I just got my Axim, and was wondering where you Canadians are finding wireless access. I'm not aware of it in our Starbucks. I also don't have it at work. By the way, I'm in the Toronto area.
I'm just wondering if it's worthwhile getting the wi-fi card right now.
There are about a dozen places where you can get wireless access in Ottawa, not sure about TO. It is free in Ottawa right now which is great. I tried it on Thursday at a local cafe and it rocks. If I find anything I will post it.
My first take is that a wireless card is a greater benefit if you also have wireless on your host computer or at home/office. I went with a Linksys CF12 through Compusmart Online.
Just my 2 cents.
D
PS - If you are thinking about Write Shields, there is a place in BC that offers them now and I got them in a day. The shields rock!
as for hotspots, I'd also like to know (i'm in Toronto also). I actually remember coming across a map of toronto that showed all active hotspots but that was awhile ago and now I can't find it.
Sorry, but I have a stupid question: What is WEP enabled vs. WEP disabled? Do I have to be careful accessing any of these hotspots for fear of "stealing" access? At this present stage of my knowledge, I am afraid that I may be doing something illegal without knowing it!
Well, I should explain. That map was put together to show private wireless hotspots in the TO area. The ones that are WEP enabled mean they have some kind of wireless encryption going on to protect their network. Those without, are open to hacking and more so people getting free access. I did a little "war driving" today with the Axim and was surprised to still see people not using encryption to protect their wireless network.
The lesson is that if you ever set up a wireless network in your home or business make sure you use some level of encryption (the software comes with the wireless hardware). I use 64-bit for mine as I find 128 is a bit slow in acquiring a signal.
As for "actual" hotspots in TO, the only one I could find is in Union Station. I am sure there are many more.
Well, this old thread shows up on the first page of a google search for "wireless hotspot toronto map", so I figure it's worth posting.
I just got my wireless card going today, and tried some totally random locations in downtown Toronto. Three out of six times, I connected to someone's network. Maybe I was just lucky, but it seems like there's no shortage of access points if you look for them.
None of them were "official" public access spots, as far as I know.
Gigi: If you're not sure if you're doing something illegal, you're probably not in this case. If you're breaking into someone's encrypted network with Airsnort or something, then yes, that would be wrong, and probably illegal.
Many people (like me, as of now!) leave their wireless APs open on purpose. All for the public good, you know. Just don't be impolite and hog all the bandwidth.
So far, the private "unofficial" hostpots seem by my informal survey to vastly outnumber the for-pay spots. For me, the lesson is the exact opposite of what dialdn concluded. I'm making sure my network is open to passers-by, now that I know how nice it is to get access this way.
Thanks sfenders for this update. About the fact that you keep your wireless AP open, doesn't this pose any security risk to you? And wouldn't it affect your down/upload limit from your ISP if other users were to do a lot of transfers?
Yeah, i've left my AP WEP disabled, hence it's open. However, I limited it to 2mbit data rate, so that I can limit the amount that's 'consumed', since I have a 3mbit dsl connection.
Gigi, for me it is not much of a security risk. All it does is let people into my network without going through my internet gateway machine. But my internet gateway is just a normal windows box, and everything else on the network is at least as secure as it is. So I don't lose any real security.
Besides, if someone was malicious, they could probably crack WEP pretty easily anyway -- or so I assume from the Airsnort web page.
Yes, people taking up too much bandwidth on my open AP worries me a little. Hasn't happened so far, and I'm hopeful that it won't. I think anyone using it will not want to give me an incentive to shut it down.
If I normally came close to my transfer limit (which is pretty high), then I probably wouldn't leave it open. There are ways to set things so that unknown users can't use more than a little, but it wouldn't be particularly easy to do.
We have wireless at work, but it appear to be an ardous method to gain access, and I am leary of getting a card and then not being able to access the wireless network here.
We are using a particular brand of cards (I can't recall which right now), and the registration process through our company web page requires the card to be activated (which includes entering two numbers from the card itself - serial and something else). The card is activated (presumably in the company DB) and then I can install the company version of the card drivers and gain access.
Hmmm...all this talk about wireless is making me reconsider getting a wireless card for my Ax. But I also need to get a wireless router too right? Is the hook-up difficult or expensive?
Also, how good is surfing the Internet using a wireless connection? I find that when I try to access the Internet while my Ax is docked, pages load very slowly, and I am currently using DSL! I'm concerned that wireless access will be worse than dial-up.
Sorry if these questions are too basic, but this wireless stuff is all very new for me.
Originally posted by Gigi Hmmm...all this talk about wireless is making me reconsider getting a wireless card for my Ax. But I also need to get a wireless router too right? Is the hook-up difficult or expensive?
Also, how good is surfing the Internet using a wireless connection? I find that when I try to access the Internet while my Ax is docked, pages load very slowly, and I am currently using DSL! I'm concerned that wireless access will be worse than dial-up.
Sorry if these questions are too basic, but this wireless stuff is all very new for me.
Thanks,
Gigi
I dont' has of yet use wifi on my ax or on any of my computers at home. However, from what I've read, wireless transfer is much faster than the USB activesync connection. As for how fast web browsing would be I'm sure someone else can answer but I'd assume your axim would be the bottleneck. For example I use avantgo to download webpages in the morning and alot of the pages are a little laggy in loading, which of course is limited by the ax's speed since it's all local content. Considering that wifi gives you around 10mbit/sec I'd say the same thing would happen.
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