Recently over at ChurchIT, we have been having a bit of a discussion regarding WiFi networks, namely Open vs Secure.
I am personally someone who is very happy to have open WiFi networks, but for me, that is probably for a couple of reasons:
1) I travel a lot, and with the kind of work that I do I need to stay connected. Right now I am typing this blog post in a McDonalds a few hundred miles from my home.
2) I have never had a run-in with the police in regard to an open WiFi setup.
I don’t know how things are in the USA, but here in England, it is seriously difficult to find an open WiFi network that is easy to connect to. Even the major brands and stores who offer “Free WiFi” make it such a pain to connect.
Before I started writing this blog post, it took me around 30 mins to actually get past the initial splash screen where you have to sign in to connect, and even then, I was only able to connect on my iPad which isn’t ideal (have you ever tried blogging from an iPad?!).
I think in this day and age, there must be a better solution for making the internet more open and accessable all over the place. The ISP’s really need to come up with something that allows individuals to allow guests to have some kind of limited, yet open, access to their WiFi. Surely that is the way forward?
If not, then businesses need to step up and make their WiFi connections more open and easy to connect to. I don’t want to have to go through a lengthy 30 minute process to just do a few minutes worth of blogging. Seriously!
So, anyway, there is my semi-rant over with. What I would really like to know is what has been your best WiFi experience. Perhaps it was somewhere that you were surprised that you were able to get a connection, or perhaps you just found it amazingly easy to connect at a certain location which made you happy.
Let me know your story in the comments below:
Thomas says
Hi,
Interesting post, I had the same problem the other day in London when I was just finalizing an article about TTenner.com. I was about to go through the latest version of an article about my Fiverr Clone website and was about to connect inside a well known coffee shop, at which point I had to go through a very lengthy signin procedure. Indeed ISP’s should make it easier, or is maybe down to the actual WIFI provider? Obviously before you are really connected you see many branded logo’s!? Anyway my article about TTenner was published an hour later and two latte’s!
Thomas
Joanna says
The university I study at has several campuses across my city. I have classes at two of the campuses so commute between them using the inter-campus shuttle bus. I pulled out my iPod touch on the bus a few weeks ago and noticed it was connected to the campus wifi despite not being near ether campus. Turns out they have extended the secure university wireless network onto all the intercampus shuttle buses. I don’t have internet on my phone so it is fantastic to now be able to use the free on-board wifi to catch up on news and email on my iPod touch or laptop while I commute.
Blake says
Is there ever a need to be cautious of connecting to a free wifi provider? What security measures should I make sure I’ve enacted before connecting?
Eric J says
Personally any wifi hotspot that is unencrypted (doesn’t have a password) i don’t connect to as i can easily look at other peoples traffic and use automated tools to watch for credit cards, passwords, facebook/twitter logins, etc.