As the originator of this thread questioning whether public WiFi is widely available without a password, it's obvious that it is and carries certain risks.
All fear mongering aside there is as anyone who has read this far has learned, certain risks in using public WiFi. Those fears have been highlighted by ActiveCaptain and Ksanders among others.
I do wonder however why ActiveCaptain has promoted the use of public WiFi and has explained in his articles how to acquire WiFi signals from a considerable distance if using public WiFi carries the risks he's warned of.
Perhaps a solution is to use two media devices, one to surf the web using public WiFi, and another to conduct banking transactions and credit card purchases only via a MiFi unit.
I've said this before, but I really see the need for public wifi decreasing in importance every day. Cellular based access will continue to grow and prices will continue to fall.
Especially if you're on the east coast, have your marina contact us. We've been working with a company that has a great model and fantastic expertise in designing and installing marina WiFi systems - it's all they do. We believe that instead of a marina asking you to not stream video, they should invite you to use NetFlix, YouTube, Skype, and all of the streaming you'd like. We've been involved with a half-dozen marinas using these new capabilities and the results have been outstanding. And since we're pretty close to marina management and their business practices, we're also able to help them see how to fund it and actually save money by installing the right stuff.
There are some marinas that won't be able to support this newer level of WiFi experience because the backend internet access just isn't there - although that's becoming rare too. But the time is about to end on accepting 500 kbps connectivity that comes and goes when you're at a marina. You'll see...
I do wonder however why ActiveCaptain has promoted the use of public WiFi and has explained in his articles how to acquire WiFi signals from a considerable distance if using public WiFi carries the risks he's warned of.
I hope you're right at least on the prices opinion.
I have a dlink camera connected to the internet to monitor our house when we're cruising. I like to view it once a day. Using a MiFi unit to do so would burn through my 4 Gig allowance in a week or so. Until prices come down, public WiFi is the only practical way to do this.
Marinas have no real business interest in providing wifi to their guests, except as a tool to increase customer happiness, which increases revenue in the end.
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I've said this before, but I really see the need for public wifi decreasing in importance every day. Cellular based access will continue to grow and prices will continue to fall.
The first is the city's open system that is available in the area around the marina. Then there is the more secure system for the marina only that your log in has to be recognized. My question is just how much more secure would this be?
I don't want to quote it because its so long, but very good post AC!
Wifi, is just part of the portfolio of services that a marina offers. It will be attractive to some, and not so attractive to others.
For us, the important thing isnt wifi, its things like the proximity of shopping, and restaurants, etc... The general cleanliness, and even the pet friendliness is also very important.
We dont care about or consider the cost of our boats networking, and with LTE we can stream a high def movie, so "free wifi" wont bring us in. Same with laundry, and bathrooms. We have those, so they aren't a pull for us.
The WiFi part of MiFi comes by default with WPA encryption.
... so if you implement layer 2 isolation on the wireless are you saying you can still see someone else's traffic?
... is the connection between my computer and my MiFi unit secure also?
I'm just saying a MiFi can be seen at quite a distance over water with the proper equipment.
I cannot speak for Active Captain, but he seems to have some influence with marinas. Perhaps he can help them engineer more security into their systems.
I believe there is a lot of change coming with marina WiFi.
You mean Authentication, not encryption. Which I don't say to bust your chops, but because we shouldn't be so casual in the language.
Not to make a major thing about it but I most certainly meant encryption. It's the WPA key for encryption/decryption that provides access.
I don't want to quote it because its so long, but very good post AC!
Wifi, is just part of the portfolio of services that a marina offers. It will be attractive to some, and not so attractive to others.
For us, the important thing isnt wifi, its things like the proximity of shopping, and restaurants, etc... The general cleanliness, and even the pet friendliness is also very important.
We dont care about or consider the cost of our boats networking, and with LTE we can stream a high def movie, so "free wifi" wont bring us in. Same with laundry, and bathrooms. We have those, so they aren't a pull for us.