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To most people, Wi-Fi is something of a miracle. Within 150 feet of some hidden base station, your laptop, tablet or phone can get online at cable-modem speeds—wirelessly.
But Wi-Fi is also something of a mystery. So many readers ask me about Wi-Fi that I’ve hunted down the answers, once and for all, from the nation’s most expert experts.
Often my laptop detects a four-bar Wi-Fi hot spot, but I can’t get online. What gives?
In the mid-1990s Alex Hills built a huge wireless network at Carnegie Mellon University that became the prototype for modern Wi-Fi networks—a story he tells in his book Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio. I figured that he would be perfect for this one. His explanation:
“Two issues might cause this. First, radio problems. The bars are an indication of how strong the Wi-Fi signal is, but they don’t tell you anything about interference or other radio problems that can corrupt a strong signal.
“Second, most Wi-Fi systems connect to wired networks that connect you to the Internet. But there may be problems in these wired networks: problems with link speeds, switches, routers, servers, and the like. You have a good Internet connection only when all of the links in the chain are doing their jobs.”
Why do expensive hotels charge for Wi-Fi but inexpensive hotels don’t?
Don Millman’s company, Point of Presence Technologies, runs the Wi-Fi for 150 hotels. His answer:
“Expense accounts: higher-end hotels attract business travelers who expense their stays, so the fee matters less to them.”
We’re frequently warned about the hazards of using free open hot spots, like the ones at coffee shops. What, exactly, is the risk?
Glenn Fleishman has covered networking for more than a decade (currently on the Economist’s Babbage blog):
“A bad guy across the room might be running free software that sniffs every bit passing over the wireless network and grabs passwords, credit card numbers, and the like.
“You don’t have to worry about banking and e-commerce Web sites; they’re protected by secure, encrypted connections.
“But without encrypting your e-mail and regular Web sessions, you never know if someone sitting within ‘earshot’ is slurping down your data for the purposes of identity theft or draining a bank account. My tip: always use a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which blocks anyone on the local network from seeing anything but scrambled data.”
What’s up with the “Free Public Wi-Fi” hot spot that sometimes shows up at hotels and airports—even on planes—but that rarely yields any actual connection?
I’ll field this one: Don’t bother trying to connect to “Free Public Wi-Fi” (or “hpsetup” or “linksys”). It’s never a working Wi-Fi hot spot. It’s actually a viral “feature” of Windows XP running amok.
Whenever Windows XP connects to Wi-Fi, it also broadcasts that hot spot’s name to other computers as an “ad hoc” (PC-to-PC) network so that they can enjoy the connection, too. Someone, somewhere, once created a real hot spot called Free Public Wi-Fi, probably as a prank. Ever since, that name has been broadcast wirelessly from one Windows computer to another. (Macs see the phony hot spot, too, but don’t rebroadcast it.)
In public places, people try and fail to connect—but now their PCs start rebroadcasting this ad hoc network’s name, too, and on and on it goes. Best bet: don’t connect.
This article was published in print as "The Trouble with Wi-Fi."
This article was originally published with the title The Trouble with Wi-Fi.
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8 Comments
Add CommentThe answer about expensive hotels charging for Wi-Fi is more complicated than indicated in the May 2012 TechnoFiles response. "...Higher-end hotels attract business travelers who expense their stays..." is not incorrect, but most luxury and upper upscale resorts serve more leisure travelers, but also charge for Wi-Fi access. Even urban luxury and upper upscale U.S. hotels average 40 percent non-business travelers. Most luxury and upper upscale hotels are operated by brand management companies based on management agreements that almost always include a base management fee based on a percentage of total revenue. Most select and limited service hotels are franchised and fees are almost always based on a percentage of only room revenue. There is an incentive for brand management companies to maximize revenue, for example by charging for Wi-Fi, and thereby maximize base management fees. There is an incentive for franchise organizations to encourage higher room rates, for example by including Wi-Fi in the room rate, to maximize room revenue. But the most correct and simple answer is that guests in more expensive hotels are more willing to accept charges for Wi-Fi than guests in less expensive hotels, so hotel executives add charges when they can to maximize revenue. An interesting reason to charge separately for Wi-Fi is that if the amount were included in the room rate, occupancy taxes charged in many cities would be based on the higher room rate, and thereby be more costly for guests.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBjorn Hanson, Ph.D.
Dean, Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management
New York University
A lot of 'free' WI-Fi hot spots were created with government grant money. The operators took the cash, operated the hot spots for a short time then failed to maintain them. One company here in Hawaii used the government bought equipment to start their own fee based company. They mysteriously bailed town when the gettin' was right.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat said, I have been using a private WiFi service now for 8 years and it has gotten better every year. It's all up to the management. Fiber optic trunk lines operated by AT&T are the biggest problem. Every time a car hits a phone pole here the WI-FI is out for another 6 hours.
Actually I didn't see any see serious problems mentioned. Folks have many times the problems with their cell phones.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWifi is of course the solution to a dirt cheap communication system solving spectrum issues forever and putting the phone company out of business.
Only the Big Telcom's regular payoff's to regulators and politicians , are holding back this changes needed to made to resurrect the North American telecom structure now approaching third world status with speed,quality and cost - changes that will never appear if mobile carriers can help it.
What will make an impact is when cable companies shut out of spectrum auctions and too late into the mobile game will ,as Western Canada's Shaw Cable has announced, put wifi access points soon capable of over 1 GBs, everywhere you see a cable amp. The cost is tiny compared to a conventional wireless system
The only time you'll need to use worthless spectrum wasting offerings from the phone company will be in rural areas.
Public power utilities of course could offer 1 GB/s wired/wireless access for pennies if they allowed broadband signals to be piggybacked on the fiber optic plant they are running into every neighborhood in the country for smart meter programs. Unfortunately the politicians that control them are paid off with campaign donations and such by the same Big Telecom interests.
I think the first question might need one more answer. The person with the 4 bar Wi-Fi signal may have been trying to access a password protected router.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany libraries offer free Wi-Fi to those with a library card. Some cities used to have free Wi-Fi, but that seems to have fallen out of favor.
Another issue with the bars vs access issue is that the access point may have reached its maximum configured # of connections.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe adhoc wifi is not supported in an increasingly large number of new devices, they either do not support it (Kindle reader) or support only after being rooted (android devices). Why is that? Is it considered insecure? or is a different hardware required?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe adhoc wifi is not supported in an increasingly large number of new devices, they either do not support it (Kindle reader) or support only after being rooted (android devices). Why is that? Is it considered insecure? or is a different hardware required?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSolving spectrum issues "forever?" That's like people claiming that more drilling will solve energy issues forever. The spectrum is already clogged. Like air fares, "dirt cheap" drags down quality. We need realistic rates that allow sustainability and limit uses to serious ones. A brutal tax on advertising would help clear a lot of the chaff off the air.
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