Wi-Fi Hotspot News

It's been an interesting and worrying week for Wireless Hotspots and the UK Internet Service Industry.

There's been talk of banning public WiFi hotspots completely; news that the UK government's trying to take control over what sites we look at and finally copyright infringement policies on video sharing sites such as vimeo and youtube.com

Banning our access to the Internet via Wi-Fi Hotspots is not the answer - instead we need strong controls over how they're operated. At PolkaSpots we have so many discreet controls in place, it's pretty hard to abuse our network. And, our customers never notice unless they're doing something illegal.

But is it just the fault of public Wi-Fi hotspot companies? Probably not, what about the ISPs - shouldn't they be trying a little harder.

If you're thinking about setting up a free or pre-paid Wi-Fi Hotspot in your cafe, restaurant, hotel or bar; think twice before you do it yourself as your business may be at risk.

Follow these simple steps to keep yourself safe online.

Rule 1 - Never use a Wi-Fi Hotspot that’s unprotected. We’ve discovered numerous networks that claim to be a commercial hotspot but are simply someone’s laptop set up to hijack your login details (bank, email etc). They even look legitimate with fancy login screens.

Rule 2 – Make sure you're not on a rogue network - ask your cafe what their network name is.

Rule 3 – Any website where you have to enter confidential information should be protected using SSL – to check this you should see a little padlock. If it’s not there, don’t login! Always check this before buying online or logging in to your bank.

Rule 4 – Don’t use your email client (outlook, mac mail, entourage etc.) unless you know your mail provider uses a secure connection. Most email providers now use webmail protected by SSL as above.

Rule 5 – Turn your firewall on and sharing off. Modern operating systems all have a firewall built in. These are great at stopping some threats but can’t protect against everything. Turn off file share and other such services in your control panel. Finally, using Virtual Private Network (VPN) software may help further but it’s important to get the right kind.

Rule 6 – Keep updated – always ensure your laptop’s software is up to date. Ideally do this before you visit a Wi-Fi Hotspot.

Did you know? A more detailed version on this can be found in Cafe Culture Magazine this month!

We were so excited about the new reporting facility, we forgot to write about it!

You've been asking for it, now we've done it. You can now all see who's doing what and when at your PolkaSpots Supafly Wi-Fi Hotspot!

If you're already a customer, please contact us for your login details. If you're not, sign up soon.

Alongside the magificent news from the PolkaSpots factory about being able to check who's using your PolkaSpots Free Wi-Fi Hotspot, we have some more for you...

You've been able to re-brand your own login pages with PolkaSpots since time began. Now you can host them yourself and change them as often as you want. A good plan.

Integrating the Wi-Fi Hotspot login screens with your own website means you have even more control over your Wi-Fi Hotspot Service. 

For more information, call 020 7183 1471 or email us!

We were the first to offer Unlimited Free Wi-Fi to the UK public. At the start of 2009, we decided that it would be better if your customers could use the Internet for as long as they needed. Instead of restricting time, we controlled the connection speed per user. Simple but clever.

You were giving out the access code to stop the casual passerby from using the Wi-Fi Hotspot Network. Simple. To change the password, you needed to invest in branded Wi-Fi Hotspot login pages or become a partner. Not a big problem, but we thought you should be able to do this.

So, we're proud to announce you can now change your passwords! As often as you like to whatever you want! If you haven't already received your username, please send us an email.

What's more, you can even get live usage statistics from your Wireless Hotspots. Login to the same portal and you can see exactly who's using it. Wowowowow!

All the best,

Simon

The PolkaSpots Web Team have just finished the brand spanking new Wi-Fi Hotspot Login screens for our PolkaSpots Supafly Wi-Fi Hotspot customers.

Take a look here or pop down to one of our Wireless Hotspots!

We're keen to hear your feedback and if you have comments, please send them to carrots@polkaspots.com or put one in below.

It's now even more affordable to get a PolkaSpots Wireless Hotspot for your business! Attract customers to your business for just £14.99 per month*. And, from January 2010, there's no set-up cost.

What's more, you can now take advantage of a partnership between PolkaSpots and XLN telecom, an award winning business telecom provider. Get a phone line plus broadband for just £24.99 per month!

What else does your business need:

1. Cheap telephone calls
2. Affordable business broadband
3. A PolkaSpots Wireless Hotspot to attract customers
4. Customers!

About 2 weeks ago, I was sitting in a small IT room in the middle of Zambia. It was a shock arriving and more of one getting back to the friendly faces and sunny weather of London town. What was I doing there? We were asked to go over and help save their precious bandwidth.

In the Southern Province of Zambia, there's a small village called Macha; it's home to the National Malaria Institute and Linknet. For a few years, Linknet have been providing an Internet connection to the local community via an expensive satellite connection. On a daily basis over 100 user share this 128kbit/s connection - that's quite a lot of people. Access has been slow to say the least.

The have recently introduced a single PolkaSpots Wireless Hotspot box to help control the connection. Each user receives a username and password and their bandwidth is carefully monitored. Nicely done!

While providing Wireless Internet isn't necessarily superficial over here, working with the Linknet team has opened my eyes. You'll notice that our blog has been a little sparse recently - in truth, it's hard to find something interesting to write when everyone around you is only focusing on seemingly insignificant problems. Perhaps from time to time we should open our eyes and look what's actually going on around us.

Much of next year will be spent focusing on helping Linknet achieve their dream of connecting Africa. Don't worry, we won't forget about you!

If you watched BBC Watchdog last week, you will have seen their article about Wi-Fi Hotspots being unsafe. This has caused a bit of a stir in the industry and our comments have just been banned from their site...

Whilst most of the article contained well researched information, there were some glaring mistakes.

Firstly, you can protect yourself by visiting secure websites, i.e. those where you see a padlock in your browser.

Secondly, their focus on public Wi-Fi providers was irresponsible. In fact, DIY hotspots pose even more problems because they don't tend to be set up correctly and also because there are rarely any user controls.

Finally, while it is our responsibility to keep people safe, surely the companies asking for this sensitive data should make more of an effort?

Why are PolkaSpots Wi-Fi Hotspots Safe?

Firstly, if you use our broadband service, your office machines will be totally separate from the public Wi-Fi Hotspot. You get your own Wireless Modem with a WPA2 encrypted network.

Unlike the other providers, you can rest assured that only your customers are using the connection. You give your customers an access code when they want to get online. If they don't have one, they can't use it. Other providers have roaming agreements, so anyone with an iPhone (for example) can use them.

Obviously, your customers need to have a firewall on their machine and they should alway practise safe browsing ;)

Don't Panic - Practice Safe Wi-Fi Hotspots with PolkaSpots

Read more about PolkaSpots Supafly Wi-Fi Hotspots here.