Using BT's public wi fi network

Make sure you are using secure sites (https:// rather than http://). Many of the common sites have https access as well as http.

Reply to
dennis
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BT Wi-Fi with Phon is piggy backed onto every BT infinity subscriber. So lots and lots in some areas. The subscriber can turn it off, though.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I've got that one too. Only the other day I noticed they'd stop selling them. :(

Mine's still going strong. :)

Reply to
0345.86.86.888

When you connect to an untrusted WiFi, you need to be aware that even though the connection over the wifi itself is most likely WPA or WPA2 secured, that does not mean any traffic can't be seen by the provider of that wifi.

Hence you need to make sure that you never submit any personal information via non secure web sites (i.e. those without https connections), or make connections to email servers without an encrypted session, since all that traffic could be seen by the provider of the WiFi hotspot.

Reply to
John Rumm

Or, do what I do and run a VPN server on your home LAN.

Then you can connect to that, and your connection is as secure as if you were at home [well, mostly].

Can even use a Raspberry Pi for this if you want, it's a bit pants at SSL (I never got more than about 3Mbps throughput on a Pi 2) but at the speeds you're likely to get from a FON hotspot it probably won't matter.

I used to use a Pi for this, but now I run a VPN server inside my router, which is a WNDR3700v3 running OpenWRT firmware. Magnificent.

Reply to
HarpingOn

A little contradictory though is the FAQ refering to a retail Fonera? IIRC a Fonera for Business offers the abilty to resell or somthing similar that is not in the retail version.

I've been intending to get (a retail) one for a while but it looks to late now. B-(

Mind you, in most towns you're never very far from free WiFi. Might have to "pay" by having a cup of coffee though. O2 offers free WiFi for everyone, hot spots in many big chain stores/eateries.

Some places have "metro" systems, free WiFi on the street provided by the local council.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Saving you money but the Fonera always struk me as a strange business model.

Sell something at a low price with little margin and offer free access to a huge network without any further charges. I guess BT pay a small amount per active FON connection thus providing a revenue stream to FON.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

The subscriber can turn it off, but only via his BT account, and if he does so, his password will no longer allow him free access to other people's FONs. The FON is low bandwidth so switching it off isn't going to make much of a difference if any to the speed of the main channel.

Reply to
Dave W

In theory, in practice I never got access to another network.

Reply to
Michael Chare

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