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03/06/10 |
         
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WLAN, Hotspots, WiFi...This page was first created in 2002 and is beginning to show its age, however the information remains accurate. 802.11 refers to a family of specifications developed by the IEEE for wireless LAN technology. 802.11 specifies an over-the-air interface between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients. The IEEE accepted the specification in 1997. There are several specifications in the 802.11 family. WARGAMESThe term war driving was coined by Peter Shipely of DoC. War driving is the process in which a person drives around a community or business area looking for and logging open wireless data networks. Typical equipment required to war drive include a portable PC, an 802.11 A,B,G combo card, a GPS receiver, and stumbling software. I assume Peter derived the term war driving from war dialing, which was a practice crackers used in the 80's to identify and exploit vulnerable data networks. Essentially, the crackers would use modems to dial every telephone number within a local area to find out where computers were available, then attacking them, trying to gain access by guessing passwords. Do you remember the movie War Games? That's where the term war dialing came from. War Flying is the same thing as war driving, except you do it in a plane! Other resources for wireless information can be found on the CUWiN website. Warchalking is the drawing of symbols in public places to advertise an open wireless network. Personally, I think this is a dumb idea. Who wants to go around writing on sidewalks or buildings with chalk? If I need an AP, I'll find it myself.
"War Plugging is the art of advertising using your SSID to convey a message to NetStumblers and Wi-Bo's who stumble across your Access Point." - Jay DeBoer. Give a shout out to other Stumblers. HotspotsHotspots refer to areas that offer public 802.11b (WLAN) access. In some cases access is free, check out MuniWireless or FreeNetworks.org. What a great concept, free wireless public Internet access. BRAVO!! Other Hotspots charge you for access (i.e. airports, hotels, Starbucks, etc.). To access "pay for access" hotspots, you must establish an account with the appropriate service provider (i.e. Boingo, T-Mobile, etc.). To find hotspots, search using the tool below or by clicking the Hotspots link above.
Photos (L to R): McDonald's Hotspot in Times Square, Verizon Pay Phone Hotspot in Manhattan, Starbuck's Hotspot in Naperville, IL
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This site was last updated 03/06/10
