Wireless Networks: A Laughing Matter?

From the parking lot beside the office building where my son is at an appointment, the Word document I need passes right through the windshield of my Highlander and appears on my notebook computer as an attachment to an email I have just downloaded from the Internet. My notebook, new, sleek, weighing in at only 4.1 pounds and beaming at me with gorgeous screen, runs Windows XP Pro and boasts a built-in, practically instant wireless network device.

Over the holidays, my senior programmer took this hot little number home with him to New Hampshire so that his extended stay could include some work and found himself in his fiancee’s parents’ home, but without an Internet connection (they’d just ordered cable). So, out of curiosity, he clicked on the Wireless icon in the start menu and, voila, he was online! The network connection came from an unidentified next door neighbor – in one direction or another – running a wi-fi home computer network with no security.

After the holidays we laughed together as he told this story, so on a whim, from this parking lot in Tucson, I ask my notebook if there’s a wireless network available. The answer is yes, I connect, and in seconds my email downloads, including the aforementioned Word document.

Not long ago a gray-haired engineer I know told me, “I don’t know why wireless Internet connections threw me at first – when I was in the Air Force we didn’t have a wire running out the tail of the plane back to the base so we could talk.” We laughed together at the image, but the concept of a Word document passing right through the windshield of my car still boggles my mind, and I’m supposed to be a techie.

As usual, with new technology, new questions arise: legal, ethical, and practical business application issues. First, a legal and ethical question. As I sit in my Highlander accessing the Internet through someone’s wireless network, am I guilty of theft? Ask a lawyer “Should I access an unprotected wireless network?” and surely the answer will be, “No. Don’t do that!” Besides, is ethical to use an Internet connection without permission? No. At a minimum, I’m stealing bandwidth as I download and surf.

Next, the security question. Can and should a wireless network be secured? Well, typically, yes, of course. Whatever wireless gear/software a person/company buys, the instructions that come with it and/or are online make securing the network reasonably easy. Can hackers with the best sniffers, capture utilities, etc. hack a wireless network? No, not as long as the wireless network is properly configured and the hacker does not get inside help. So, don’t worry, be happy with a wireless network properly configured, at home or at work.

Some wireless networks are, however, left open on purpose. Really. The Chevron station at Swan and Camp Lowell offers free wireless Internet as an incentive for you to swing in there, tank up, and download your email or check your stock prices. Whip open your laptop at Pima Community College’s downtown campus and you’re online in seconds, free. An IT guy I know claims the parking lot at a certain hotel fills up during the lunch hour with people pulling in there to boot up and get on the Net, for free.

Then there’s paid wireless access. For $19.95 a month, you can wander around Tucson, from Barnes & Noble to Le Buzz (like Starbucks, but better) to McDonald’s to UPS stores and access the Internet. If you want to hang out at Starbucks and surf, you’ll have to pay T Mobile to do so. In one of my trials at one location, I was unable to connect, had to call tech support, and got no satisfaction and no connection. Meanwhile, at the table next to mine, a guy in a cowboy shirt and blue jeans was explaining to a man in a tweed jacket that the network card with a little antennae attached allowed him – the cowboy – to access the Internet as he drove around town in his pickup truck. The man in the tweed jacket’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. The cowboy said reassuringly, “Just like your cell phone.”

It seems unlikely that many of us locals will pay $20 a month, or more, for wireless Internet on the run – better to spend the money at the office or, for that matter, drive to Chevron or Pima Community College . But what business could increase its revenue, with a $100 a month investment, from offering free wireless Internet access? Granted, fast food restaurants feature furniture that makes us leave quickly, but what business want us to stay? For example, what about the mall’s food court?

The free Internet access could feature a log on screen dominated by an ad from one of the mall’s stores. Just imagine the food court and play area filled with adults working online on laptops while little kids play, tweeners gawk at themselves and teenagers re-adjust their pants to half mast. A spectacle like that might get a guy out of his Highlander and holding out a few bucks for his son to spend at store just down the hall.

This article first appeared as a column written by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Tucson Business Edge, a monthly magazine published by the daily newspaper, the Tucson Citizen.

Click HERE to return to Articles page