There are lots of choices, just look for ‘Wireless Network Adapter.’  It will also say 802.11 somewhere in the description.  802.11b is the oldest technology, then comes g, and the latest and greatest is n.

Turn off your Internal Wi-Fi

It’s important to understand that these do not ‘boost’ the Wi-Fi adapter built in to your computer. They ‘replace’ it. You should turn off the internal adapter in your computer in order to properly use an external adapter.  See the Geeks on Tour ‘Show-Me-How’ video ‘Turn Off your Internal Wi-Fi.’

Improving our Wi-Fi Experience

When we parked at our current RV park, and tried to connect to the Wi-Fi, it took a while to make the connection and browsing was very slow. So we took our new Hawking Wi-Fi adapter out of the box, used the included CD to install the drivers, plugged the adapter into a USB port and turned off the wireless switch on the computer.

This time the connection happened a little faster, but, more importantly, the browsing was faster. Still not as good as our DSL at our home park, but better nonetheless. Wi-Fi is 2-way radio. Low-powered, 2-way radio.  The radio and antenna built in to your laptop computer is often not good enough for the distances and obstructions in an RV park. Plugging in an external adapter (radio and antenna are both inside) with a wire to your USB port allows you to move the adapter over to a window, or even outside a window so as to get an unobstructed line-of-sight to the source of the Wi-Fi – the Access Point. Unobstructed line-of-sight is the most important factor in a good Wi-Fi connection.  Notice, in the photo of our adapter above, that I have it pointed out a window.  Notice also that I have the metal mini-blinds raised above the adapter.  Those metal mini-blinds can make a big difference in your connection!

For other, past articles/videos on this topic:

The #1 Best way to Improve your Wi-Fi Connection
WiFire Long Range Adapter
Get the right Wi-Fi Adapter
54Mbps is Not better than 11Mbps
Wi-Fi for Beginners

Other Geeks on Tour Show-Me-How videos on this topic.

Related posts:

1. WiFi Antennas: Getting Creative
2. The #1 Best Thing to Improve your Wi-Fi Internet connection
3. What is Wi-Fi? (part 2)

Because of all these factors, most of us who travel a lot take our own Internet connection with us, either with a satellite dish or a cellular data card.  The main problems with satellite and cellular is that there are usage limits.  We don’t want to go over our limits with Verizon – I’ve heard of people getting $500+ bills for overages!  So, we keep looking for those parks with the really good Wi-Fi. 

A few good parks

I can think of 3 places this summer where we had really good Wi-Fi.  Here they are:

1. The Woods RV Park: Montgomery Alabama
2. Oakwood RV Park: Clearlake, Iowa
3. The Villages RV Park: at Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, NY

And, there are a couple of other parks that have such stand-out Wi-Fi that friends have exclaimed about them “That’s the best Wi-Fi we’ve ever had!”  And, these friends are other fulltimers who know what they’re talking about.  Those parks are:

1. Narrows Too: Bar Harbor, Maine
2. Santa Fe Skies: Santa Fe, New Mexico

What about you.  Where did you find the *best* Wi-Fi Internet connection in your travels?

Related posts:

1. We like RV Parks with Wi-Fi!
2. WiFi in RV parks: An attitude Survey
3. Internet by Data Card for Travelers

by Chris Guld, Geeks on Tour: We spent the past week in Essex Junction Vermont at the FMCA Northeast Area Rally (NEAR.)  To our surprise and delight, there was Wi-Fi available right at our parking spot.  We could tell it came from the fairgrounds since it was named, “CVFairmn1.”  We were at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds.  We like taking advantage of available Wi-Fi so as to avoid going over our bandwidth allotment on our Verizon contract. 

We connected right up and to our double surprise it was blazing fast.  And, I do mean blazing. 

Until all the coaches got parked!  The Wi-Fi slowed to a crawl and became unusable.  We had to go back to our Verizon connection.

Then, when we taught our Google Earth seminar, we tried the Wi-Fi again.  Google Earth has some pretty hefty bandwidth requirements.  There are some things we just can’t show if we’re using our tethered cellphone. 

The Wi-Fi worked great!  We zoomed around Google Earth, turned on several layers, and still could dive into a Street View without a hiccup.  This was on the same CVFair network, so we tried it again when we got back home.  No good.  It was so bad that it refused to display a web page.  The connection showed as 5 bars, and the connection speed (as opposed to the throughput speed) was fine – it wasn’t a signal issue.

We waited a couple hours and tried it again … we were back to high speed.  Thrilling high speed!  For those of you who like numbers,  I did a download speed test with TestMy.net and got 4.2 Mbps on the Wi-Fi as opposed to .5 Mbps on Verizon.

So … what was going on?  Well, there’s no way of really knowing without talking to the network administrator and using some diagnostic tools.  But Jim and I have our suspicions from having seen symptoms like this before – when he was the network administrator and did have the diagnostic tools. 

We think it was an individual connecting to the network, and their computer had the kind of virus that turns it into a ‘zombie.’  These ‘zombies’ are being controlled by some spammer and are programmed to send out thousands of spam messages.  When an infected computer connects to a Wi-Fi hotspot, it starts sending these spam messages and simply takes over all the available bandwidth – leaving none for the rest of us.  The owner of the computer is usually completely unaware, cursing the slow Wi-Fi along with everyone else. 

As soon as the zombie disconnects from the network – all is well.

What can you do about this?  Not much. But I think it’s still good for you to know.  If you’re in a Wi-Fi hotspot where there is a support phone number to call – that often means there is a system administrator who can monitor the activity and kick off an offending user.  It’s certainly worth a call. 

By coincidence, we also heard this week from a friend staying in a park that uses a satellite dish as the Internet source to their Wi-Fi hotspot.  One person connected to the network, downloading full length movies, pushed the network over the FAP (Fair Access Policy) limits.  This essentially eliminates Internet service for the whole network for 24 hours. To understand more, you can watch this video on FAP. 

Chris and Jim Guld

www.GeeksOnTour.com

Related posts:

1. Can I use the WiFi from a Nearby RV’s Satellite Dish?
2. Internet by Data Card for Travelers
3. We like RV Parks with Wi-Fi!

If your computer is not up to date, it could easily be infected and being used by cyber-criminals as part of a “botnet” of zombie computers.

Worried?  You should be.  The remedy is easy, though.  Get up to date with your Operating System, Virus definitions and Spyware definitions.  Scan your computer for Malware and fix any vulnerabilities the scanner finds.

Practice BUCS as outlined in our articles.

Backup – Update – Cleanup – Scan

You will save some bucks if you use our BUCS system.  It is free and easy.

Related posts:

1. WiFi Security
2. BUCS
3. Save some buck$ by practicing BUCS

Last month was the first month that we used our Verizon service exclusively for all Internet access.  Although we were very happy to see that we could comfortably stay under our 5GB bandwidth allotment, it wasn’t particularly fun.  We had to constantly be aware of our bandwidth usage.  We like watching Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on his website.  We didn’t dare do that more than a few times because of Verizon’s limit of 5GB/month.  And, downloading a movie was definitely out of the question – most of them are close to 2GB.

We also turned off the automatic updates on our Windows Vista systems.  One update (SP2) was 350MB!  If both Jim and I had downloaded that using our Verizon connection, that would have been 15% of our monthly allotment right there!  So, we held off on that. 

Finally, last week, we were in a campground with good Wi-Fi.  Yeah!!  No limits here.  We downloaded our updates and had a Jon Stewart marathon! (we don’t have a TiVo – or even a TV for that matter!)

Our bottom line, as always … If you need the Internet wherever you travel, you need to use all three ways: Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Satellite.  I’m looking forward to having our Satellite service back operational … Jim’s working on that right now!

Now, if I could just find a park with a working Hot Tub!

Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com

p.s. If you happen to be at the FMCA Convention in Bowling Green, Ohio this week, we will be giving our High Speed Internet on the Road seminar on Monday, 7/20/09 at 11:45 in Seminar room #12.

Related posts:

1. How much is 5 Gigabytes?
2. The Best Wi-Fi in RV Parks
3. Wi-Fi: The Best of Speeds, The Worst of Speeds

1. Satellite
2. Cellular
3. Wi-Fi

www.GeeksOnTour.com
Computer Education for Travelers

Related posts:

1. Connecting to the Internet on the Road: 3 ways
2. Internet by Data Card for Travelers
3. I Love my Satellite Internet

What is a Data Card?

You get it from a cellular provider, it connects to a nearby cell tower. It receives and transmits data. Think of it as a cell phone for your computer. The card pictured below fits into the Express Card slot in your laptop computer. Be sure your laptop *has* an express card slot before purchasing the card!

Recommended data ‘cards’ today connect to your computer’s USB port. Like the device pictured at right. Every laptop has a USB port.

Cellular Data Cards are also referred to as Mobile Broadband Modems. A ‘modem’ is a device that connects your computer to a communications network. In this case, the communications network is one of the cellular carriers like Verizon, Sprint, AT&T or TMobile.

Why are Data Cards so popular?

In the short time that they have been available, the Cellular Data Cards have become the primary way that travelers connect to the Internet. They are SO easy. The first time you use it you will need to install some simple drivers from the disk provided. From then on, getting online can be as simple as plugging in the device and booting up your computer. If there is a cell tower within range, you’re online. You may have to click on a button to ‘connect’, but even that can be set up automatically.

Data cards are the only technology that allow you to be online while driving down the road.

Coverage has improved dramatically, the cellular providers have been busy adding towers all over the country. If you tried this in 2006 or 07 and didn’t like it, you should try again! We talk to RVers all the time who say they’ve traveled the entire country and *almost* always are able to get online with their cellular data cards. They love their data cards.

How fast are they?

The speed of your Internet connection will depend on the cell tower that you’re connecting to. If you’re close to a fast tower, you’ll be thrilled with the speed you get – it’s as good as the DSL you’re used to at home. If you’re not in a digital coverage area, you’ll be lucky to get dial up speed.

How do you know you’re in a high-speed area? We use Verizon, and when we see a Verizon Wireless, 1X-EVDO indicator on our phone with more than 2 bars, we know we’re in a high-speed area. If we’re on ‘Extended Network’ or see 1X without the EVDO indicator, we can connect but it will be slow. My litmus test is to watch a video. I am currently connected with Verizon (tethered cell phone) and I just watched a 5 minute video on Youtube.com without a hiccup. That’s a good connection! For those of you who like numbers, here is a speed test I just performed at TestMy.net:

You’ll have to learn what the indicators are for your provider and equipment. Other terms that indicate high-speed include HSPA (AT&T’s network) and 3G. Actually, 3G is used to describe high-speed mobile internet in general. It means 3d Generation. You may already be hearing rumors about 4G!

Why would you use anything else?

Price is the first limiting factor. Mobile Broadband services usually cost $60/month and require you to commit to a 2 year contract. Wi-Fi is $1 – $5/day, no commitment required and, in many places, it’s even free.

Usage limits is the other specific factor. Most plans limit you to 5 Gigabytes per month. This has nothing to do with minutes – it has everything to do with what you’re doing on the Internet. If you read email, browse websites, upload and download pictures, 5 Gigabytes is more than enough for a month. If you share your connection with one or more other people, and any of you watch videos online – you could go over. A full length movie is often 2 Gigabytes.

There is a charge per megabyte of overage. We know people who have been billed $1,000 and more in a month where they were over and didn’t realize it! Rarely does a Wi-Fi hotspot have any bandwidth limits. When you’re at a good Wi-Fi hotspot, that’s when you can get those big downloads like Windows service packs and full length movies.

Coverage is still limited. If you want to boondock in the middle of a National Forest in Wyoming, odds are you will not be within range of a cellular tower. Satellite is still the only way to insure that you have an Internet connection *anywhere.*

Do The Geeks use a data card?

Yes, and No. We have a Datastorm Internet satellite dish, and we love our satellite dish. Last fall, our 5 year old system needed some new parts. We planned to spend the winter in a park with good Wi-Fi, so we opted to turn off the Satellite service. Since we got back on the road this spring, we have been able to make do with a combination of Wi-Fi and our Verizon phone ‘tethered.‘ So – we are using Verizon for an Internet connection, but we don’t have a data card. The cell phone cannot connect at the highest EVDO speed – Rev A – but we do get Rev 0.

We’re getting by with the combination of Wi-Fi and tethered cell phone, but we do miss our satellite Internet. We find that some of our itinerary is based on knowing where there is good Wi-Fi, or good Verizon signal. When our dish was active we could go wherever we wanted.

What’s New?

This technology is a fast-moving field. There’s lots of recent news.

1. Verizon’s price for overages has been lowered from 25¢/Mg to 5¢/Mg
2. Verizon’s price for tethered cell phone Internet access has lowered from $59/mo to $49/mo
3. Verizon has introduced a Data Card/router combination device called the Mi-Fi,
4. Walkinghotspot.com is a software solution that turns your SmartPhone into a Wi-Fi hotspot with unlimited broadband access. Not available for Verizon phone. Pretty magic stuff.

Related posts:

1. Tethered Cell Phones for Internet
2. Internet to Go
3. RVs, Computers, and Internet Access

I’ve written about this before, but I’ve learned more since then.  This is a fabulous option for Internet access on the road, especially for part time travelers because it does not require a separate contract.  It’s a feature of your cellphone contract and it can be turned on and off at will.  My phone is a LG eNV and my service is from Verizon.  I believe other providers offer something similar, but I can only speak about Verizon.

What do you need?

1. A qualifying cell phone
2. A qualifying service plan for your phone
3. The ‘Mobile Office Kit’ (USB cable specifically for your phone and software)
4. See Verizon’s Broadband Access Connect page for more details

How does it work?

It’s a cellular technology, so you need to be within range of a cell tower that your phone can connect to.  The ‘range’ is getting better and better though.  Sometimes the data signal can connect even when you can’t make a voice call.  Dead zones are getting fewer and farther between.  You simply plug the cell phone into the computer via the USB cable, then run the VZAccess software.  Click Connect, and you’re off and running.

I have found the speed to be very good.  It’s not the fastest, and it depends on the vintage of the nearest tower, but I have been pleasantly surprised.  If a call comes in on my phone, I can ignore it and stay connected to the Internet.  If I pick it up, I lose the Internet connection.  It also works just fine while we’re driving down the road.  And, I can leave it online all day if I want – minutes are not being counted when using your cellphone tethered.  It’s the amount of data that is transferred that counts, not the minutes.

How much does it cost?

The Verizon plan that goes along with my phone is $60/month (smart phones and blackberries have cheaper plans.)  That gives me 5Gigabytes of data transfer which is plenty for ‘normal’ use.  Don’t go downloading movies though, or you’ll exceed your limit.  At 25 cents per Megabyte for the overage, that would hurt!

The beauty is that you can turn this ‘feature’ off any time you want.  So, if I turn it on just for a weekend jaunt, Verizon will prorate my bill, charging approximately $2/day.  Be careful with your timing though.  I turned it on once toward the end of the month, and didn’t turn it off till after the beginning of the next month.  My bill reflected a full $60 for the month that just started.  They did issue a credit the following month for the unused portion – not bad.

Data usage is also prorated.  If you use it for a week or so, you’ll probably be fine, but don’t think you can turn it on just for a day and download a movie.  Let’s do the math.  1 day of usage is roughly 1/30th of a month. Divide the $60/mo by 30 and we get $2.  5Gb (roughly 5,000 Megabytes) divided by 30 = 167MB.  If you use 1,000 MB, you are 833MB over your prorated allotment!  833MB * .25 = a $208 bill for that one day!  Now, I haven’t actually seen anyone receive a bill like that, but Verizon’s customer service tells me it is the way it works.

If you have the right phone, and you need occasional Internet Access away from home, I highly recommend this method.  You can even plug in a router, and more than one person can be connected this way.  For more information on purchasing equipment, see 3GStore.com.  3GStore and their sister site, EVDOInfo.com are the Go To websites for anything you want to know about cellular technology and equipment.  We’ve heard so many happy customer stories that we became and affiliate.  If you purchase something after clicking our link, we will receive a small commission.

Related posts:

1. Internet by Data Card for Travelers
2. Internet by Tethered Cellphone – Reboot
3. Cell Tower Overload

I read about this from my favorite Wireless Networking News.  Glenn Fleischman not only reported the announcement, he actually used the service and could vouch for it’s speed and reliability.  I especially like the photo of passengers holding up their laptops.  I suppose they were asked to do this by the photographer, but I imagine that many of them were also taking their own video with the computer’s built in cameras! 

My other favorite technology news site, CNET, also posted an article about Virgin’s Wi-Fi.  They clarified that the technology is cellular.  Three antennas on the outside of the plane pick up signal from ground based towers and, in turn, supply 2 or 3 wireless access points inside the plane.  This means it won’t work over the ocean.  Apparently, using satellites for this service proved to be too exensive.

Virgin is not the only airline to offer this service.  American has had it on selected flights for a few months.  Virgin just seems to be committing to it more wholeheartedly – promising system-wide service by next summer.

Related posts:

1. The #1 Best Thing to Improve your Wi-Fi Internet connection
2. What is Wi-Fi
3. Change in environment affects WiFi

Do you sometimes have connectivity issues using Wi-Fi hotspots in campgrounds?

WiFi is low-power, two-way radio. Just as with any other radio, a better antenna will give you a better connection. Wi-Fi technology was designed for small offices, home offices and coffee shops. Campgrounds and RV parks present difficult challenges for connecting with many obstructions and reflective surfaces.

The Wi-Fire Long-range WiFi adapter is a better radio and antenna than what is built-in to your computer. With it, you can connect reliably from a much greater distance.

Installation Video: (be patient, it can take a minute for the Play button to appear)

FEATURES
The unit combines a high powered Wi-Fi radio with a high gain directional antenna in a four ounce package which can be mounted on a laptop or LCD screen or just set on a table or shelf. A 4’ retractable USB cable connects to both older 1.1 and newer 2.0 ports. It is compatible with 802.11 b and g protocols in the 2.4GHz frequency range (standard Wi-Fi). WEP, WPA and WPA2 security are supported.

Support for Windows XP or Vista and Mac OS X are included on the supplied installation CD. Also on the CD is a Window’s Connection Manager program. Support for Linux is available on the website.

PERFORMANCE
I have been using the Wi-Fire adapter for a week in the RV park where we are staying. I tested the Wi-Fire at several distances from the access points. Our site is 200 feet from the tower. I get excellent signal with the Wi-Fire and good signal with my built-in. Browsing experience is about the same with either adapter inside my RV. I see 3 more APs using the Wi-Fire. Testing again at 330 feet, I can still connect with my built-in, but browsing is slower. With the Wi-Fire, signal is good and browsing is fast. In the far corner of the park 460 feet from the tower, I could still connect with my built-in, but browsing was much better with the Wi-Fire. Outside the RV park at over 500 feet, I couldn’t stay connected with my built-in and the Wi-Fire connected and browsing was acceptable.

BEFORE WiFire:

AFTER WiFire

The included Connection Manager software is good and does not interfere with Windows configuration utility, in fact, it works with it.

SUMMARY
Not all WiFi hotspots are the same. When you connect using WiFi, you are not connecting directly to the Internet. You are connecting to an access point which is connected to the Internet. If you are close to access point, your built-in Wi-Fi will work just fine. As you put distance and obstructions between you and the access point, you need a better device to connect reliably. This is where the Wi-Fire Long-range WiFi adapter excels.

The mount is a bit clunky and the antenna fell off a couple of times while I was aiming it. Because the antenna is so directional, it takes more time to get the best signal. The retractable USB cable is easily tangled.
The Wi-Fire adapter is a good affordable solution for better connections at WiFi hotspots.

Jim Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com

Related posts:

1. WiFi Antennas: Getting Creative
2. There’s no Server in WiFi
3. What is Wi-Fi? (part 1)