• Wireless for a price – Airports, Cyber Cafes and other facilities may offer wireless access for a price. This solution usually requires the user to provide a personal credit card number, using this service may not be covered as an expense by BCOE and will require assistant superintendent’s approval for reimbursement.

• Free wireless access points – Some common rooms of hotels, and even some cities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco now have what are known as “Hot Spots.” These locations offer free wireless connectivity. When using these free locations it is important to remember that these networks are not secured and information sent across these lines may be compromised.

Scenario #1 – You are manager who is on the road most of time, you work from any space available, airports, restaurants, offices. These work locations are not BCOE or school sites.

Solution #1 -Your best option is to purchase an “anywhere wireless access card” (AWAC). The current cost of this special service is around $59.00 per month and handled like a cell phone. The request for an AWAC card must be approved by an assistant superintendent and be ordered through Maintenance and Operations using a work order.

• It is important to understand that this technology works much the same way as a cell phone service, thus many of the same problems can occur such as weak signals or no signal at all depending upon the location. The speed of this connection is about the same as a dial up modem.

Scenario #2 – You are a manager who travels a few times a year, but most “on the road” work occurs in a major hotel or convention center type facility.

Solution #2 – Your best option is to purchase internet services through the hotel. Larger hotels offer Internet Connection for around $10.00 per day and will add it on to your bill. Simply follow the directions provided in your hotel room. Note: Using this service does not require wireless technology.

When booking hotel reservations, most hotels offer Internet connectivity as one of its services.

Example:

 

When you arrive at the hotel, there are usually instructions in each room on how to connect to the Internet. The Internet in the room usually requires plugging in a network wire into the back of your laptop. This Plug will only fit into the Network port on your laptop. Turn on computer as you normally would. When you double click on the Internet Explorer, you will see a login screen similar to the example:

Follow the screen instructions.

Once you have logged in, you are ready to go.

Hotel Internet rates usually run on a 24 hour cycle make note of this.

How Do I Connect to a Wireless Network?