You can stay connected safely on the road.By James A. Martin It's summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it's time to travel. When you're traveling or just getting out of the office, public Wi-Fi hotspots give you a way to stay connected. Now, more than 100,000 public hotspots span the globe, an 87% increase in two years, according to hotspot directory JiWire. The top five cities worldwide in terms of the number of hotspots offered are:
Here are three tips for using wireless hotspots: 1. Find them online. Before you leave, research hotspot locations using directories such as JiWire and WiFinder, suggests Oisín MacAlasdair, coauthor of The Business Case for Enterprise-Class Wireless LANs (Cisco Press, 2006). Based on available services as of January 2006, JiWire identifies the top three types of businesses most likely to offer wireless hotspots:
2. Don't connect automatically. Windows laptops are often configured to connect automatically to wireless networks. But this can expose you to hackers, who create Wi-Fi networks that look legitimate but are designed to steal your personal information, warns David Blumenfeld, vice president of marketing for JiWire. 3. Enhance your security. Make sure your antivirus, antispyware, and firewall applications are active and updated before connecting, MacAlasdair suggests, adding that a virtual private network connection provides the best security on wireless connections. iQ Magazine, Second Quarter 2006 |
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