London, Wifi, or CyberCafe?

What would worry me a little is the legal aspect

There are two ways to use FON

1) Alien - you don't own an access point and pay to use FON's access
points

2)Linus or Bill - you make your access point accessible for FON users
and use all FON access points for free.

In case 1) you have to use your credit card/debit card/paypal account
to pay for fon, so you are traceable. In case 2) your IP address is
recorded when you install FON on your wi-fi router, so you are
traceable via your broadband provider.

If you are extremely paranoid, just use FON in alien mode - it's not
that expensive

Ohterwise, if you become a Linus/Bill and someone abuses your
connection, there is the small risk the police may search your house,
but ultimately you won't be held responsible because there is proof it
was someone else.

There are two ways to use FON

2)Linus or Bill - you make your access point accessible for FON users
and use all FON access points for free.

Yes, that's the attractive idea of FON I think, but also the one that
worries me. There are plenty of WLAN hotspots where you can pay
for access.

Ohterwise, if you become a Linus/Bill and someone abuses your
connection, there is the small risk the police may search your house,
but ultimately you won't be held responsible because there is proof it
was someone else.

What exactly would the proof be? Does the router preserve log files
and if so for how long? Suppose somebody really uploads the newest
hollywood hit through my ip, and six weeks later a summons arrives
in the post? What proof can I concretely offer that a court would
accept?

David

What exactly would the proof be? Does the router preserve log files
and if so for how long?

The router doesn't but the fon network keeps track of where and when
each fonero has accessed the network.

David Johnstone wrote:
Danglerb wrote:
Adding a wifi sdio card to the M515 is nuts, cards start at $50, and
other PDAs with builtin wifi aren't much more on ebay.

Really? I hadn't realised that built-in WLAN PDA's were so cheap. In
that case you are right. If you're talking about used devices though of
course you have to remember (as with laptops) that the rechargable
battery of suchlike is the weak point.

David

Used doesn't bother me, I did pay a bit more than average to buy my
used M515 specifically because they listed the battery as being in good
condition (and it wasn't), but a new battery wasn't all that bad (OK,
it was, but thats because I bought a 1000mah and stripped a screw
opening up the palm, but now its great runtime).

Decent used PDA with wifi is about $125, but that buys a fairly
powerfull unit.

I signed up and ordered a fon.com wifi, but looks like it will arrive a
week after I leave for London, but I think I could sign up if I find
another one to "borrow". I looked at a few map areas and really nothing
was remotely close to anyplace I have in mind of going.

I am still shopping on a notebook, either a used Dell C400, or maybe a
new Dell 1405 or B120. Two touchpoint users in the family I have to
keep happy.

In article .com,
"Danglerb" wrote:

Prices seem hard to pin down, but it looks like the hotel we plan to
stay in, Kings Cross Holiday Inn Express, which shouts about its wifi
in all the ads charges £9/hr for it. ;(

Its making me question my whole plan of taking a laptop with us on our
two week trip, as opposed to stopping in some kind of cybercafe and
using the system they provide for a halff hour or so to check email and
skip any game playing plans etc.

I did some searching with jiwire.com, and found something called Bingo,
but despite the monthly charge most locations also had a per minute
charge, and weren't really located conveniently to our travel.

Any ideas, opinions, or suggestions?

I just spent a week in London. Had taken a laptop to Paris the week
before where connectivity was part of the rent.

Olympia Hilton wanted 15 pounds a day or 75 pounds a week.

About a kilometer down the street is the Easy Internet on High Street
Kensington. Their posted rate is 15 pounds for the whole week IIRC.
However, that was for using their computers, not using your own laptop.
I'd used EasyInternet at Piazza Barberini in Rome for 35 euro for a
week, which let me use my laptop.

I couldn't find anyone there but looking around, there were no power
outlets, no ethernet connections. So I just assumed they didn't have an
easy way to support using your own laptop.

I got a good rate for the Hilton so I bit the bullet and did the one
week. Really useful using Frommers and TimeOut for things like
restaurant reviews or finding the closest Tescos or similar stores. Also
the TFL Journeyplanner site as well as checking weather.

I went to the British Library. Lots of people using their laptops, some
even connecting their laptops to the power plugs there. I just assumed
it was free Wifi there. But looking around at signs, it appears you
still need to subscribe to some service over there.

Well supposedly Paris is talking about doing a blanket wireless cloud on
the city as well as fiber connections.

Would like to see London do the same but who knows. Free museums but
really stiff hotel taxes, congestion charges and talk about additional
tourism taxes.

poldy wrote:

[]
I just spent a week in London. Had taken a laptop to Paris the week
before where connectivity was part of the rent.

Olympia Hilton wanted 15 pounds a day or 75 pounds a week.

About a kilometer down the street is the Easy Internet on High Street
Kensington. Their posted rate is 15 pounds for the whole week IIRC.
However, that was for using their computers, not using your own laptop.
I'd used EasyInternet at Piazza Barberini in Rome for 35 euro for a
week, which let me use my laptop.

I couldn't find anyone there but looking around, there were no power
outlets, no ethernet connections. So I just assumed they didn't have an
easy way to support using your own laptop.

I got a good rate for the Hilton so I bit the bullet and did the one
week. Really useful using Frommers and TimeOut for things like
restaurant reviews or finding the closest Tescos or similar stores. Also
the TFL Journeyplanner site as well as checking weather.

I went to the British Library. Lots of people using their laptops, some
even connecting their laptops to the power plugs there. I just assumed
it was free Wifi there. But looking around at signs, it appears you
still need to subscribe to some service over there.

Well supposedly Paris is talking about doing a blanket wireless cloud on
the city as well as fiber connections.

Would like to see London do the same but who knows.

Actually London is a bit further along already with this, but it won't
be free, and I'd bet it won't be free in Paris either.

Around 150 BT payphones in central London are now wifi points. The
combined area they cover is fairly impressive. That's in addition to the
hundreds of other BT openzones wifi points in London bars, stations etc.

This is happening in other cities across the UK.

As I'm on a subscription, it's very cheap for me. As a visitor, you'd
probably be stuck at the moment having to buy a £40 voucher, but that
would last a month, or 4,000 minutes, whichever comes first. For longer
term stays, that would be a good option. It's a pity that they don't
have a weekly subscription though- maybe one will come along. Generally,
I've found that the pricing for this is going down, not up.

Unless you've got very heavy use while aroad, you might find a
subscription in your home country is useful for roaming elsewhere. I did
this recently in the US, roaming with t-mobile on my BT susbcription.
This was convenient as it was available in my hotel, and many other
places. It cost 6p a minute, and even with a couple of hours usage
spread over three days, cost a lot less than taking out a daily
subscription.

I think I've posted here before that the apple store on Regent Street
has free wifi, and a few power points as well. The 'drawback' is that
you have to sit in the small theatre while people do presentations on
various apple software.

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org

Our trip costs spiraled way out of sight long ago, so I decided not to
let it bother me, just wave it in front of the wife when we get home
and I go shopping for a big screen display.

I am bidding away on ebay right now for a ultraportable PC (12"
screen), and when I wake up in a few hours I will be going after a
Tmobile phone that will work prepaid here in the US as well as the UK
with a sim transplant. The laptop will have Skype on it, so we can call
home free with a wifi, and hopefully call whichever of us is carrying
the Tmobile.

I just bought a wall AC USB charger that claims to wiggle its prongs
and be happy in US or UK sockets, and that will keep my Palm going.
Looks like all I need on the PC is a UK IEC power cord, or one of those
adapters that don't change the voltage.

Thanks for all the help.

Danglerb wrote:

I signed up and ordered a fon.com wifi, but looks like it will arrive a
week after I leave for London, but I think I could sign up if I find
another one to "borrow". I looked at a few map areas and really nothing
was remotely close to anyplace I have in mind of going.

Unfortunately this seems to be an inevitable weak point in the idea.
I found the same, looking at the distribution. Obviously most of the
hotspots are going to end up in residential areas where few tourists
go, and where you would be lucky to find a cafe or a comfortable
park bench with reception. It's a pity, I like the idea of a free WLAN
community.

David

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:16:19 -0700, poldy wrote:

I went to the British Library. Lots of people using their laptops, some
even connecting their laptops to the power plugs there. I just assumed
it was free Wifi there. But looking around at signs, it appears you
still need to subscribe to some service over there.


The BL service is provided by the Cloud who have just offered a
service for around £12/month but you can also use the BL while roaming
on other services. Short (1 hour/1 day/1 week) chunks of airtime are
sold there. I don't have the prices to hand but they are much cheaper
than the rates mentioned by the original poster at a Holiday Inn
Express.

Well supposedly Paris is talking about doing a blanket wireless cloud on
the city as well as fiber connections.

Would like to see London do the same but who knows. Free museums but
really stiff hotel taxes, congestion charges and talk about additional
tourism taxes.

I haven't used it but there is a now a free wireless zone in Upper
Street, Islington. Where I live in north London - admittedly not
really a tourist area - the public libraries all have free wireless.

What hotel taxes are there apart from VAT, and of course excise duty
if you buy alcohol from the hotel where you're staying?

Martin

Martin Rich wrote:

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:16:19 -0700, poldy wrote:

I went to the British Library. Lots of people using their laptops, some
even connecting their laptops to the power plugs there. I just assumed
it was free Wifi there. But looking around at signs, it appears you
still need to subscribe to some service over there.


The BL service is provided by the Cloud who have just offered a
service for around £12/month but you can also use the BL while roaming
on other services.

The Cloud, in association with BT, is the company which is installing
wifi in telephone boxes in many UK cities.

I just checked their site, and I think that this could be ideal for
visitors, as you could get access for £12 a week. This will work in
thousands of places over the UK.

http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/news/...rs-wi-offering

Poldy was prepared to pay 35 euro in Italy for a week's access in an
internet cafe, so this is a much better deal. Thanks for the heads up!

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org