Wifi signals are transmitted at very
low power (capped by the FCC) and will not penetrate metal, cement, tree
leaves, and other dense objects. Therefore, a clear Line Of Site (LOS)
is critical and necessary for reliable high speed data transfer. Even
though the signal is transmitted at a low power rate, it does have the ability
to reflect off many of the obstructions in its path.
Improving the LOS can be achieved by installing an antenna that is high enough,
or in close range, to allow for a clear path to the transmitting antenna. A
reliable reflection can be achieved by making sure that large metal objects (such
as other trucks or trailers) are not blocking your LOS.
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Due to the battery powered requirements
on a standard laptop, built-in wireless adapters generally emit a very
weak signal strength (approximately 30mw). In addition, many of the
low cost (PCMCIA) WiFi cards are also low in radiated power. Therefore,
we recommend a 200mw card, such as the SMC card, that can be purchased
in our Flying J Travel Plazas.
A common condition that we find, is that our strong transmitting signal reaches
the laptop, however, the signal from the laptop is not strong enough to reach
back to the user’s antenna.
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If your computer becomes infected with
a virus, or spyware, your Internet connection will appear to be very slow. This
is a very common problem due to the virus and/or spy ware working in the
background, and having to communicate through the Internet. This process
may impact your system, and cause poor performance issues for yourself and
other WiFi users. Therefore, we strongly recommend Anti Virus* and Anti-Spyware** software as well as enabling Windows firewall software**.
* There are some great free and/or relatively cheap options available, check our list here for suggestions.
** For more help in enabling Windows XP SP2's Firewall refer to Microsoft's documentation here.
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Many of the file sharing programs
used to download music, movies, and books can load applications* onto your
system without your knowledge. These processes are loaded onto your computer,
and run in the background over the Internet causing a decrease in available
user bandwidth. Eventually, this will lead to poor system performance
for you and other WiFi users. Some Web Sites that offer this type of
download software are: Kazaa, BearShare, Sharaza, LimeWire.
The files you download may also contain a virus that can infect your
computer and cause performance issues, file corruption, and in some
instances, hardware failures. Also, a user needs to keep in mind,
there may be legal issues relating to file-sharing and software-copy.
* These applications are commonly
refered to as 'Spyware' programs.
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Having your homepage set to a secure
site may prevent you from reaching our WiFi login page. Prior
to logging into the WiFi site, the url needs to be set at: “http://”,
rather than the standard https://, for our login screen to appear. The
most common problem occurs if the user has logged into a banking site, mail
site, or another secure site (usually any site that allows you to make purchases),
and if that’s the case, you will need to change the line to read (http://).
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- We are currently transmitting the highest power settings allowed by the
FCC.
- We are testing adding an additional antenna in the back of the parking
lot. There are concerns with AC power (only available when light poles
are on at night), and potentially causing ourselves additional interference.
In some cases, adding additional equipment will hurt, not help.
- We plan to market a WiFi bridge that our customers can use to enhance
the LOS, and improve the connectivity and service.
- We will continue to research and implement new technology, such as WIMAX,
MIMO, Mesh networks, etc and other software to improve our products and
services.
- We recently implemented a major network upgrade that has allowed for
additional bandwidth at all of our hot spot locations.
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with a resolution of 1024x768 or larger!