone using your broadband line for illegal activities, as you could be liable, but it is an option if you want to share the cost of your broadband connection.

While Infrastructure networks based on 802.11b/g technology are ideal for creating wireless access around the home, computer users now have the option of creating a wireless network with one of numerous so-called ‘Hotspot-in-a-box’ products.

The Cloud operates such a service, which allows small businesses to create their own wireless hotspot using one of 20 wireless service providers.

The package (available from http://www.dabs.com/uk) consists of a wireless router and all the software you’ll need to configure your hotspot. Once registered for the service, patrons visiting your business will be able to start using your hotspot via a variety of WISPs. The Cloud pays Hotspot-in-a-box sites 40 per cent of all revenue earned on a quarterly basis.