Wireless Internet forum: Do you use public Wi-Fi access points?

First, the question wasn't "have you ever", the question was "would you".

Secondly, do you have any idea how many people 16% of us is? That's a lot of people...if I could start a business or service that would only be used by 16% of people that have laptops (or whatever), that would make me very happy (and potentially very rich).

Last, why lie on a voluntary, anonymous poll? That just doesn't make sense to me.

-Roger

I often use public WiFi even when my own aircard and Cradlepoint router WiFi is available. I try not to transmit or receive any information over public, or otherwise unsecured WiFi that would likely be harmful to me if it were posted on a billboard somewhere. Un-secured WiFi is that un-secure!

When I have a cable connected pc and even a Android base mobile smart phone so do I not use them when I am only checking my own emails and things like that, and if I need to use a Forum option so can I visit those anyway, and not at a public place such as a Internet Caf or similair.

When I travel and stay at a Hotel and use their WiFi connection (as opposed to a friend's home where I have a wired connection) I restrict my usage to Email and sites I do not need to log onto. In addition, all the Email accounts I use while on the road at least do an Encrypted one-time-key (CRAM-MD5) Handshake or, even better, use a SSL Session. That way my logon is protected and with the SSL Session so is my content. For those accounts that use security-by-obscurity handshakes (PLAIN or LOGON) [where the handshake is a constant or can be unBASE64'ed to expose its content] or offer only plain text logons with no option to use SSL, I do not check my email since I can wait until I get home to check these accounts. If the Hotel offers wired connections, I follow the same rules since I assume that they can listen in on the session or there can be a line monitor connected in another room. I have also found some hotels that use a SMTP Proxy to hijack the attempt to establish a Port25 connection (or who block the attempt to use Port587 to get an encrypted handshake). The worst was a proxy that claimed to offer SMTP AUTH which triggers the transmission of the UserID/PW pair and then accepted whatever was sent. This latter configuration would allow logging and stealing of these pairs so long as CRAM-MD5 was not an offered method (and which the user's MUA selected and used).

I have few reservations about using public hotspots, but I do so with the presumption that someone is looking over my shoulder - literally or figuratively. I will never do stuff like banking or anything sensitive or embarrassing. Since I don't delude myself that I'm brighter than anyone who wants my data, I just make sure my public surfing is so mundane as to present an unappealing target to anyone snooping. Nothing anyone gets from intercepting my public wifi session couldn't be obtained easier from direct access to public sites (wx, traffic data etc).

My iPhone and iPad have built in AT&T and my Vaio has built in Verizon. I'm connected to the net when and where I need too and don't have to worry about how secure the network is.

Hi there forum I am still a bit confused.
I use hotspots for 90% of my access and I avoid transmitting sensitive info but as i travel alot I video call my fam and friends so does that mean someone could actually view one or both sides of the call and if so short of isolating myself how could I be more protected?
Also I am not sure its only the data transmitted or is the data on my pc also vulnerable. Are there any programs that short of protecting me will at least inform me when someone is looking at my data

thanks Nathan at least its not readily avail in the public domain then?
It would seem from your reply that I would have had to attract someones attention sufficiently so for them to go thru the added effort.
I think for the average joe you mostly need to avoid the casual opportunistic hackers sitting in a hotspot and if you are high profile enough with sensitive enough info you would have adequate security and not use a hotspot or am I deluding myself?

OK, I am just a regular person using the laptop - I am not a computer guru. I bet there are a lot of "me's" out there reading this. I do not have a lot of knowledge about "secure" and public Wi-Fi access points. Obviously there needs to be more information directed at these risks but in simple easy-to-understand language for the common layman user. I do not understand language with all the acronyms you are using in your replies here. I use my laptop to surf the web anytime I am on vacation etc and there is a wireless connection that I can sign on to. It makes me happy to find one that is public access! Now I feel intimidated that I am putting myself at risk.

I do not do any banking on my computer but I still wonder if there is sensitive information that can put me and the common layperson at risk. Ok, so I might be dumb about all this but I'll bet a lot of the readers here are about like me.

Any time I am using a "public" hotspot, and that includes hotels with WEP or WPA, I use VPN to my home router running DD-WRT. Mind you, that is only when using my email or doing any surfing that contains passwords or other private info. For "general" surfing, I don't really care, so I don't bother invoking VPN as it does slow the connection a bit. There is a site that allows encrypted surfing through them, www.iopus.com/ipig You can also set up a server and client scenario with a computer at your home bypassing them completely. Sort of your own VPN.

not available in my area

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