WiFi Gone Wild

b4k4 writes "According to this news release, the Texas Department of Transportation is proposing to install hotspots at all 84 Safety Rest Stops and 12 Travel Information Centers statewide. This would be in addition to the four test locations already in place along US287." Reader polluted notes that Portland is working on free WiFi. An anonymous reader sent in word of this year's wifi-shootout, a contest to maximize the range for an 802.11b connection. And Roland Piquepaille writes in regarding cows wearing WiFi collars, which I'm afraid reminds me of a crummy sci-fi movie.

Saftey measures...

[Ninwa (583633)]

The places that have wireless networks should also issue handouts concerning possible security problems to cover their butts. How long until you hear someone getting sued because someone borked their computer over a wireless network?

Crowding

[officepotato (723274)]

Won't this cause parking problems as people stay at rest stops as long as their battery lasts, rather than long enough to do their business?

Re:Crowding

[gl4ss (559668)]

why would they waste their time there, just for fun?

I think you think that there's more nerds out there than there is.

However truck drivers & others who are forced to spent some time on these stops would really benefit from this.

Re:Crowding

[Paulrothrock (685079)]

My Pontiac Vibe GT has a 115 volt outlet. Screw my battery, how long can I sit at idle with my A/C on?!?

Re:Crowding

[Jahf (21968)]

Set a 1 or 2 hour time limit on the DHCP lease and only lease to a MAC once per day. Sure, you will get the occasional geek who knows how to change their MAC, but it prevents the majority of the problem.

I'm more curious to know when the first hackers are going to realize how easily they can be anonymous. And I'm sure someone will say "they'll probably have cameras" but with a pringles can you don't need to be near that camera.

Re:Crowding

[AubreyTurner (102032)]

I stopped at one of these rest stops in Hardemon county last week on the way to Colorado. I was surprised at just how nice this stop was compared to the older ones. The bathrooms were new and clean and the place included an information kiosk with an Old-West information display in the main building along with a playground for the kids on the side and several covered tables for picnics. It was really quite nice.

I vaguely recall seeing something about internet access there, but didn't really have time to

A whole 'herd' of new excuses?

[plover (150551)]

"Sorry, my access point grazed out of range."

"How would you like your firewall? Rare, medium, or well?"

Re:A whole 'herd' of new excuses?

[chabotc (22496)]

FYI, while your remark was quite funny i think you forgot to follow the link. While the headline does insinuate herding WiFi access points, thats not what it's actually about

It talkes about setting up programmable Virtual Fences (as you already have for dogs) so that multiple herds can be remote controlled from a central location..

Re:A whole 'herd' of new excuses?

[plover (150551)]

No, I read the link. And the "virtual fences" don't work the same way as they do for dogs. The dog radio containment systems I'm familiar with use a buried antenna wire to mark the dog's range -- if the dog approaches the wire, they're corrected. The cow collars actually have GPS receivers, and the rancher downloads a "virtual fence" to the collar. The corrections come whenever the collar detects the animal has strayed, and the cow is "rewarded" by not being shocked when it's heading home.

The cow coll

Re:A whole 'herd' of new excuses?

[chabotc (22496)]

AC Wrote: /me imagines the effect of the release of the CowBlaster worm.

Hmmm good inspiration! Hell you wouldn't even need to write a worm or virus to wreck some serious havoc.. Just install a WiFi jammer in your van, drive by the grazing fields, and let the stampedes begin! Could give a whole new meaning to war-driving :-)

can always get your /.

[millahtime (710421)]

Now, nerds in texas can always get their /. fix when traveling. They just have to stop of at a rest area, get some vending machine food, a soda, stop off at mr. porclyn and /.

Although, hopefully not all at the same time.

Re:can always get your /.

[DrEldarion (114072)]

Chips, soda, the toilet, and slashdot.

Just like home!

Re:can always get your /.

[southpolesammy (150094)]

...stop off at mr. porclyn and /.

Well, that would explain some of the shitty moderation going on here lately...

Re:can always get your /.

[kemapa (733992)]

Now, nerds in texas can always get their /. fix when traveling. They just have to stop of at a rest area, get some vending machine food, a soda, stop off at mr. porclyn and /.

Although, hopefully not all at the same time.

This brings up an interesting problem with the proposed hotspots. Only people traveling can really take advantage of them. You see, I live in Texas and have traveled all around the state. Most of Texas is not populated and you drive hours without seeing anything but rest stops (and eve

Re:can always get your /.

[CreatureComfort (741652)]

The big practical use for this is to truckers. They are required by law to "rest" (read that as do anything other than drive a truck) for a certain number of hours each day, and this requirement has recently increased the number of hours. What the state is hoping to accomplish is that by giving truckers more amenities along the road they will be more willing to follow the regs and less likely to "push it".

WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[aussie_a (778472)]

I have to admit, I'm becoming annoyed with WiFi. Not because I think there is anything wrong with it, but for the simple reason that if there is ANYTHING involving networks, out comes WiFi.

Why is WiFi so great? And why is everyone working to provide free access to it? Free acces (as in beer) is great. But I just have one question. Why?

Sure it's convenient and everything, but governments, businesses and individuals are all doing this. Providing free WiFi. Why? What payoff does everyone get?

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[cuzality (696718)]

Wi-fi is the next 'bathroom' -- every customer-service-oriented business will have to have it, even though you get nothing out of it, and in fact it costs you money, but if you don't have it you're not a 'complete' business.

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[Paulrothrock (685079)]

A better example would be air conditioning. When most people couldn't afford it for their homes, they would go to places that had A/C, like movie theatres. They used to advertise it. Broadband+WiFi will be similar, except that in addition to expense, you have expertise that people lack to implement a home WiFi solution.

Personal Story: I have a laptop with WiFi and I went to the only Starbucks in town for some coffee. They didn't have WiFi there, so I went to Panera Bread Company to get a drink. The coffee was worse, but they had WiFi, so I stayed for three hours!

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[Concerned Onlooker (473481)]

The coffee was worse, but they had WiFi, so I stayed for three hours!

I see your point about wi-fi getting you to go there in the first place, but I would think that any shop selling coffee drinks might be more interested in getting you out as well as in. You may have hung out for three hours, but did you buy more than one thing during that time?

It seems like the negatives could equal the benefits for the coffee shop. People come in but they hang out, taking up seating space and preventing new customers

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[jc42 (318812)]

Here in the Boston/Cambridge area, the first cafes that got wifi access points reported that the extra business paid the monthly cost in 2 or 3 days. As more places got wifi, this time may have gone up, but not by that much.

Most food places are full for only a few hours three times a day. They are nearly empty other times. An access point doesn't increase your business during the mealtimes, but it does increase business the rest of the day.

For a similar situation, back when I was in grad school, many o

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[TheRealFixer (552803)]

Yeah, except when nature calls I'm not running around looking for a hotspot.

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[Paulrothrock (685079)]

What payoff does everyone get?

Maybe they get a better connected populous. Or businesses move into the area, or people who use WiFi are generally wealthier, so tax revenues go up without raising rates. If the entire city of Portland had free WiFi, I'd overlook the whole earthquake thing and move out there.

Re:WiFi WiFi WiFi *yawn*

[by Anonymous Coward]

In this case, I heard the point was to encourage motorist to take more time at rest stop to actually *rest*. Apparently too many of us Texans like driving for extended periods without taking enough breaks. So I guess its safety thing...

Pre-emptive Personal Telcos

[philntc (735836)]

How long before telcos ship integrated devices that include DSL modem and wifi, all interoperable with VoIP networks?

They could still make money on the DSL subscriptions and do and end-run around the grassroots personal telcos.

APs along the Interstate

[moorg (537751)]

Some truck stops in Texas already have WiFi access (though not free) via a service for truckers [truckstop.net].

From my wardrive along the interstate it can be debated that there are enough hot spots already [calebgroom.com].

All joking aside I can't wait for there to be legitimate free APs.

Kindergarten

[Viceice (462967)]

"Now children, who weould like to tell me what are the inportant things cows provide us with?"

"Meat, Milk, and Internet!"

Will this help?

[thedillybar (677116)]

"Knowing free Internet service is available at our rest areas will get drivers to make regular stops. Since fatigue is a factor in 1.5 percent of all crashes, anything we can do to get people to pull off the road and take a break is going to make our highways safer."

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of wireless Internet at every rest area.

But what happens when truckers (and the rest of us) stay up surfing all night instead of sleeping?

Why stop at wildlife?

[laigle (614390)]

We could put wifi repeaters in every car, put a solar powered unit (with a battery back, of course) on every street corner, build them into streetlights. Once they get small enough, every cellphone, pager, and PDA could be a repeater and the entire national voice network could go VOIP in a giant P2P network.

Of course, then we have to find a way to pay for it all. But hey, people need wifi access at rest stops and such. I mean, what are you going to do if you're out of internet access range for a few hours?

Re:Why stop at wildlife?

[dirkdidit (550955)]

You know, people used to think the same thing back when the cell phone first came out. Most people thought it was completely unnecessary to have a phone with them wherever they went. Now look at it. Everybody and their friend has a cell phone. Hell, some people have two. And you can now get cell phone coverage just about anywhere you travel.

My point is, the internet is a luxury that we've come to expect and rely on, way too much sometimes. Eventually it will work its way in to everything and people will

Yesterday

[Brie and gherkins (778845)]

I didn't connect to the internet wirelessly or wirely, and I had a good productive day.

For those that bothered to RTFA

[Dracolytch (714699)]

Any ideas on how to keep those zap-collars working for extended periods? I'd think that replacing/recharging all those batteries would almost be as much work as herding the darn things.

~D

Re:For those that bothered to RTFA

[CreatureComfort (741652)]

Maybe methane [slashdot.org]?

Fleecing of America..

[ltm (542708)]

I'm sorry to all you tin-foil hat 802.11 receiving guys out there, but this is a huge waste of taxpayer money.

I live in a state that has these grand taxpayer waysides, that, while being a wonderful place to take a dump, are a luxury for a state that has cronic budget deficits and are one of the highest taxed states in the nation.

Adding wi-fi to the wayside crapatoriums will indeed benefit a few people looking for some highway p0rn, but again, it's a total luxury for a small population of folks who bring

Re:Fleecing of America..

[dykofone (787059)]

I'm from Austin, and go to college in upstate New York. I drive back and forth about 3 times a year, which is about 30 hours on the road one way.

8 of those hours involve just getting out of Texas, and any chance to stop and look at something other than the straight flat interstate around Dallas is definitely welcome.

And you can't complain to much about the taxes, Texas being one of the few states without an income tax. Just enjoy one of the nation's best highway systems, paid for by oil-rich landowners.

Re:Fleecing of America..

[chefmonkey (140671)]

...this is a huge waste of taxpayer money.

You need to go back and read the news release more carefully.

TxDOT is taking bids for private companies to come in and install intenet kiosks in rest areas. These kiosks would charge users per time-unit to use them to access the internet.

These private vendors are also required by TxDOT to provide free wireless coverage. The income from the use of the kiosk is expected to fund the wireless usage.

The only expense to the taxpayer is whatever administrative time is required to run the bid and selection process. After that, it's all in the hands of private companies.

Re:Fleecing of America..

[chefmonkey (140671)]

I do love the idea of having more places to connect my laptop via wifi, but it's not blinding me of the fact that the state govenments will pay %4000 of what it should cost to install/run

Ironically, you are blinded -- but by a knee-jerk response that erroneously assumes that anything free with government involvment must be government funded. Re-read the news release. The wireless APs will be run by private companies, not the state. The companies make money by charging for internet kiosk use, but a condition of being in the rest stop is that they provide free wireless. The net cost to Texas taxpayers once the system is in place? Zero.

New Problems for RIAA

[cfulmer (3166)]

So far, the RIAA's "sue the world" strategy has relied on subpoenas sent to ISPs to identify the filesharer who was using a specific IP address at a specific time. What happens when the ISP has no idea: "Well, it was somebody travelling on I-20."? If the ISP were a private entity, the RIAA _may_ be able to sue the ISP. But, what happens when the ISP is the State of Texas? My one semester of ConLaw says that the 11th Amendment would bar that suit.

Set up a damn ROAD CONSTRUCTION WEBSITE!

[wowbagger (69688)]

This would be GREAT, if they were to set up a damn ROAD CONSTRUCTION WEBSITE.

I'd love to be able to check and say "oh, I-35 is under construction from hither to yonder. Hm, what is my alternate route?" instead of the old "a mile past the last exit you see the ROAD CONSTRUCTION NEXT 50 MILES" sign.

Re:Set up a damn ROAD CONSTRUCTION WEBSITE!

[drinkypoo (153816)]

Microsoft Streets and Trips has a system by which it downloads construction information. It usually works, too. Of course it doesn't necessarily know about every project but it certainly knows about most of them.

I know it's a microsoft product but I just want to point out that there are systems that do this sort of thing. You have to pay for them, but that's life.

Terrible waste of money

[Moblaster (521614)]

I can understand how wonderful it would be to have these hotspots available for "free."

However, taxpayer dollars are coerced from citizens for any government project. This one is a short-sighted waste of those dollars.

If there is a compelling demand for this kind of service, then Texas should have stopped at a trial of 4 spots (if even that) and let private industry take over.

The "1.5% of fatalities are caused by fatigue" argument is a red herring meant to justify this wasteful expenditure. I am sure the hundreds of thousands (million? two million?) of dollars spent on this "sexy" bureaucratic project could have been far better spent in other forms of more relevant traffic safety measures -- like carving those "wake-up" notches into road sides, or more money into re-inforcing messages not to drive drunk, or more money for training to reduce recidivism in previous DUI convicts.

OR HOW ABOUT THIS? How about putting some stalls on the bathroom doors in the rest stops at El Paso? No joke... they had open stalls last time I was there a year ago. Aren't there are more basic steps along the road of highway culture than going from the outhouse straight to Wi-Fi?

As it stands, this is a luxury expenditure that will let a small number of travelers with laptops get mail while otherwise subsidizing porn-surfing. Come on... if it's late at night and someone is tired, precisely how does an hour spent surfing web sites and expending ones mental resources in that kind of concentration improve one's alertness? It's an unsubstantiated bureaucracy-boosting statement that pushes the taxpayer just a few steps further down the road of permanent government debt, and ultimately, a form of bondage to pay back old expenses that should never have been incurred in the first place.

Next time I drive through Texas, I'll drive friendly, I won't mess with Texas, and I'll surf the web for free. Three nice thoughts. But only two of them are good ideas. It would be nice for the Slashdot crowd of harder-than-average thinkers to look past our love of technology to identify bigger-picture issues before slapping on the seal of approval for this kind of government excess.

Re:Terrible waste of money

[chefmonkey (140671)]

If there is a compelling demand for this kind of service, then Texas should have stopped at a trial of 4 spots (if even that) and let private industry take over.

You mean, perhaps, like taking bids from private companies "able to provide free wireless Internet service and pay telephone-like Internet access at kiosks"? In other words, putting together a business case and selecting a private company to come in and run it, with no funding from the state? Perhaps you should RTFA.

WIFI-enabled cows

[o'reor (581921)]

I can imagine this :

redneck_geek@myfarm $ ping betty.myfarm.com

PING betty (192.168.1.15): 56 data bytes
Moooo from 192.168.1.15: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0.1 ms
Moooo from 192.168.1.15: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.1 ms

Whats your favourite cow exploit?

[blacksky (740975)]

I can't wait for the first time a hurd of wirelessly controlled cows get hacked. Imagine the fun you could have with a hurd of cows at your command.

I think I'd have them follow the same person around all day. When he stopped walking, the cows would stop. When he went in a building, the cows would wait outside.

Or just send them all to go and flash-mob the local butchers.

"Smokey and the Spammer"

[argent (18001)]

I can just see the new action flick, "Smokey and the Spammer", with high speed chases from hot-spot to hot-spot as they detect viagra and cialis ads coming out of one rest area after another down I-10... culminating in a 30 car pile-up as the spammer tries to run the roadblock at the Louisiana border.

Ah, they'll probably just block port 25 outgoing. Spoilsports.

This is NOT Tax Payer Funded

[krgallagher (743575)]

OK I downloaded the Request For Offer [state.tx.us] from TxDOT. This is not intended to be a taxpayer funded initiative. In fact here is an excerpt that says just that:

"3. CONCEPT: TxDOT envisions a concept where wireless internet service is available for public use.
3.1. The traveling public would be able to use a personal computing device, such as a laptop computer, equipped to acquire a wireless internet signal, to use the internet and send email during a break from the road.
3.2. A separate kiosk, provided by the vendor, would allow those traveling without a personal computing device to utilize the internet service.
3.3. This service will be provided at a cost to the consumer, not to TxDOT."

TxDOT is expecting the "People not traveling with wireless equipment" to cover the cost of the project when they "connect to the Internet at kiosks for a reasonable fee to be collected by the vendor."

Personally I think this is the fatal flaw in their plan. I doubt there will be enough kiosk users to cover the costs. Still I have to give them credit for trying.

WiFi rest stop in West Texas

[Wonko42 (29194)]

Some friends and I just finished a two week, 7,400 mile road trip around the US. We spent two days driving across Texas from east to west. Imagine my amazement when, after driving down I-10 for hours and hours through the desolate, dry, tumbleweed-infested desert of West Texas, I walked into a rest stop in the middle of nowhere and found myself looking at myself on an LCD screen.

After doing a double-take, I realized there was a webcam mounted on the top of the LCD. Behind the live webcam window, there was a fullscreen display of the rest stop's power usage statistics. Apparently, this place was powered entirely by a single wind turbine (which I had noticed outside). They were displaying all kinds of fun graphs and historical data on power generation and usage and whatnot. The poster describing the system claimed they were using WiFi to transmit the data from the turbine to the computer inside.

We were pressed for time, so I didn't whip out my laptop and check to see if the access point was open, but still, I was pretty amazed. We circled the entire country, and of all the rest stops we visited, that little stop sitting all by itself in the middle of the desert was probably the nicest one.

Texas, govt agency as an ISP?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Seems that in Texas, truckers are the predominant users of roadside rest stops. Since a govt agency will be providing the Internet, you can bet your life that there will be plenty of surveillance involved, so I wonder if this will also be a fishing expedition for truckers who traffik in child pr0n? If you've ever travelled thru Texas on the interstate highways, you've undoubtedly noticed the many "adult" movie stores near lots of truckstops, and how many 18-wheelers are always filling their parking lots..... not to be making any insinuations about truckers being such big-time consumers of pr0n or nothing like that.

Re:is it all free in these places?

[aussie_a (778472)]

They should set up some kind of service, where they can check whom you are first, so if you go on some hacking spree they know whom to blame.

Wow, sounds like China. But no, this isn't needed because of free WiFi. At the moment I can go to an internet cafe and surf the web anonymously. All I have to do is hand over cash (well, it was possible in Rome. I'm assuming it's possible in Australia and America).

Re:Great idea, but...

[neonstz (79215)]

Why do cows need Internet access?

I have no idea, but we better not tell them about this site [cowswithguns.com].

Re:Great idea, but...

[squiggleslash (241428)]

Oh very original. Yet again Slashdotters miss the point. Whenever they see someone doing something new, someone has to diss-it as unnecessary. "Why do I need a mobile phone when there's phone booths?" "Who really needs the source code to an operating system?" "Who needs broadband when dial-up works just fine?" and now "Why do cows need Internet access?"

In a few years, all cows will have access to the Internet. And thanks to their always-on wireless connections, they'll make up the vast majority of Interne