The $75 Wi-Fi Detective from StarTec is able to detect Wi-Fi networks and display information such as the signal strength, SSID, the type of network (b or g), whether it’s an infrastructure or adhoc mode, the channel and how many access points are being picked up.

The USB connection on the Wi-Fi Detective is compliant with both USB 1.1 and 2.0, and when connected to your computer will act as a wireless LAN adapter at 54Mbps making your PC a WLAN access point. It also houses a built-in rechargeable battery which will charge up whenever it’s plugged into a USB port.
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A Michigan man is being prosecuted for using a cafe's free WiFi... from his car. Sam Peterson was arrested under a Michigan law barring access to anyone else's network without authorization, according to Michigan TV station WOOD. Since the cafe's WiFi network was reserved for customers, and Peterson never came into the cafe, he was essentially piggybacking off of the open network without authorization.

Coincidentally, the cafe owner that Peterson was leeching WiFi off of didn't even realize that what Peterson was doing was a crime at the time. Neither did the police officer. "I had a feeling a law was being broken, but I didn't know exactly what," Sparta police chief Andrew Milanowski told the TV station.
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Satellite broadband may be your best bet if you're out of range of other options. Though none of the major satellite providers get high marks from users HughesNet ranks the lowest. A major reason for that being the company's daily rolling usage caps ("fair access policy"), which exist to help counter the company's overall lack of satellite capacity and FAP just got significantly worse.

Before April 18, HughesNET customers on the Professional tier could download up to 350MB in a four hour period. They've since been restricted to 375MB over a 24 hour period, after which their connections are throttled to marginally usable status for 24 hours (this used to be 12).
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AUSTIN, Texas, May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 products sporting an eye-catching new logo will soon reach store shelves, as the Wi-Fi Alliance certification program nears its late June launch. The Alliance today unveiled a re-designed consumer logo for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n Draft 2.0 products, and announced the products and reference designs that will comprise its test bed for interoperability certification.

With the potential to deliver up to five times the throughput and up to twice the range of previous-generation Wi-Fi gear, products based on the new 802.11n draft 2.0 standard can do more than ever before. Consumers will soon be able to take advantage of whole-home coverage and content-rich applications such as streaming high-definition video, online gaming with multiple users on a single network, and speedy file transfer of photos, music, and more. Enterprise users will be able to leverage 802.11n products to increase network capacity and improve robustness.

Wi-Fi certification will ease the purchase process by delivering 802.11n draft 2.0 products that have been tested for industry-wide interoperability, the very latest security protection, and backward compatibility with previous generations of Wi-Fi gear.

"We are proud of the achievement of our member companies in developing this breakthrough certification program," said Wi-Fi Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik. "This milestone means that consumers and business users alike can feel confident that the 802.11n products they buy will deliver the user experience they require."

"With the arrival of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 products, we end the practice of uncertain claims of Wi-Fi draft compliance by independent vendors," said Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst in Gartner Research. "Consumers can now purchase products with improved performance and be assured of interoperability. Prospective buyers should understand that the Wi-Fi Alliance will provide future certification for the eventual 802.11n final specification and assess their own timeframe for a movement to 802.11n."

"Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n is a game-changing milestone for Wi-Fi technology that enables the truly networked home," added Hanzlik. "With the advancements of 802.11n, Wi-Fi is the very best technology to connect computing, communication and entertainment devices. It can enable the entire family to access exciting content throughout the home, while further extending the key productivity advantages of Wi-Fi in the business setting."

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n technology holds wide consumer appeal and will propel users to use next-generation applications more frequently. Recent research from Wi-Fi Alliance and Kelton Research indicates that 78% of US Wi- Fi users are interested in upgrading their Wi-Fi systems in order to gain improved range and/or throughput. Moreover, nearly 70% of the Wi-Fi users polled indicated that a faster Wi-Fi connection would prompt them to use multimedia applications such as video and gaming more frequently.

The following companies supply the products used in the interoperability test bed, and have the first devices to become Wi-Fi CERTIFIED:

* Atheros(R) XSPAN(TM) with SST(TM) Draft 2.0 802.11n Dual-Concurrent
2.4/5GHz Router with Atheros AR7100 Series Wireless Network
Processor
* Atheros(R) XSPAN(TM) with SST(TM) Draft 2.0 802.11n Dual-Band
2.4/5GHz Card Bus
* Broadcom(R) Intensi-Fi(TM) 802.11n Router: BCM94705GMP
* Broadcom(R) Intensi-Fi(TM) 802.11n Card: BCM94321MC123
* Cisco Access Point
* Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
* Marvell(R) TopDog(TM) WLAN solutions (Station Card)
* Marvell(R) TopDog(TM) WLAN solutions (Access Point)
* Ralink MIMObility(TM) RT2800PD Chipset featuring the RT2860 802.11n
2T3R MAC/BBP and the RT2850 802.11n Dual Band RFIC
* Ralink MIMObility(TM) RT2800PD Access Point

In addition, WildPackets OmniPeek Workgroup Pro is included as a test bed software tool.

A white paper for consumers and retailers entitled "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0: Taking Wi-Fi to the Next Level," as well as a product search tool for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products, is available online at http://www.wi-fi.org.
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In May 2006, Dwight Silverman wrote that users should stay away from hardware that used early versions of a new, faster Wi-Fi standard.

At that time, what's known as the 802.11n Wi-Fi specification was in its earliest form, but the companies that sell home wireless Internet products couldn't wait for it to be firmed up.

They were already selling routers and adapters based on it, with no guarantee the hardware would be compatible with the final version of the standard. Manufacturers also couldn't promise their goods would work with those of other makers.

In short, it was a mess. But what a difference a year makes.
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Multifunction inkjet printers with built-in Wi-Fi have traditionally cost at least $250, and optional Bluetooth attachments for wireless printing add, on average, about $50 to the price of a printer. But Lexmark's 2007 printer line seeks to change that.

Of 12 printers the company says it will announce by year's end, 6 will include integrated 802.11g Wi-Fi capabilities, while 2 will provide it as a $50 option. The company has now launched the first five of these printers, including three that support Wi-Fi printing, which lets you share the printer among multiple computers.

Though we haven't officially tested the units yet--that is, put them through the PC World Test Center gauntlet--I have seen them in person, and the build quality of this series looks to be higher than that of previous Lexmark efforts. Each printer supports Windows Vista, and I've also seen Lexmark's wireless setup wizard software in action. Though the wizard does require you to first connect the printer to your computer via a USB cable, it's quite easy to follow thereafter, and it supports the major Wi-Fi security schemes--WEP, WPA, and WPA2.
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Michael Schuppenhauer, a biotechnology consultant, lives in an idyllic canyon off the Pacific Ocean near Half Moon Bay, Calif. The Internet has passed by Schuppenhauer's ranch. It's too far from the local telephone hub for a digital subscriber line, or DSL. There's no cable.

So Schuppenhauer gets broadband Internet service through a coffee-table-sized satellite dish on the side of his house that sends his Google search requests on a 44,600-mile round trip into space.

"As people start realizing that there will be Internet haves and have-nots, they will be setting up satellite dishes," Schuppenhauer said.

HughesNet and its main competitor, WildBlue Communications Inc., are betting hundreds of millions of dollars that their lock on that market will last. They're more than doubling their capacity this year with two new satellites.

That's good news for second-homers, farmers, long-distance commuters and others who are looking to get connected. However, the new satellites will do little or nothing to improve on the quality of service, which is handicapped by the capacity of the satellites and their distance from Earth.

Schuppenhauer calls his current HughesNet service "bearable." Compared to cable or DSL, it's slow and expensive — $85 a month — but it allows Schuppenhauer to work full-time from home.
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