A growing number of hotel lobbies, restaurants, airport lounges, coffee shops and other businesses are all beginning to utilize the Wi-Fi (802.11) protocol to create a wireless LAN (hotspot) for customers to connect with and access the Web, e-mail, instant messaging, or any other Internet resources. This boon of public hotspots offers significant benefits for mobile business professionals properly equipped to access them.
You can be up and running at a public hotspot in two quick steps.
Step 1: Equip your computer for wireless LAN access
For a notebook, handheld, or tablet PC to communicate with a public hotspot it will need to support Wi-Fi. Many of today's business computers come fully equipped with integrated Wi-Fi, so they are ready to access a wireless hotspot as soon as you come within range of one.
If your notebook or handheld doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi support, you can quickly and easily install a Wi-Fi adapter. Adapter cards slip quickly and easily into the PC card slot on a notebook, Tablet PC, or handheld and give your computer wireless access just as if it were built in.
Step 2: Connect to a public hotspot
Public hotspots fall into one of two categories:
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Free hotspots anyone can access.
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Subscription hotspots that require you to sign up for an account before you can use them.
To get connected to a free hotspot, all you literally have to do is walk within range of the network. Your Wi-Fi card will connect with the hotspot network and you will have a live connection to the Internet.
For those hotspots that require a subscription, you must first sign up for a hotspot account before you can use the public hotspot to access the Web, your e-mail, or any other network resource. For instance, Starbucks offers public hotspots that require you to have a T-Mobile HotSpot account before you can use them.
T-Mobile offers a wide range of HotSpot accounts to meet any business need, from monthly unlimited plans that allow you to connect to any T-Mobile hotspot for any length of time each month, to pay-as-you-go and day pass options for the occasional hotspot user.
Once you have an account with the hotspot's subscription service, you will be able to access the hotspot as you would any other wireless network. Be sure to read the subscription service's instructions on how to configure your notebook or PDA properly to make connecting to public hotspots quick and easy.
Tips and advice
These tips and tricks can make connection to a public hotspot easier:
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Many subscription hotspots will give you a free trial so you can try their service before you buy it. For instance, if you don't have a T-Mobile HotSpot account and you try to access a Starbucks hotspot, you can sign up for a temporary account and test the service before you commit to it.
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Hotspot accounts work much like cell phone accounts, Internet access, or any other time-based subscription service. If you use more minutes than your subscription includes, the cost for additional minutes can be high. For the first few months that you use a subscription service, pay close attention to how much time you spend at public hotspots, and if you regularly pay for extra minutes, consider increasing your plan. You will save money in the long run.
Common questions
How secure is my data when I am using a public hotspot?
Public hotspots (free or subscription based) are by no means as secure as your company's internal wireless network. You should be sure you are logged into your company's virtual private network (VPN) before you access or send confidential documents over a public hotspot's network. Usually, the encryption offered by your company VPN will keep preying eyes from reading any bits of data they might snag out of thin air. If your company doesn't have a VPN and you use a Web-based e-mail system like Yahoo or Hotmail to access confidential data when you aren't in the office, you may inadvertently expose private information on a public hotspot because your e-mail won't be encrypted. Consider not checking e-mail from a hotspot or working with your company to create a VPN for secure access.
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