USB Wireless Adaptor
Low Cost Omni Directional Antenna
Directional Antenna
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Wireless
Internet in the UK
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Consumer demand
for wireless Internet access in the UK has
grown rapidly over the last year as more and
more people, from all walks of life, have
bought laptops and other devices that can
connect to broadband through a wireless
network. Currently there are only two ways
of accessing the Internet wirelessly, either
through your mobile phone or via a wireless
router which is in turn connected to a wired
broadband supply.
Mobile phone access has become faster, more
competitive, and is certainly useful where
there is no other supply, but cannot yet
match the speeds demanded by most users and
applications. Many people now have wireless
routers at home and are experienced in the
process of "Connecting to a Wireless
Network" which makes this option extremely
viable when they are on the move. Wireless
Hotspots are simply wireless routers that
provide shared Internet access on the move
in the same way as the hardware that comes
with your domestic broadband supply. |
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Where are the
Wireless Hotspots? |
This is really
the main issue for many people. There are
literally thousands of wireless hotpots in
the UK but they never seem to be there when
you want one. Hotspots operate on the same
2.4GHz public unlicensed radio frequency as
your domestic wireless router and because of
this are relatively low powered and short
range when compared with a mobile phone
transmitter. Professional hotspot companies
have ways of
boosting the signal and staying within the
law but you are still only looking at a
range of 500 metres or so, with no
obstructions, for a usable signal.
Hotspot operators have traditionally gone
after markets like coffee shops, hotels,
airports and motorway services believing
that the business market was the best
target. If you happen to be walking around
Central London with your laptop this is good
news but staying on a rural caravan site or
sitting in your car, caravan or motorhome at
a transport cafe it's not a lot of help.
1stHotspot is one of the companies
approaching these new potential sites as a
priority but there are still less than 10%
of caravan sites offering Internet access of
any type and very few truck stops. |
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What types of
Hotspot are there? |
Many hotspots
are uncontrolled wireless networks provided
by the site owner using the same hardware as
you have at home. These normally only have a
range of 50 metres or so, and you will be
sharing the network with other people, but
if you're lucky enough to find one it's a
great way of getting free Internet access.
They're are obvious security implications
but these are mainly for the site owner
rather than for you as the user. As long as
you are running a firewall and any sensitive
activity, like banking for example, is
carried out over a secure Internet
connection, you will significantly reduce
any risk.
You will probably have to pay for a
professional hotspot. This is not always the
case, some companies choose to provide
controlled access free of charge, but a
professional hotspot will normally provide
you with a logon screen when you start up
your browser with either a payment option or
some terms and conditions to acknowledge.
The range and quality of the connection,
especially at outdoor locations, tends to be
better although you should still take all
the normal security precautions. |
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Why do I
get a problem with WI-FI reception? |
WI-FI signals
are broadcast on 11 standard frequencies in
the 2.4GHz range. In the UK there are
actually 13 but professional hotspots only
use the first 11 for compatibility with
American equipment. This is a high frequency
signal similar to your mobile phone and you
may have noticed that the reception on a
mobile is not always as good indoors as it
is outside. Because WI-FI is on a public
unlicensed frequency the transmitter has to
be relatively low powered and this makes the
problem even worse especially inside
buildings or metal structures such as Mobile
Homes, Narrowboats and Trucks.
The best way to overcome this is to have
unobstructed line of sight between the
transmitting antenna and the receiving
computer or device. Unfortunately it's not
always practical in the British weather to
sit outdoors with your laptop so one of the
simplest ways to achieve a better signal is
to fix a USB wireless adaptor to the inside
of a window facing the transmitter.
You can get significantly more improvement
by connecting the wireless adaptor to an
external antenna. If you're not sure which
direction a WI-FI signal is coming from, or
you want a low cost solution that can be
connected as required, then a magnetic omni
directional antenna would be the best bet.
directional antennas will give a stronger
signal reception but like your TV aerial
need to be fixed to a pole and must point in
the general direction of the transmitter.
They cost a little more but are highly
effective when you have a permanent stand or
mooring. |
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Email on
the move |
Most people nowadays use webmail facilities,
like Hotmail, especially when they are away
from home. If this is the case there is no
nead to read the following section as your
email will work normally at any hotspot. If
however you use Microsoft Outlook, Outlook
Express or any other computer based email
client like Mozilla Thunderbird you may
experience difficulties sending email when
you are away and the following will be of
interest.
When you use one of these programs to "Send
and Receive", your email is received from a
POP3 server and sent using an SMTP server.
Your POP3 server will work anywhere on any
Internet connection but your SMTP server may
well be restricted by your own ISP and just
as important there may be a restriction on
the broadband supply you are using that
stops you using your own SMTP server on that
particular connection. For the technically
minded this is known as "Blocking Port 25".
This is all part of a campaign by the major
ISP's to reduce spam and unfortunately there
is nothing you can do about it at a public
hotspot if your SMTP server doesn't work.
Most email accounts provide webmail, browser
based, email facilities nowadays. The best
solution is to set this up before you leave
home and use it for sending emails while you
are away. If your ISP doesn't provide
webmail you could use a separate email
address with, for example, Hotmail while
you're travelling. |
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Who are
1stHotspot? |
1stHotspot specialise in the supply of easy
to install and operate, low cost wireless
systems for the resale of broadband Internet
connections. Their hotspots can be either
internal, for example covering the area
inside and near to a Coffee shop or Cafe, or
they can be wide area outdoor installations
for Narrowboat Marinas, Mobile Home Parks,
Caravan Sites and Truck Stops. The Site
Owner supplies the incoming broadband feed
and the customers. 1stHotspot provide the
onsite equipment, linked to their
authentication servers, so that each
customer is checked against a Username and
Password before they can access the
Internet.
1stHotspot also provides comprehensive advice, and low
cost solutions, to users wanting to improve
their wireless signal reception inside
Caravans, Narrowboats and Trucks. Click
here for more information |
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INTERNET ON SITE
