Mashable has published a list of useful tools for finding Wi-Fi, from hotspot directories to software you can download to your device to sniff out Wi-Fi networks. Mashable has published a list of useful tools for finding Wi-Fi, from hotspot directories to software you can download to your device to sniff out Wi-Fi networks.
Of course, once you find a network, hopefully you can access the Internet and your email. Andy Abramson writes about his unpleasant experience trying to get access to the Philadelphia network last week:
Any theories about why Andy couldn’t log on? I hope it isn’t something as clueless as allowing only Internet Explorer users on the network.
Andy’s problem most likely resulted from his wireless card not having enough transmit power to reach back to the outdoor AP he was associated to, and as a result, he found it easier to use the indoor venue’s wi-fi instead of feather. This is the fatal flaw in outdoor networks and the marketing of them. Proponents of these networks in most cases have no experience in building or running an outdoor network, and as such, oversell them and their capabilities. Rather than throwing a blanket over a metro area, the smart metro builder will create a matrix of outdoor, indoor public space, and indoor private venues, with both advertising and fee based models. They also need to add more than just wi-fi at the edge, and leverage the mounting assets they have to provide dedicated bandwidth connections to capture additional revenue.
If the problem is that the wireless card does not have sufficient power to transmit to the outdoor AP, then how does WiMAX solve this exact same problem? Doesn’t this mean that WiMAX base stations also have to be deployed close to the user and with enough density? I thought the point of WiMAX was to avoid the Wi-Fi problem. And since WiMAX networks are licensed at 2.5 GHz, aren’t we back to the same problem?
I’m in my second month using Earthlink/Feather Wi-Fi in Philadelphia. They supplied an external “municipal Wi-Fi” router for my desktop system. The signal is usually (~80% of the time) very strong (-65dBm +/-10); up and down throughput for large files is typically 60-110% of nominal. I like the strong WPA-Enterprise encryption. Firefox and MSIE work fine. But traceroute ping times are very much slower than cable internet, and VoIP is not recommended.
My Comcast cable service is much faster and more reliable. Downloads of large files are often at exactly 100% of nominal. VoIP works well.
In what looks like a quiet competitive response, Philadelphia-based Comcast raised its speeds ~10% just after Earthlink completed its proof-of-concept area testing and started the push to expand coverage city-wide. Comcast’s monthly charges -introductory and regular- are double Earthlink’s. As part of its arrangement with the non-profit Wireless Philadelphia oversight organization, some low-income Earthlink Wi-Fi users may subscribe for just a few dollars per month.