Wi-Fi Networking: Can't Live With It...

A few tips for the most frustrating (and indispensable) technology around.

Harry McCracken is editor in chief of PC World.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." So Arthur C. Clarke famously postulated in his Third Law. I'm pretty confident he wasn't talking about Wi-Fi networking. (Okay, I'm positive: He wrote that in 1962.)

But every time I convince myself that Wi-Fi is indeed a minor miracle, something happens to remind me that it's really nothing more than another majorly glitch-prone technology. Advanced, definitely; sufficiently advanced, definitely not.

Helping you wrangle insufficiently advanced technologies is one of the things PC World does best. Case in point: Reader gripes and our own Test Center travails tell us that Wi-Fi can still be a serious headache. So we asked Glenn Fleishman, the wireless guru behind Wi-Fi Networking News, to write a fix-it manual for the gnarliest hassles. The result is "Beating the Wireless Blues."

My addiction to Wi-Fi--annoyances and all--began when I first powered up my home net. These days I connect everywhere I can muster a signal, from the PC World offices to assorted airport lounges.

Even so, I learned new tricks from Fleishman's guide. And (ahem) I'd like to share a few real-world tips of my own:

Remember: You're not connected until you're connected. Someday, wireless Internet access may just be there. Right now, though, my hardware has enough trouble just figuring out whether I'm in range.

Some of this, I think, is Windows XP's fault. Last year I shut down my notebook in San Francisco and hopped on a plane to France. When I booted up in a Paris hotel, XP cheerily alerted me that it was still connected to my home network--and continued to do so (zut alors!) for the duration of my trip. (Actually, I wasn't near a hot spot at all; I resorted to dial-up.) I used to get irritated by this kind of stuff; now I just roll with the punches.

Repeat after me: "Starbucks is not an office." And neither is a hotel lobby or any other Wi-Fi-enabled public place--no matter how tempting it is to think otherwise.

On the last day of a recent trip to New York, I checked out of my hotel and headed for a Starbucks with Wi-Fi. I ordered a chai (venti, nonfat) and hunkered down to answer e-mail and exchange IMs with coworkers. For 45 minutes, all was swell.

Then it dawned on me: If I left my desk (er, table), another patron would instantly grab it. I pretended to sip from my empty cup and put off visiting the restroom. When I took a phone call and couldn't be heard over the din of nearby latte lovers, I knew it was time to call it a day.

Upgrade carefully.Time was when I bounded blithely onto every new tech bandwagon. More and more, though, I'm convinced that being conservative is sometimes the most cutting-edge thing you can do. Or the smartest, anyway. That's why I'm using an aging but reliable 802.11b network at home. When I'm ready to pump video around the house, I'll upgrade to something faster--by which time better, cheaper gear will be available.

Until you can roam, pay as you go. Every time I plop myself down at an airport gate or hotel and poke around for a Wi-Fi access point, I seem to find one run by a different provider. Roaming deals will make this all seamless someday. For now, however, I haven't committed to an all-you-can-eat account with any national network. It's still cost-effective for me to pay an hourly rate to whichever provider happens to serve the location I'm at.

Got Wi-Fi wisdom of your own? Fill me in at mageditor@pcworld.com.

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