Oklahoma Bar Association

Management Assistance Program

Logging onto the Internet from (Almost) Anywhere
By Jim Calloway, Director, OBA Management Assistance Program

I can now log onto the Internet using my laptop from almost anywhere -- roadside, lakeside or poolside. This month we are going to discuss wireless Internet access, in all of its many varieties.

The first time I heard about wireless Internet access I recall that I was quite amazed with the concept. I had long before traded dial-up access for the pleasures of a high-speed connection. I had watched the cable company employees dig trenches to install the lines to make that possible. High-speed access over thin air seemed like science fiction.

But yes, it really was true that high-speed Internet connectivity could be obtained wirelessly. Most became quickly familiar with the term “Wi-Fi.” Soon it was fairly common to see laptop users in coffee shops, restaurants, book stores and libraries taking advantage of a wireless “cloud.” Some became quite adept at ferreting out locations of hotspots. It was even possible to buy a little device to carry that would light up when you are within range of a hotspot. But these hotspots changed frequently. A reliable hotspot might mysteriously vanish or a free hotspot might install a virtual tollgate.

Many consumers purchased routers and installed wireless clouds in their homes. One no longer had to drill holes and run cable just to be able to access the Internet wherever one wished at home. Sometimes their neighbors could even take advantage. The term “wardriving” was coined to describe those who drove around in a vehicle searching for open Wi-Fi wireless networks.

The criminal element took notice. The idea that your computer could be accessed wirelessly by others with bad intentions came as a bit of a shock. Wireless routers became commonplace and cheap, so they could be easily purchased by good guys and bad guys alike. Wi-Fi security became a concern and encryption blocked many from their formerly free Internet access.

Wi-Fi Security Tip: Today if you are in an airport and your laptop detects a Wi-Fi access point called Free Airport Internet Access, it is quite possible that this free access is provided by a wrongdoer who hopes to obtain your confidential information. If the airport is really providing free wireless Internet access (and some do), there will be signage advising you of that. This is a growing problem not only confined to airports. See FBI press release “WI-FI SECURITY: Some Advice from the FBI” (5/6/08) online at http://tinyurl.com/66d7qm. Note: Just because you see a “Free Wi-Fi” indication on your laptop doesn’t mean there is a crook. A large number of laptops broadcast this now. See the link to the story explaining why at the end of this article.

Wi-Fi is very convenient and became very popular. Unveiled were grandiose visions of cities providing free wireless Internet access as a public service or for a very inexpensive service paid for on the municipal utility bill. Powerful commercial interests have now delayed or derailed that concept in most cases.

Many consumers now use their mobile phones to access the Internet from almost anywhere, even if it is on a small screen. Smart phones have become ubiquitous, although concerns about fees charged for data services, along with the learning curves, have limited the power use of data-enabled phones to a relative few. Text messaging and e-mail appear to be the most common data phone uses presently, although the new iPhone is certainly expanding that horizon, as are other phones using the 3G data transfer standard. For more information on 3G technology, see “Learning 3G-Speak” by Dennis Kennedy in the August 2008 American Bar Association Journal, online at http://tinyurl.com/58zcql. 3G stands for the third generation of phone technology. If you think that they could have come up with an easier to remember label, you should be reminded that the name for the Wi-Fi standard is IEEE 802.11 plus a letter.

So this concludes our brief summary of how wireless Internet access has evolved. But recent developments are exciting and important for the practicing lawyer – especially the practicing lawyer who has a laptop. These new developments may convince even more of you that your next personal computer should be a laptop.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF HIGH-SPEED WIRELESS

The mobile phone network now provides alternatives for high-speed wireless Internet access. Some of you may have noticed the new series of television commercials that show people logging onto the Internet from various remote, out-of-the- way locations with no more searching for a hot spot to have Internet access. This technology again looks too good to be true, but it is certainly true. But, it is not free. Not even close to free.

The ability to log onto the Internet from a laptop computer almost anywhere is significant. For lawyers, this new type of Internet access is certainly worth a look.

For several months now, I’ve been using Sprint’s EVDO service. EVDO stands for Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only. (You will not need to ever know that again.)

What you do need to know is that if you plug an EVDO modem into your laptop (or desktop or router) and subscribe to an EVDO service, you will be able to get high-speed Internet access anywhere you can get a mobile phone signal. EVDO is not the only game in town. All of the major mobile companies are offering these high speed wireless services. Before I attempt to cover some of the details and options, let’s just discuss what that means for us.

Trial lawyers can sit at the counsel table with full Internet access for their laptops in most any courtroom. The lawyer can e-mail anyone at the office (or elsewhere), do legal research if a novel matter presents itself, use search engines to fact check expert witness testimony and log into their office remote access for other needs.

Emergencies can be handled more quickly. More importantly, decisions about the relative nature of an emergency can be made by the lawyer quickly. Imagine the lawyer who is on a two-hour drive back from a series of depositions. The lawyer’s mobile phone rings. An important client is in your office and is extremely angry about a document they just received. The secretary is a bit unclear about the situation. “Offer the client some coffee and tell them to have a seat. Then scan the document and e-mail it to me. I’ll pull over at the next rest stop and review it. Then I’ll call you right back.”

A lawyer can use this access to be more efficient. Lawyers can make better use of spare moments. If you arrive somewhere 30 or 40 minutes early, you might have time to boot up your laptop and review some documents, answer e-mail or do most anything that one might do at the office. (Yes, I can hear the Blackberry users now rising up and saying, “but we can do that from our ‘Berries.” I agree. But if I am going to type a document or e-mail more than a sentence or two, I’d rather have a full-sized keyboard. (Although I admit I have seen some impressive thumb typing.)

After purchasing the modem and paying setup fees, the service costs just under $60 per month for unlimited Internet access. I’m not sure most of us have either the expertise or discipline to pay for a limited number of megabytes per month. My estimation was that opting for a limited plan would likely cost more when the monthly over-limit charges were accessed.

Even though the service is fairly expensive, if you are a frequent traveler, its use might save you money from time to time. It is apparently a universal fact that the more expensive your hotel room is, the less likely that you will be able to have free Internet service in your room. This is often $15 or more per day. (Conversely, budget priced hotels often have signs visible touting their free Internet access.) Free airport Internet access is a true rarity unless you are an airline club member. So if you find yourself frequently paying for Internet access while on the road or spending time driving around trying to locate a restaurant, coffee shop or parking lot with a free Wi-Fi cloud, you might be a candidate for this new breed of wireless.

Using these wireless data networks means greater security than Wi-Fi. As noted previously, a Wi-Fi hotspot can be set up by anybody whether they have much technical expertise or not. Generally speaking when you login to a hotspot it is an unsecured, “open” type of connection. Some lawyers will not be comfortable using an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot. Certainly the data flowing through the hotspot can theoretically be accessed by the hotspot owner. As a practical matter, this is not likely to be the case, but one cannot make such assumptions. There is also some concern that other users of the same cloud could read your files on your PC. If your laptop is properly secured with a firewall and file sharing disabled, that is likely not a huge risk. But, unfortunately, it is hard to quantify the risk. Law firm IT departments can address the risk with their lawyers.

As for me, I now leave the Wi-Fi access on my laptop disabled. I don’t need a hot spot with my EVDO modem.

A few comments about the term “high-speed” are probably in order here. There are lots of technical details, but generally speaking, in an urban area you will get speeds near DSL while in some rural areas, you might get dropped down to something called 1xRTT (one times Radio Transmission Tech-nolo-gy) which is two to three times faster than dial-up. That actually sounds slower than it is. No matter what your connection, the download speed is always much faster than the upload speed. This means reasonably fast service, unless you are sending large e-mail attachments or doing other uploading functions. There are some charts about download and upload speed in the “what is EVDO?” link below.

But, as I noted, EVDO offered by Sprint and Verizon is not the only option.

AT&T Wireless provides you information on its LaptopConnect solution at www.wireless.att.com.

Many data-capable handsets can be used as wireless modems by “tethering” them to your phone handset by either a USB cable or a Bluetooth connection. Read more about that at AT&T’s page on the topic, http://tinyurl.com/3bjyz3.

Alltel also had information about wireless Internet cards at its Web site, www.alltell.com.

If you are using another wireless carrier, you should contact them for more information about their available plan.

The purpose of this article was to make all Oklahoma lawyers aware of this technology and its potential.

Many litigation firms have already added this new tool to their technology toolbox. Other lawyers are still trying to make sure their laptops are accepted in the courtroom. Some will be puzzled as to why a smartphone does not meet all data access needs. But for some of you, a wireless access modem for your laptop may be just the tool you need.

Other Sources of Information

The “Free Public Wi-Fi” SSID story

www.wlanbook.com/free-public-wifi-ssid/

What is EVDO?

www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/37/61/

Easy EVDO

www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/1896/63

www.evdoforums.com/

http://evdomaps.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution-Data_Optimized