Internet connection in Tornado Alley...

[mrobinson]

Also worth noting is that alot of states are putting wifi hotspots in all of their rest stops along the highways. I believe Texas has started doing this in the panhandle and Iowa has started this in SW/SC IA along I-80.. its hit and miss now which ones have it but soon they will have them in all of them.

I got quite excited a couple weeks ago when I drove past a "Rest Stop Ahead" sign in Iowa on I35 that said it had WiFi... This was the first rest-stop in IA I've seen that has had WiFi, but I read somewhere that all IA stops should have them soon. TX and IA are all I've seen as far as Wifi rest-stops on the plains... Hopefully other states can join along. Interestingly, there are some cities which have Wifi nearly city-wide (Seattle, I believe, has city-wide Wifi, and there are plans for it in Philadelphia, though city-wide WiFi doesn't have much to do w/ chasers).

I've heard recently that this is being considered in Nebraska. I know that Cisco has Wifi towers all over this area and out in the boonies too although its currently locked.. I heard somewhere they were in negotiation with the state to use their existing towers for rest stops... fingers crossed.

I think that within the next 3-5 years most states will have wifi in the rest stops.. at least the big travel plaza ones.

 

[bill mudd]

Best idea Ive found is to use your cell phone to call your wife / friend whoever has a laptop - when WIFI or Cingular isnt working well - weather channel till 11:00 am, lunch and then visual observations

Ive got the Buffalo WIFI that robs signals for free when its working - I use it with a Cantenna at truck stops and KOA's with some success - the signal needs to be 70% or more - but once you are on a storm say by 3:00 or 4:00 none of this technology matters - lick your index finger and place it in the air
good luck

 

[Russel Parsons]

McDonald's and Wayport Are Offering WIFI At Many Locations

I have learned that McDonald's and Wayport are offering WIFI connections at many of their establishments in Kansas and Oklahoma. I used it for the first time, here in Pittsburg, Kansas, a couple of days ago. The basic price includes two hours of connect time for $2.95. The speeds were just as fast as my home broadband connection. If you need more information about pricing or hotspot locations, you can visit these websites.

General Information: www.wayport.net/wifiworld

Wayport Hotspot Locations: www.wayport.net/locations

 

[William Rayner]

I tried truckstop.net last May. Signed up for the monthly option, I recall, & paid with a credit card. Couldn’t get my laptop to connect with the net, but that is almost certainly my fault. It was a new laptop and I probably didn’t set up the wireless card properly. The thing with truckstop.net, though, is that I thought I was getting a month’s linkup, but they continued billing me after I got home. Told me that I had signed up in perpetuity. We soon got that straightened out, but anybody using truckstop better read the fine print. I will looking for wifi again this spring and am encouraged by the info that many fast-food joints, etc., will have hotspots. Now all I have to do is get the card to work.
The other reason I got a laptop was to plug into my aol account from a hotel’s dataport when I’m travelling. That worked great. I also noticed that many truck stop cafes and other places have dataports where you can plug in your laptop’s phone jack. That worked great, too. I was able to check out Tim V’s updates while on the road, as well as the internet weather sites.
William Rayner

 

[bill mudd]

Well watch out for a browser invasion when you plug in anywhere - I was in Lawrence Kansas in May and stayed in a very expensive hotel where I plugged into their outlet and got the worst browser invasion, dont remember the name but it really sucked big time

 

[Tim Johnson]

browser invasion

??? What exactly is a browser invasion? A virus of some sort?

 

[bill mudd]

your computer defaults to this unchosen browser setting no matter what you do in "internet settings - browser" - I ended up having to do a system recovery because the experts said it was imbedded on my hard drive - so from now on no hotel plug ins for me I had to reinstall everything!!!
Oh yea the browser was called "FAST SEARCH" anyone heard of it? or this problem?
bill

 

[GPhillips]

Originally posted by bill mudd
your computer defaults to this unchosen browser setting no matter what you do in \"internet settings - browser\" - I ended up having to do a system recovery because the experts said it was imbedded on my hard drive - so from now on no hotel plug ins for me I had to reinstall everything!!!
Oh yea the browser was called \"FAST SEARCH\" anyone heard of it? or this problem?
bill

Sounds like somehow, somewhere on the internet you got spyware installed. I've never had any problem like that hooking up in a hotel/motel.

 

[Tim Johnson]

Yeah, this sounds more like spyware of some sort. I could be wrong, but I don't think the connection source would have anything to do with it. This could happen with any connection provided you surfed onto the wrong site. I wonder if that hotels network had some sort of infection? <sigh> I hate spyware/viri