No, really? A wifi hotspot on a bus??
July 28th, 2005 | Published in Wifi/Internet/Broadband
I just found this very cool tool, called MacStumbler. It’s a wifi network sniffer. It will tell you what networks are around, and whether they are open or not, and what’s their strength. It’s useful to troubleshoot home hotspots, and find ones out in the world.
So I’m sitting at my now most favorite free wifi hotspot (Bart’s in Amherst - it’s quiet and easy to find an outlet) and I happen to be looking at MacStumbler at the same time as a bus drives by. The busses around here are called PVTA - for Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.
Anyway, as the bus rolls by, I see "PVTA_0333" come up on the MacStumbler, then leave! Yeah, really, really! It reminds me of the time a friend of mine and I were driving to Rhode Island on the highway. I had her laptop open, and I saw a "Ford_F350" network come, and go.
There is something called a "Stomp Box" - a wifi hotspot connected to a cellular 3G network. I think it’s a great idea for, say, an RV or something. But a car? Hmmm…. So when does this become ubiquitous? Maybe faster than we think.
