Public WiFi access - NOT for FREE

I had HOPED that I could use my new WiFi Sandisk 802.11b wireless card for wireless access while visiting the Hartsfield and George Bush International Airports. Guess what folks.... NO access. The night before I got on the plane I searched WiFi hot spots specifically for Hartsfield and there were four terminals that were advertised to have Wireless access for travelers. The Laptop Zone was the only place in terminal B that had Internet access. You had to pay 65 cents per minute to use their private cubicles with high speed Internet access. The employees told me that while the airport might have advertised WiFi hot spots that they did not have them turned on. Not only that but I discovered something even more irritating during my visit to the airports. Once upon a time pay phones used to have data terminals which enabled you to plug in your laptop and use an analog modem to dial up AOL or whatever DUN account you have to check e-mail and surf the web. In an effort to gouge the consumer for even MORE cash and to make it IMPOSSIBLE to gain access to the Internet the Airport management has had those taken out as well. No more analog data ports on pay phones. Isn't that special?? NOT.....

Then there is the issue of security. According to marketing experts that follow technology sales WiFi sales has really exploded in the last 3 to 4 years. Hardware manufacturers are mass producing Wireless Access points for home users that they can use by simply taking it out of the box, turning it on and making very few changes on the home computer and be communicating via wireless. The problem with that is that the hardware is defaulted to NO security out of the box. The end user is supposed to figure out HOW to implement the security themselves. I remember how hard it was for me to get my laptop on wireless access at the coffee shop in Mount Pleasant not too long ago. I have 15 years of experience with installing network access points, servers etc. It took me 30 minutes to gain access to the wireless network. I wonder how long it would have taken your typical end user? Would they have fought with the wireless connection with the same tenacity as I or would they have just given up after 10 minutes?

Wireless access is maturing and the hardware manufacturers have figured out how to churn out wireless access devices and the wireless network cards but no one has come up with a technology solution that will make it easy for a typical end user to log on to the wireless network (less than 20 minutes of fighting with configuration settings) and to have a basic set of security protocols in place that will allow paying customers access and other folks (war drivers or hackers) would be kept out. Until they come up with a seamless and easy solution public WiFi access will only be achieved by those folks that are in the know and are willing to fight with the settings.

When I was at the George Bush Intl airport in Houston on my way back I noticed two kiosks that were set up at our gate that allowed you to sit down and get access via the High Speed terminal for .25 cents per minute. The Kiosk that I looked had a folding keyboard that folded down with a touch pad for the mouse. The video monitor that was in the kiosk was at an angle and partially hidden from view from the user which really stank. I guess .25 cents per minute is better than .65 any day of the week. So, lets see if you are there for 30 minutes you would owe 7.50 to check your email and surf the web. I do not know about you but that is absolutely and incredibly ridiculous. I wonder how much money the airports are really making on these kiosks? Most of the people that I saw with laptops running were not getting near those cash cows. I would also imagine that the people paying .65 cents per minute in laptop zone were probably business people that had expense accounts that would allow them to recoup that expense too.

So, now I have a wireless card for my Pocket PC and my laptop. The only way I am going to be able to use it is for me to go wireless here at home which would include another 50.00 expense for a wireless router/switch/firewall. Maybe some day I will be able to afford that. The IT coordinator at Goodwill told me that he has a wireless switch that is thinking about enabling so I might be able to use wireless at work soon. We shall see....