Wi-Fi hotspots bridge the Wi-Fi connectivity gap between wireless networks in homes and businesses. People can access e-mail and other online services between home and work or while traveling. This allows them to keep up with customers, associates, and family members

A Typical Hotspot User

Imagine that Denise sits at the kitchen table at breakfast and reads the news on her favorite website before heading to work in the morning. She corresponds often with her family and friends via instant messaging or e-mail; however, she cannot do this while at work. The management does not allow use of their wireless network or company computers for personal reasons. Therefore, she takes along her laptop when visiting a favorite café during lunch breaks. She grabs a bite to eat, chats with friends online, and responds to e-mails. This keeps her in touch with others while not breaking rules at work.

Wi-Fi hotspots are found in many public places where people might want to pop open their laptop and browse the Internet. Following are some typical places where you might find a Wi-Fi hotspot:

• Cafés, restaurants, and bars

• Hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfast inns

• Bookstores and libraries

• Office building reception areas

• Airports

• Airplanes

• Clubs and organizations

As discussed in the preceeding case study, cafés and restaurants provide wireless Internet access for customers while they are enjoying their food and beverages. Along with other businesses and organizations, cafés and restaurants will likely benefit with more foot traffic to their location when they provide this convenient Internet service to customers and visitors.

A majority of travelers these days choose only hotels that provide broadband Internet access within the rooms. This lets people keep in touch with their online world while they are out of town. Some hotels provide a wired Internet connectionusually an Ethernet or data port. Ethernet provides broadband Internet access similar to Wi-Fi, but Ethernet requires a cable to connect the user laptop to the network. This restricts the user to a single location in the roomusually a desk. In addition, most hotels provide a data port on the telephone for dialup modem users to plug into. This also requires a restrictive cable connection, and the performance is slow and unusable for some websites and e-mail attachment downloads.

Even though wired Internet connections are widely available, most people prefer Wi-Fi Internet access. This enables guests to move about the hotel and still be connected to the Internet. For example, a business traveler can use the Internet from anywhere within the room, such as from the desk, as shown in Figure 1-2, or while relaxing on the bed. In addition, this person can go down to the bar or lobby and still have Internet access. A Wi-Fi network in a hotel also becomes useful when one or more people with laptops are staying in the same room, because wired connections allow only one person at a time to use the Internet.

Similar Posts:

• How Users Find Hotspots
• How Wi-Fi Works
• Configure Additional Settings
• Wi-Fi Hot Zones
• Choose a Hotspot Solution