Some progress on public Wi-Fi on Miami Beach

[Guest pod]

http://web.miamibeachfl.gov/wifi/email.aspx

Looks like they're conducting final testing on the network. If you bother to look up, you can see the APs sitting on top of lampposts and such.

So, it's about a year late, and with the private sector rolling out EV-DO, HSxPA, and WiMax at a ferocious rate, it will have some competition. Even though it's free. Most people I know, other than the true cheapskates, will pay for reliability rather than take something that's so-so for free.

[Guest jbit]

Its going to be like the wild west down there when people start using the service. 99% of people that use wi-fi have no idea what a security threat it causes if you dont take the necessary precautions. Even then, its not really all that secure. Hackers are going to have a field day.

[Guest pod]

The site doesn't say much on security. What I'm guessing is that maybe each of these APs might support multiple SSIDs of some sort, whereas the "public" one will be an open service, and the official one will be secure and probably not broadcast it's SSID, i.e. you have to know it to use it. Not much of a security layer, but that first step will keep casual hackers out.

My main concern is usability. They need to update their site before this goes live, explaining that this is a "best-effort" sort of thing, and that no one should expect to be able to ditch AT&T or Atlantic because of this. If you can, more power to ya, but I wouldn't count on it. Be nice as a backup though after a hurricane, as I would guess they'd get this put back up really quick.

Plus, it uses WiMax for the backhaul, so it's not like each AP is subject to the landline system.

[ryan2772]

being on the 5th floor of an apt bldg, think i'll get a good signal?

[Guest pod]

They don't make any promises at all, especially above the third floor.

In a word, no. I wouldn't ditch your AT&T or Atlantic if you're on 5. A mutual friend of ours siphoned Wi-Fi for a bit but eventually caved since she was tired of having intermittent signal. Getting a Wi-Fi signal from these would be chancy at best on the 5th floor.

[ryan2772]

ok, thank you.

i'll stick to stealing my neighbor's signal.

[Guest pod]

Heh, just be thankful people are fairly ignorant when it comes to securing their APs.

Generally, the biggest complaint I hear from people hijacking their neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi is the unreliability of the connection. Wi-Fi is "advertised" as going a couple hundred feet from the AP, but I would say it's probably about half that in the real world, from your bog-standard Linksys AP. We use a (secured!) Linksys AP here at the HQ for our Wi-Fi users (everyone is generally on gigabit hardline) and it peters out after 50 or feet. Outdoors, maybe 150.

At the homestead, I have installed a commercial-grade outdoor router which does a lot better. It serves all of a ten-unit apartment building. Now, windy moralizing aside, I generally advise everyone I know to suck it up and get their own connection. Depending on the size of your building, and the tech-savvy-ness of your landlord, you might be able to do what I do and have Wi-Fi for the entire building.

[Guest ramon]

dan ,

any idea what kind of radio's they are using for the backhaul? there's not many WiMax gear out there.

[Guest pod]

I looked it up awhile back when I noticed an antenna one day, it had the manufacturer's logo on it. I'll look at it again today to get a name .