How Popular of a Hotspot?

What is hotspot? Nowadays it is very popular in life and industrial area. A hotspot is a physical location where people may obtain Internet access, typically using Wi-Fi technology, via a wireless local area network (WLAN) using a router connected to an internet service provider.

In some projects, an industrial 4g router is required to work as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Industrial router’s performance is very stable while using in many applications.

There are public and private hotspots. Public hotspots may be created by a business for use by customers, such as coffee shops or hotels. Public hotspots are typically created from wireless access points configured to provide Internet access, controlled to some degree by the venue. In its simplest form, venues that have broadband Internet access can create public wireless access by configuring an access point (AP), in conjunction with a router and connecting the AP to the Internet connection. A single wireless router combining these functions may suffice.

Private hotspots may be configured via a smartphone or tablet with a mobile network data plan to allow Internet access to other devices via Bluetooth pairing or if both the hotspot device and the device/s accessing it are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

People can use a laptop or other suitable portable device to access the wireless connection (usually Wi-Fi) provided. Of the estimated 150 million laptops, 14 million PDAs, and other emerging Wi-Fi devices sold per year for the last few years, most include the Wi-Fi feature.

In the other hand, hotspot also brings some potential security issues in actual usage. Security is a serious concern in connection with public and private hotspots. There are three possible attack scenarios. First, there is the wireless connection between the client and the access point, which needs to be encrypted, so that the connection cannot be eavesdropped or attacked by a man-in-the-middle attack. Second, there is the hotspot itself. The WLAN encryption ends at the interface, then travels its network stack unencrypted and then, third, travels over the wired connection up to the BRAS of the ISP.

Depending upon the set up of a public hotspot, the provider of the hotspot has access to the metadata and content accessed by users of the hotspot. The safest method when accessing the Internet over a hotspot, with unknown security measures, is end-to-end encryption. Examples of strong end-to-end encryption are HTTPS and SSH.

Some hotspots authenticate users; however, this does not prevent users from viewing network traffic using packet sniffers. Some vendors provide a download option that deploys WPA support. This conflicts with enterprise configurations that have solutions specific to their internal WLAN.

Often free hotspots operate in two ways: Using an open public network is the easiest way to create a free hotspot. All that is needed is a Wi-Fi router. Similarly, when users of private wireless routers turn off their authentication requirements, opening their connection, intentionally or not, they permit piggybacking (sharing) by anyone in range.

Closed public networks use a HotSpot Management System to control access to hotspots. This software runs on the router itself or an external computer allowing operators to authorize only specific users to access the Internet. Providers of such hotspots often associate the free access with a menu, membership, or purchase limit. Operators may also limit each user's available bandwidth (upload and download speed) to ensure that everyone gets a good quality service. Often this is done through service-level agreements.

There are many detailed applications of commercial hotspot, such as a captive portal/login screen/payment. A payment option using a credit card, iPass, PayPal, A walled garden feature that allows free access to certain sites.

Major airports and business hotels are more likely to charge for service, though most hotels provide free service to guests; and increasingly, small airports and airline lounges offer free service. Retail shops, public venues and offices usually provide a free Wi-Fi SSID for their guests and visitors.

No matter you decide to buy a home-use router or an industrial router, now hotspot feature is basic and it seems that our daily life becomes relay on it.

For more information, please visit E-Lins Technology!