Quote:
Originally Posted by The Killer Rabbit
Just spent a night in southfield CT at a TA, and wanted an internet connection.
Well I tried to get a ta connection but got a flyin J connection instead...thing is, there isnt a flyin J around for ...wow...a hundred or so miles?
TKR
I was just at that TA last week, if you really meant Southington [Milldale], CT, and the lady behind the counter told me that they don't even try to sell their own Wi-Fi there since Flying J leased some space on top of the motel next door and FJ's signal out powers TA's. Radio signals, one of few products someone can sell on someone else's property without getting permission.
I've only been driving a truck since March of this year, and this is only my personal experience, but I have found that Flying J has the best WiFi of the major chains, TA comes in second. I have found the worst (and most expensive BTW) is SiriComm, the service offered at Pilot, Petro and Love's. I signed up for a 3 month sub with FJ, and will buy a TA connection by the day if I can only get that. The SiriComm, I will only buy if that is all I can get and I REALLY feel the need to get on the net, otherwise it ain't worth paying for the frustration. Oh, and I did try the WiFi at an IdleAire location, and it seemed to be pretty good too. (they offer WiFi incase you don't want to rent that yellow tube)
I've never tried one of those cell phone cards, I almost let a guy at Interstate Connections in a Petro talk me into a Cingular card, but reading the fine print it said I couldn't download audio and video over their connection (prohibited). One of the things I like to do is visit the websites of my hometown TV stations and watch news videos from my area.
There are a lot of access points out there today. I remember in 2002, when I first put WiFi in my home so I could take my laptop from room to room, I found a program called NetStumbler (it finds and logs access points). I went for a cruise with a friend around our hometown of Grand Rapids, MI using my laptop with WiFi and that program. We thought it was cool that we "sniffed out" 20 access points around town. A couple years later, we did the same thing and found over 1000! The technique is called 'Wardriving" as a takeoff on "War Dialing" in the movie "War Games". FINDING them can be fun and is legal, USING some of your finds might get you in trouble, user beware!
As truck drivers that log many driving miles per day, some of you may find this program of interest. Admittedly, the info has no real value, but it is amusing to see how many access points (public and private) are out there. The progam is free and can be downloaded at
www.netstumbler.com. Just leave your laptop, wireless adaptor and that program running as you drive along all day (or night). When you end your day, you can see how many access points you passed during your journey. You can watch it as you drive, but I do not advise this for liablity purposes.
It also gives audio signals with each new signal found, but that can be turned off.
I always have my laptop on anyway to run my DeLorme Street Atlas with Earthmate GPS for routing and current location info, so this is just a little something extra. A couple other things of interest along the same lines, I use a program called Franson GPS Gate (this one ya gotta pay for)
www.franson.com/gpsgate , it will share your GPS and it's data with multiple applications at the same time. (like running 2 map programs, if you have enough processor to do it) The NetStumbler program will use GPS data to mark a location of the strongest signal reading of each access point it logs. If you add to all this a program called WiMap
http://www.honet.com/WiMap/ (another free one) that will convert the data file that NetStumbler creates into data that can be read by DeLorme S/A and will put an overlay on the map and give a visual of all the access points and where you found them. It even puts a different mark for those AP's using WEP and those not using it. This can only be done AFTER the file is saved, it will not plot locations on the map in "Real Time".
As a newbie, I don't have a lot of driving advice to give, but I know about this stuff and have learned alot here, so I thought I would share. I'm sure this may not appeal to all, but there may be more geeks like me out there. And this was a way to pass some time as I earn a 34 hour restart here in Mill Hall, PA.
OH, one more thing, for anyone that trys this, don't be disappointed if you don't log 1000 access points. Remember I did this from a CAR and drove past office buidings and apartment complexes, your results along the open road may vary. (but I am sure you will find many)
Keep the bugs off your glass,
and the bears off your...
We gone, bye bye
-CW McCall, "Convoy"
*(sorry, I just felt I needed a goofy tag line)