The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | WIFI on the Road Update Part II

Back to stuff I know about. I wrote a post about WIFI on the road in Nov ‘04 and not much has changed. TA is still so-so, Flying J’s are the best.

Two months ago I had to get a new laptop.  The power socket was loose and flaking out. I nursed it enough to do a backup and made a mad dash to the store and bought another HP. This laptop has a built-in WIFI card / antenna. The built in antenna seems to have a much better range than using the card that fits in the PC slot.

I was never one to go driving around neighborhoods looking for somebody’s unprotected network. But I have noticed, when I’m sitting in an industrial park, a lot of business networks are running completely unsecured. Even I was able to figure out how to secure my parents’ wifi and Cindy’s sister’s network, so I know some "IT Pro" can figure it out. I’m not there to steal company secrets or cruise other people’s hard drives, just use a little bandwidth for a few minutes.

One company I was connected to had a T1 connect both ways. That was sweet! We live in an apartment complex and you should see the unsecured networks.  I know, "technically" it’s stealing. We’re only home a couple of days out of a month and I don’t want to pay for broadband when I’m not even home to use it. And a couple of days a month, no one in the neighborhood is going to notice. It’s not like I’m spying on them, just borrowing a little bandwidth and taking advantage of the uninformed.

Take right now for instance, I’m connected to the Days Inn WIFI from the Wal-Mart parking lot about 1/4 mile away. A lot of motels are switching to free wifi and parking close by will get an excellant connection.

There’s so many hotspots and free hotspots around, it’s possible to get a connection when not in a truckstop if you don’t have an air card of some kind. I still renewed my Flying J subscription because it’s always a great connection and always working unlike others.