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Wi-Fi Basics: Getting Connected

Once you try Wi-Fi, we guarantee you'll be hooked on the freedom and mobility !hereare more than "#$,$$$ worldwide %ublic hots%ots, and that doesn't e&en count home andoffice Wi-Fi nets, which are e&en more numerous, or the burgeoning munici%al Wi-Fi

mo&ement, which seeks to co&er entire cities with Wi-Fi clouds Wi-Fi truly bringsbroadband nternet access to the masses -- much of it free of charge (nd with this guide,you'll learn how to get connected, find a nearby hots%ot, and work securely once you'rethere

What )ou'll *eed

!he first thing you'll need to do is make sure you ha&e an a%%ro%riate la%to% and Wi-Fiada%ter (lmost e&ery new la%to% sold in recent years comes with Wi-Fi built-in,Windows and +acs alike f you ha&e one of these machines, you can ski% on to the netsection On Windows la%to%s, look for a Centrino logo on the case a Wi-Fi chi%set from

ntel., or a reference to Wi-Fi /$#""b or g in your la%to% s%ecifications )ou can alsocheck to see if you ha&e built-in Wi-Fi by o%ening the*etworkConnections Control0anel, and looking for a 1Wireless *etwork Connection1 under the 2(* or 3igh-4%eednternet heading !he Control 0anel will tell you the name of your ada%ter such as ntel05O6Wireless., and whether the ada%ter is %resently enabled or disabled f it's disabled,double click on it to enable it

On +ac la%to%s, check for an (ir0ort heading on the *etwork 0references %anel, or the(ir0ort icon four rays. toward the right of the menu bar +ake sure (ir0ort is 1turnedon1 from this menu f you see (ir0ort in *etworks, but not in the menu bar, clickConfigure in *etworks, and then check the bo to show (ir0ort in the menu bar

f you don't already ha&e a Wi-Fi card, or if the one you ha&e doesn't gi&e you ade7uaterange to connect at the hots%ots you %refer, check out our +obile Warrior's Guide, whichhas the scoo% on the latest wireless la%to%s and ada%ter cards

+aking the Wi-Fi Connection

*ow that you'&e got a Wi-Fi-e7ui%%ed la%to%at the ready, it's time to &enture out to yournearest hots%ot We recommend going to a %lace like 4tarbucks or +c8onald's for yourfirst try9 they are e&erywhere, and connecting is easy

When you get there, find a nice table near a %ower outlet if you need one, and as close tothe back as %ossible !hese ty%es of hots%ots usually ha&e their Wi-Fi access %oints%ositioned at the rear of the store in an office or other em%loyee area, and the farther youmo&e to the door or out to the %atio., the weaker the signal *ow o%en your la%to% andturn it on n Windows 0 unless you are using a third-%arty ada%ter card, in which casefollow their directions., there will be a system tray icon that looks like a little com%uterwith three wa&es coming out of it 5ight click on this, and choose 1;iew (&ailableWireless *etworks1 !his will bring u% a list of Wi-Fi access %oints in the area, which

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may be sur%risingly long< 2ook for the 448 access %oint name. that corres%onds to thehots%ot %ro&ider at that location For eam%le, at 4tarbucks, !-+obile 3ots%ot is the%ro&ider, and the 448 is 1tmobile1 (t +c8onald's, most, but not all, =4 Wi-Filocations are run by Way%ort, and ha&e the 448 1Way%ort>(ccess1 =sually, there willbe a sign on the door or window of a hots%ot with %ro&ider information that will hel% you

choose the right 448 (nother hint that you are choosing the right 448 will be that it islisted as 1unsecured,1 as in the illustration below 0ublic hots%ots are generallyunsecured, so that no encry%tion key is needed to connect to them

(fter you'&e selected the hots%ot 448, click the Connect button, and the word1Connected1 should a%%ear net to the 448 in the abo&e window Close this window)ou can check your connection at any time by double-clicking on the system tray icon,which brings u% the Wireless*etwork Connection4tatus bo 3ere you'll see signalstrength, through%ut rate, the network 448 you are connected to, and so on On the +ac,all this is much easier, ?ust select the 448 from the (ir0ort menu and that's all there istoo it

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Congratulations< )ou'&e made a successful Wi-Fi connection to the hots%ot But there'sone more thing you need to do to seal the deal )ou need to o%en a new nternet browserwindow, ideally using @%lorer on Windows or 4afari on +ac since they are the most

widely com%atible )ou can always switch to your %referred browser later. !his windowwill then bring u% any login screen that might be needed to connect at the hots%ot For%aid hots%ots, you'll need to enter your subscri%tion information or a credit card, but e&enfree hots%ots often ask you to click a button to agree to their usage terms Once you'&elogged in, you are done< )ou can now surf, use email and + %rograms, chat on 4ky%e orother ;o0 ser&ices, watch streaming &ideo, and download to your heart's content

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Troubleshooting Tips: What if you'&e o%ened a new browser window and still don't seea login screenA !ry ty%ing a known web site address into your address bar, such aswwwgooglecom, which will usually force the hots%ot's login screen to load f thehots%ot network has a lot of users, you may ha&e to do this se&eral times before the loginscreen will a%%ear. (lso it's a good idea before you set out to be sure your system isu%dated with the latest 4er&ice 0acks and 4oftware =%dates 40# handles Wi-Fi muchbetter than 40". )ou may also need to sim%ly get closer to the access %oint your signalmay be too weak to connect.

Finding and 4ecuring 3ots%ot Connections

*ow that you'&e seen how easy it is to connect at hots%ots, it's time to take the net ste%,and learn how to locate hots%ots when you tra&el, as well as kee% your connection secure5ead on to find out how

Finding Wi-Fi3ots%ots

+aking it easy to find and connect to Wi-Fi hots%ots all o&er the world is what iWire isall about, so naturally we ha&e lots of ad&ice for you on this to%ic< iWire's massi&e

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directoryof more than "#$,$$$ distinct hots%ots in "#/ countries includes most Wi-Fi%ro&ider networks, such as Boingo, !-+obile, Way%ort, i0ass and many more, as well asinde%endent sites, air%orts and munici%al hots%ots @&en better, nearly "$,$$$ of thosehots%ots are com%letely free of charge -- ?ust check the 1free1 button in the search bo tolimit your results

While the online directoryalways stands ready to ser&e you, when you are on the roadand need to find the nearest hots%ot, that %resents a chicken-and-egg dilemma -- you can'tget online to find a hots%ot, without B@*G at a hots%ot 4o we'&e also created an offlinesearch solution, called Wi-Fi 3ots%ot FinderWi-Fi 3ots%ot Finderfor Windows installsas %art of the iWire 3ots%ot 3el%er utility suite more on that on the net %age., andmaintains a databaseof hots%ots in areas you s%ecify )ou can choose any combination oflocations to kee% track of: e&erything in a %articular city, a state, or an entire country )oucan download the whole world, if you want !he database will e&en u%date itself%eriodically, so you always ha&e an u%-to-date list of %ublic hots%ots

Wi-Fi 3ots%ot Finder%resently runs on Windows 0 and #$$$ ( +ac O4 &ersion ofiWire 3ots%ot 3el%er, including Wi-Fi 3ots%ot Finder, is %lanned for later this year Wealso ha&e &ersions of the directory for handhelds and smart%hones, and a &ery cool3ots%ot Finder for 4ky%ethat includes interacti&e ma%%ing 4ee the downloads %ageformore information

=sing Wi-Fi 3ots%ot Finder

(fter installing iWire 3ots%ot 3el%eryou'll see shortcuts to Wi-Fi 3ots%ot Finder onyour deskto% and 0rogram menu, sim%ly select one of those to o%en the utility )ou'll thenbe %resented with a search screen )ou can enter as much or as little information as you

like: an eact address, a i% code, a city or a state, de%ending on what you are looking for)ou can also narrow your search by radius, ser&ice %ro&ider (!D!, Boingo, !-+obile,etc. business name such as 4tarbucks or +c8onald's., and whether the location is freeor %aid

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(fter clicking 1Find 3ots%ots,1 you'll be %resented with the search results in a scrollingwindow, nearest first )ou can see clearly which locations are free, and what %ro&idersser&ice each hots%ot, so you can make best use of any Wi-Fi subscri%tions f you ha%%en

to be online when using the Wi-Fi 3ots%ot Finder, you can also click 1+a% !his1 or1+ore nfo1 buttons to go to the iWirecom site and get com%lete details for anyhots%ots, such as 448s, a street ma%, and whether food is a&ailable

!o maintain your hots%ot directory and select which geogra%hic areas you want to ha&e

a&ailable for offline &iewing, click the 0references button at the bottom of the window!his screen lets you set the u%date fre7uency, and choose any combination of country,state6territory and6or city hots%ot data to download (fter making your selections, click4a&e 0references and =%date *ow From then on, u%dates will be automatic, althoughyou can also add or delete locations and u%date manually at any time 8atabase u%datestake %lace in the background, and you can kee% working and e&en search for hots%otswhile an u%date is in %rogress

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!he Wi-Fi 3ots%ot Finder can also be launched by left-clicking the iWire icon in theWindows 4ystem!ray and choosing it from the menu Finally, if you'&e installed theiWire !oolbarfor nternet @%lorer or Firefo see net %age., you can search forhots%ots right from the toolbar