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 is Like a Box of Chocolates

And, if you follow the link under our picture … to ‘Mobile Internet’ you can watch one of our videos that is featured there.

The FMCA International convention starts next Monday in Bowling Green, Ohio.  We’ll be there and we’ll be presenting 7 different seminars:

• Mon:  High Speed Internet for Rvers
• Tue: Picasa – Managing Digital Photos
• Tue: Vista – What’s New
• Wed: Safe Computing
• Wed: Every RVer Needs a Blog
• Thu: Photostory 3 – Professional looking Slideshows
• Thu: Using Google Earth

We are also giving our hands-on Boot Camp.  That is offered in 3 evening sessions from 5-7.  If you’re going to Bowling Green and want to attend the Boot Camp, registration is on Monday at 7am in the Information Center.  The cost is $60 and we can only take 20 registrations.  Last time we were sold out in 45 minutes!  So, get there early.

The FMCA website includes a complete list of all the seminars available at the Bowling Green FMCA rally.

and … if you’re a Geeks on Tour member, you will be getting an invitation to our private get together.

Hope to see you there!

Please Visit our sponsor:

Related posts:

1. Geeks on Tour Tutorial Videos on Disk
2. We like RV Parks with Wi-Fi!
3. Hands-On Computer Boot Camp

I feel like I’m walking into a room where there are lots of people milling about and talking.  The cool part is that these are all people I’ve chosen for one reason or another, it’s my special party room.  And they aren’t too talkative, just a few words about what they’re doing or what they’re thinking.  In less than a minute of glancing at my Twitter home page, I’m up-to-date with all the people I’m ‘Following.’

Let me introduce you around.  The first person you see at my party represents Public Earth.  These are people we met at The Rally.  They are launching a special website about places.  You can find and view these places using a Google Maps interface, store your places in your Public Earth account, and download them to your dashtop GPS for directions.  I think it’s something I’m really going to like – and I won’t forget about it because I’m following their ‘tweets.’

Next comes GypsyJournal – this is Nick Russell, a fulltime RVer, and a friend.  I usually follow his blog, but that takes a lot more time than just seeing him at my Twitter party!  Because of this post, I see that he’s getting ready to go to the Escapades – and we’ll see him there.

Now you see Charlene Li – I’ve never met Charlene.   She is an author and a speaker; a recognized expert in the new Social Media and what it all means.  I value her opinion.  She liked the new Star Trek … I’ll bet I will too.

EMasie is Elliott Masie.  I know Elliott from back in the 80s when he produced the Computer Training and Support Conferences and I was a speaker there.  He is a top thinker and trendsetter in the education field and I love being able to see what he’s up to in such an easy, quick, unobtrusive way.  I’m sure I’ll enjoy his tweets from India.

If you want to start your own party, just go to Twitter.com and sign up for a free account.  Then you can find other people who are on Twitter and click the ‘Follow’ button below their names, voila!  instant party.  If you also start writing some of your own tweets, you may find that some people start following you.  If you have a business, this can be used for marketing.  My latest tweet was about how I was looking for membership site software for my latest website … within minutes, I received an email that a membership site software business was now ‘following’ me on Twitter.  That means that I’ll show up in their party room, but they’re not in mine unless I follow them.

Do you need to be on Twitter?  Of course not.  But, if you’re already spending time online visiting people’s blogs and otherwise browsing – you may actually find that Twitter saves you time.  The RV.net blog can be followed on Twitter – as can the Family Motor Coach Ass’n.  Once you’re looking at RV.net’s Twitter page, you may want to check out who’s at their party!  See who RV.net is following, and you may want to follow them too.  It is so quick and easy to fill your party room with people you enjoy.

So, what’s the difference between Facebook and Twitter?  Facebook is a lot more complex.  I haven’t figured out Facebook yet.  Twitter is nice and simple – at least so far!  It allows you to write short snippets (tweets) about what you’re doing or thinking, it allows others to follow your tweets, and you to follow others.

If you’re interested in learning more about the phenomenon that Twitter is becoming, you can watch this video by the founder of Twitter, Evan Williams.

Chris Guld, www.GeeksonTour.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GeeksOnTour
and http://twitter.com/chrisguld

Related posts:

1. We’re all a-Twitter
2. Are you Being Followed?
3. Free Computer Software For Travelers

Check out these downloads and Web sites that cost nothing but have big value.

The World Wide Web originally was designed as a tool for the free exchange of information. In fact, in the early days if you were found abusing this wonderful communication system for your own personal gain, you would be “flamed” — an online equivalent of being stoned or pilloried — by the other users. The Web has since developed into a colossal marketplace of commerce and personal gain, but free stuff is still available. Unfortunately, some of the free material offered online is a scam, a way to get you to pay for something else, or a means to deliver payloads of viruses or spyware to your computer. So you need to be informed and stay alert to these types of dangerous offers. Still, there is plenty of useful and beneficial information available, and the free stuff described below is nothing short of amazing. Some of the best software I’ve ever used is included!

Picasa For Managing Digital Photos

RVers take a lot of digital photos, and it can be very confusing to decide what software to use to manage them. There’s the program that came with the camera to transfer photos to the computer; Windows for organizing, printing, and e-mailing them; Photoshop Elements or IrfanView for editing them; and dozens of Web sites for publishing them. Then you also need CD-burning software to make backups or copies to give friends.

The first thing that’s so great about Picasa, available free from Google, is that it does all of the above. You only need to learn the one program. The second thing is that it’s quick and easy. One click and you can e-mail one or more photos — and it takes care of resizing them on the fly. One click prints your photos. And it lets you preview exactly how the pictures are going to fit on the paper before you waste all that ink. One click and you can burn a CD with a slideshow to give to your friends. One more click and you have a Web site for your photos; it’s called a Web Album.

Probably the feature that we love most about Picasa is that it makes it so fast and simple to improve the quality of images. I receive a lot of compliments about the photos on our blog (http://www.geeksontour.blogspot.com). I know it’s because Picasa helps me improve every picture. And it does it without changing my original image. I don’t have to make a copy before I start editing, as with other programs.

I’ve been teaching computer software classes and seminars since 1983, during which time I’ve covered probably a hundred different programs, and I can confidently say that Picasa is the most useful software I’ve ever known. I love the things it does, but I think it’s even better for what it doesn’t do. Because it doesn’t do serious editing (such as erasing a power line from the sky), Google has kept it lean and mean. It does 90 percent of what we need on a day-to-day basis and it does it quickly, easily, and for free. For the other 10 percent you still need Photoshop Elements, Fireworks (the software I use), or some other photo editor.

Picasa is for the Windows platform only, at http://www.picasa.google.com. Sorry, Mac users, but you have iPhoto, which is very similar.

Movies From Photos With Photo Story 3

Picasa will impress your friends with a simple slideshow, but put your photos into a movie and it will knock their socks off. Photo Story 3, a free program from Microsoft, makes it so easy. Just follow the wizard, which guides you through all the steps necessary to create an impressive photo presentation. Import and arrange the photos you want to show, and then click the “Next” button. Add titles, narration, music, and movement. It is so simple. And the results rival productions that took thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment only 20 years ago.

Photo Story 3 can be downloaded for free from Microsoft’s Web site. This is also Windows-only software.

Every Traveler Needs A Blog

Ever wished you could write travel articles for a magazine? Now you can write the whole magazine. It’s called a blog and it’s a special kind of Web site that anyone can create with the help of the free Blogger.com Web-based software from Google. As long as you have a computer, an Internet connection, and something to say, you can have a Web site. The word blog comes from Weblog, meaning a log or diary on the Web. So, any day you feel compelled to write, you can log on to your Blogger.com account and have at it. You also can upload photos, videos, and links to other Web sites.

Blogger keeps everything organized. It date-stamps your entries and publishes them in reverse order so the most recent is always on top. You can write for years this way and Blogger will keep your archives in order as well. Want to see what you were doing in December 2005? Just look it up in the blog. I’ve been keeping our blog since May 2003. You can even search our blog with a convenient search box provided at the top. Want to see the pictures we took at Devil’s Tower or the video of kayaking at La Jolla? Just go to the blog (http://www.geeksontour.blogspot.com) and search. It’s such a great thing for fickle memories.

Since Blogger is Web-based, it doesn’t matter what kind of computer you’re using, so this one can be used on Mac systems as well.

Virus And Spyware Scanners

Unfortunately, it is a fact of computer life that dangers lurk on the Internet. Your computer needs to be protected with antivirus and antispyware programs. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of choices. Some cost a lot, some cost a little, some are free, and some are scams. It is a common consensus among geeks that the Anti-Virus Free software from AVG Technologies (formerly Grisoft) is one of the very best programs available.

You should use only one antivirus program. But in the antispyware category, you can install more than one. There is so much spyware out there that no one program catches everything. Two good programs that also happen to be free are Spybot Search & Destroy by Safer-networking.org and Ad-Aware by Lavasoftusa.com. But our favorite is Defender by Microsoft, primarily because it does everything automatically on a schedule. You install it and forget it. The other two need to be manually run. These are all Windows programs.

Maps And Globes

This category has a ton of offerings. MapQuest, Maps.Live.com, and Yahoo! Maps are all free offerings. They are also all Web-based, so they will operate on Macintosh as well as Windows systems. We have the most experience with Google Maps and Google Earth.

If there’s anything that makes a traveler drool, it’s a good map. If this describes you, get out the bib before you look at these programs. These are so much more than maps. Sure, you can get directions from Google Maps (maps.google.com), but you also can create your own custom map, complete with a line for your route and markers for your various stops (sample: Geeks on Tour 2008 Travels). When a viewer clicks on a marker, they can see your photos of the place, anything you have to say about it, and links to other Web sites. This program does not require a download.

Did you ever dream of having a magic globe? Want to point to a place on the globe and get answers to questions about that location? That’s Google Earth (earth.google.com). You can explore photos and information about any spot on the planet that will keep you occupied for hours. It’s not a map. It’s a globe-based information system that you download to your computer. Photos, Web sites, news feeds, encyclopedia entries, videos, and more are all referenced by latitude and longitude, available just by clicking or searching. After watching one of our Google Earth seminars, I remember hearing one woman exclaim, “My poor husband is going to starve!” She apparently felt there would be no more time for cooking once she got started on Google Earth.

Lots More

The programs mentioned above are just some of the more visible choices. We teach seminars on all of them, but there are many more. If you need a spreadsheet to keep track of expenses but don’t want to shell out the cash for Excel, you can use Google Docs online for free, or you can download the complete productivity suite of OpenOffice, also for free. Yes, you read right — a complete office suite that allows users to work on documents, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, and illustrations. OpenOffice can open and save Microsoft Office files. It is now available for Macintosh as well as Windows and Linux.

Need a free e-mail account? Choose from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, and more. How about an online calendar? Google Calendar can be used by you individually, or you can share it with a team. Want a free Web site? Geocities, Google Pages, Yahoo!, and so many more are available. Just use Google to search for “free Web site hosts.”

A good way to get any of these programs is by visiting Download.com, a service of CNET. I have long trusted CNET as a kind of Consumer Reports for the computer world. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on Download.com, you probably don’t want it.

Oh, I can’t go on without mentioning the free investing tools available online. Yahoo! Finance and MSN’s Money Central are goldmines for stock charts, company research, and analysis. These are two I use, and I’m sure there are many, many more.

Why Is It Free?

It’s important for me to understand why something is free; otherwise, I don’t trust it. I think there are three reasons why software is available to the public at no cost.

First, companies use it as a “presale” or free sample in hopes that people will like it and buy a more full-featured version later. Second, they use it to sell advertising. The more page-views a Web site receives, the more a sponsor will pay for their ads to be placed on that page. Finally, it is used to build a community of loyal customers. The Web today is all about community. The larger your community, the more you can be supported by just a few chargeable items.

Some software has no good reason to be free and may end up costing you in the long run. Some software is nothing more than a scam to gain access to your computer. After you download it you will notice all sorts of pop-ups on your computer; it will become infected with a virus; or you may find that your computer has been turned into a zombie that does only the bidding of the company you downloaded the product from. Remember, get your downloads from Download.com or from another site that has been recommended by someone you trust. Be careful and stay informed, but don’t be paralyzed. Go ahead; use the good stuff. Haven’t you heard? The best things in life are free!Chris Guld is president and Web master for GeeksOnTour.com. She and her husband, Jim, live full-time in their motorhome and tour the country conducting seminars at RV parks, conventions, and rallies, including FMCA events. They recently presented a number of topics at FMCA’s 80th International Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tutorial videos are available on www.geeksontour.com.

Related posts:

1. Free Computer Anti-Virus Programs
2. Blogging Offline with Windows Live Writer
3. Free Anti-Virus Programs

So you want to hit the road but can’t imagine being without your DSL or cable for high-speed Internet access. If only you could have all your Internet-based computer resources with you, you could go anywhere and stay away indefinitely, right?

You can take it with you!

With a high-speed Internet connection, you can travel wherever you want and still be in communication via e-mail, photos, and even videos. Your travels can be shared with all your family and friends by using online photo albums and travel journals. You can do your banking online and manage your mail-forwarding addresses using Web-based services.

Many of us now do our jobs while on the road, thanks to the Internet. My husband and I have been computer support professionals since the early 1980s. In 2003 we sold our home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and took to the road. We knew we needed an Internet connection, so we equipped our motorhome with a two-way Internet satellite dish. My clients hardly even knew I was gone! We love our satellite dish, but it’s not the only way to connect while traveling.

Three types of Internet connections on the road

You can’t take your DSL or cable connection with you — they require a wire. And wires won’t stretch to the end of your driveway, let alone to the next state or the other side of the country. So, the connection has to be wireless. There are three different wireless technologies to which you can connect:

1. Satellite: Connect to a satellite 22,300 miles away.
2. Cellular: Connect to cellular providers’ towers up to 30 miles away.
3. Wi-Fi: Connect to a wireless network, also known as a “hot spot,” up to 300 feet away.

Satellite

We chose the satellite option, because we wanted to be able to camp in wilderness parks and still be able to conduct our business on the Internet. As long as we have a clear view of the southern sky, we can connect. We spent nearly $6,000 to purchase and install the equipment — an automatic, roof-mounted satellite dish called the Datastorm. We justified it by saying, “With it, we have a business; without it, we don’t.” When we thought of it as a business investment, $6,000 didn’t seem like much at all. The monthly service fee is $80.

A less expensive satellite option is a manually pointed, tripod-mounted dish. The equipment ranges from $700 to $1,500, with monthly service running about $60. It takes around a half hour to set up each time you park, as opposed to pushing a button for the automatic type. Plus, you need space to store the dish and tripod when you travel.

Cellular

Cellular is becoming more popular, and from a cost perspective, it is the middle choice. The initial equipment cost is negligible. Prices for the data card you need can be as little as $50 or as high as $250. Sometimes the data card is included in the price of your computer or as part of a promotion. You need a contract with a cellular provider such as Verizon or Sprint — typically, it’s a two-year commitment at approximately $60 per month.

In the past year, cellular data-card technology has come a long way. We talk with many travelers who love their data cards. As with standard cellular voice service, coverage area is important. Some areas may be best covered by Sprint, some by Alltel, but on average, we hear the best reports from Verizon customers. All providers have areas with no service.

You also need to know that, just because you can connect, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you’ll have high speed. When you use a data card, you connect through your service provider’s nearest cell tower. These providers continually upgrade equipment on older towers and add new cell towers with even faster data service, called EVDO (an acronym for “Evolution Data Only” or “Evolution Data Optimized”). So, your location makes a big difference in your ability to connect, and at what speed.

You also need to understand your cellular provider’s terms of service (TOS). The phone and the data card are two different charges, even if they’re posted on the same bill. Our friends Greg and Marilyn Gundy traveled to Alaska this summer (see their fun and informative blog at http://www.gundyville.blogspot.com) and used a Verizon data card as their primary method of Internet access. Here are Greg’s comments:

“RE: Alaska: Verizon works almost everywhere — everywhere, that is, where any other cell phone works, and some places where others won’t. Many if not most of the campgrounds have Wi-Fi — some terrible ones, some good ones, a few great ones; most are free, some are pay-go, and a few are a combo that require ’signing in’ once per hour to stay hooked up. The PC card works nearly everywhere the phone does, but at times it is just too slow to be worthwhile. The PC card in Canada, even when it works (and it often does) incurs an additional charge on the bill — even with the North American plan; the phone works in Canada without additional charge.”

Wi-Fi

Many RV parks offer Wi-Fi, the most popular option. Most RV park directories will indicate when Wi-Fi is available. You also can find Wi-Fi in libraries and many coffee shops. Wi-Fi covers a small area known as a “hot spot.” Whereas a cell tower covers approximately 30 miles (radius), a Wi-Fi hot spot’s access point covers only 100 to 300 feet. Wi-Fi originally was developed for home and small office networks. To make it work in an RV park, the original technology is stretched by adding more power and multiple access points.

It’s very easy for an RV park to add Wi-Fi to the office/clubhouse. All that’s needed is one access point/router on the Internet connection that serves the office. Then anyone willing to bring his or her laptop to the clubhouse has access. (Making Wi-Fi available to all the RV sites is much more difficult.)

The equipment needed on your computer to use Wi-Fi is inexpensive. Most laptops built within the past two years have a Wi-Fi adapter built in. If your computer doesn’t have one built in, or it doesn’t work at a given location, you can purchase an external USB-type adapter for about $40 to $100.

The primary reason that Wi-Fi is the most widely used Internet access technology on the road is that there is no contract involved. You pay only for what you use, as you use it, for example, $4 per day; $18 per week; $30 per month. Many hot spots offer the service for free, especially the ones where it’s only available in the clubhouse or office.

Which is right for you?

How you use the Internet determines which technology — satellite, cellular, or Wi-Fi — is the most suitable for you and your situation.

Our friends Andy and Diane Thomas hit the road about the same time we did, but they weren’t planning to work. They had just sold their business and were going to use that money to take a year off and see the country. They wanted the Internet, but it wasn’t critical for them to have access to it every day. They found many campgrounds with Wi-Fi hot spots where they could connect to the Internet.

When their campground didn’t provide Wi-Fi, they would drive to a local library and connect. Most libraries have some kind of high-speed (broadband) Internet connection. If they had to do without Internet for a few days, it was no big deal. So, Wi-Fi was great. They paid $3 to $4 a day when they used it, and many parks offered it for free. If they had to carry their laptop to the clubhouse to use the Wi-Fi, they didn’t mind. In fact, they often met interesting people that way.

One year of vacation turned into a desire to stay on the road for a portion of every year. Their goal is to visit all the national parks in the United States. I love visiting their Weblog (www.dianeandy.blogspot.com) and seeing all the gorgeous places they’ve been. They still have a lot of parks left to see, and they can no longer justify an indefinite “vacation.” So, they learned how to conduct online stock trading.

The second time Andy and Diane went on the road, they called ahead to be sure each campground offered Wi-Fi. Regardless of their careful questions, they didn’t always have an Internet connection when needed. They learned to ask more questions. Instead of simply asking, “Do you have Wi-Fi?” they would also ask, “Is it working?” and “Can we get it at our site?” They weren’t having as much fun this time around.

Before heading out the third time, they gathered their pennies — lots of them — and had a satellite dish installed on their motorhome. Now they don’t have to call ahead at all! They don’t need the park’s Wi-Fi, because they have their own Internet. They can even go to the out-of-the-way national parks and work while there. They may not have phone service or electricity, but they have Internet! Read this entry from their blog:

“We don’t have cell service, but we do have Internet. Gosh, we love this satellite dish! In both Kings Canyon and in Sequoia national parks we had sites that had enough space through the trees to allow for a connection. Since we have no electric hookups, we’ve turned the generator on to raise the dish, we leave it up, and connect whenever we turn the generator on. It’s nice to have e-mail access since we don’t have cell service. At least we can communicate this way.”

Even with the satellite dish, there came a point when the honeymoon ended. In stock trading, 10 minutes can be an eternity. I might say that our satellite Internet connection has worked flawlessly for four years, but I do plenty of work on my computer that doesn’t require the Internet. I might not even notice a 10-minute outage, but with stock traders, that 10 minutes can make or break their day!

And it happens.

Diane and Andy also went through a period of technical difficulties. After all, satellites really are rocket science! There’s a lot that can go wrong, and they had a period of a few weeks with on/off service. During that time, they tried once again to find RV parks with good Wi-Fi.

My bet is that when they head out the next time, they’ll also have a data card with cellular Internet service. If you absolutely, positively must have Internet access, you need to use all three methods.

Go ahead! Get away and stay connected

The good news is that RVers now have several choices for obtaining high-speed Internet on the road, and they all work pretty well.

The bad news is that RVers now have several choices for obtaining high-speed Internet on the road, and not one works everywhere all the time.

In summary, the three methods for obtaining high-speed Internet on the road are Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite.

1. If you absolutely, positively need the Internet at all times, you’ll need all three.
2. If you’re a casual Internet user, Wi-Fi should meet your needs just fine.
3. If your needs are somewhere in the middle, and you’re willing to commit to a two-year contract, cellular is a smart choice. Wi-Fi can be your backup when you’re in an area with no cell phone service.

Wi-Fi FAQs

Since Wi-Fi is used by the most people, it generates the most questions:

How fast is Wi-Fi?

It depends. Usually Wi-Fi is very fast, but it depends on the source of the Internet connection. An airport in a major metropolitan area may use a dedicated T1 line, making it blazing fast. In an RV park in the mountains, it might be a standard satellite dish sharing on the Wi-Fi network, which will be pretty slow. It also depends on how many people are using it and what they’re doing. Wi-Fi is a shared system.

Do I need an Internet service provider (ISP) in order to use Wi-Fi?

No. When you’re at a Wi-Fi hot spot, you are sharing the Internet service at that location. You only need an ISP (e.g. AOL, Earthlink, or Netzero) if you’re going to use dial-up.

My laptop has built-in Wi-Fi capability. Will that work?

Maybe. First of all, make sure the internal Wi-Fi is turned on. On some laptops you need to press a button or a key combination to turn it on. If you are close enough to an access point (the antennas that send the Internet signal out), it should work fine. If you are a distance from the access point, have obstructions in the way, or are at a bad angle, it may not work. Internal Wi-Fi adapters (and cards) are intended for small indoor installations. For good connections in an RV park, you need more power for the distance, and you need to be able to point your antenna toward the access point antenna. It’s a two-way radio; the signal needs to get to you, and you need to be able to send your signal back. Line of sight is critical. Sometimes simply moving your adapter/computer to the other side of your coach makes a big difference.

Can I buy a better adapter to achieve a stronger connection?

Yes! We recommend the USB-type adapters for the RV park environment, mainly because they are on a wire and can be positioned for the best connection (remember those old “rabbit ears”?). Costs range from $30 to $200. Ask for a USB 802.11 (b or g) Wi-Fi adapter. When you use a USB adapter, you should turn off the internal one.

Is it safe to do online banking using a Wi-Fi Internet connection?

Yes, if your computer is up-to-date with the latest operating system files and antivirus and antispyware programs. Wi-Fi is no less safe than any other method of connecting to the Internet. Your computer’s safety is your responsibility.

Bank Web sites are secure no matter how you’re connected to the Internet. They provide security (encryption), which is enabled from your computer, through the wireless network, through the public Internet to the bank’s Web site — and back. You’ll see a lock as well as the https: in the address bar. So, even if a hacker were able to capture your wireless transmission, he or she wouldn’t be able to decipher it.

That said, never send financial or other private information in an e-mail.

Can someone else on the same Wi-Fi hot spot access files on my computer?

It is possible; unlikely, but possible. A Wi-Fi hot spot is a network, and networks provide methods to share files among different computers. If you turn off file and printer sharing, it becomes impossible for anyone to access your computer. In Windows XP you do this by: Start/Control Panel/Network Connections. Right-click on your wireless connection, choose Properties, and uncheck File and Printer Sharing. Windows Vista handles this automatically by selecting a public hot spot.

Why do I get a better connection in the middle of the night?

Radio frequency interference can be a problem. Wi-Fi is 2.4 gigahertz — the same as microwaves. When everyone is cooking dinner, it can be harder to maintain a Wi-Fi connection. Those 2.4-Ghz cordless phones also can interfere.

It’s a lot like AM radio that can receive signals from a station three states away when the radio waves are quiet at night.

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2. RVs, Computers, and Internet Access
3. I Love my Satellite Internet