is it safe to use hotel wifi?
 

im going to new york and my internet stick wants to change 1 dollar per meg of usage..:Oh crap

i don't really trust the hotel wifi...would it be safer if i ran it through a router?

vpn ?
..........

yea, unless you use vpn, I wouldn't trust it..

me: thousands of hotels over the last decade, never an issue.

VPN is not needed, use secured SSL email protocols of your mail software (using everywhere), and of course HTTPS version of websites (which should be as standard while logging into stats).

Btw its absolutely same if you use hotel internet "directly" or via router (router just forward the same data). Data is unencrypted on normal HTTP pages and eventually anyone can monitor it, but I dont think browsing on GFY cause some safety risk. :)

Usually its safe, but better use VPN. Its not expensive.

same here... we have stayed in no end of hotels for tours & Ive used my laptop on their bandwidth.

Never a problem.

use you stick for banking and emails etc. use the hotel wifi for the rest.

Not been an issued as far as i know tbh...

Now that I have an Android smartphone that I can tether to my laptop, I will never have to pay for hotel wifi again!

I'd say it's pretty secure, but again, you can always use some VNP if you're paranoid or staying in some muslim country....

Most Hotels in NY use pretty secure WiFi Setups. With full netwwork security, Per room VLANs that don't touch. usually use some sort of controller, typically from cisco or bluesocket. Unless its a boutique hotel of some sort. But if it is a big name hotel, I would not worry. ( I have sold this to many hotels in manhattan before)

Staying at a Comfort Inn in Times Square. Since my internet stick is canadian based, they charge an arm and a leg when you visit other countries. I've never used a hotels wifi simply because I usually have my stick or no laptop at all. I always hear people say never to use it or hear of people hacking into others epass at conventions and stuff.

:2 cents:

I'm surprised nobody suggested using your own VPN over the hotel IP space..

yeah, right. :1orglaugh

yes I use VPN and a key scrambler... www.logmein.com

a pay as you go stick is way cheaper than that, you can get better deals easily

I have not had any problems using hotel wireless connections?

much less risky lately ... :disgust

Lot of hotels are unsafe, i got fucked in The Hilton ( Bucharest ) with this huge. ones home my laptop had a blue screen of death. They charged 19 Euro a day that time

I never use a hotel's wireless. I bring my own.

Of course, just the admin can see the throughput. make sure you have remote access to your computer turned off to be extra safe.

Not sure if it's only in the U.S. but Virgin Mobile (don't laugh) has a portable wifi hotspot. It's $40/month for unlimited data and no contract. So when you get home, just throw it in a drawer till your next trip. You can also get 100 megs for $10.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobil...adband2go.html

BTW, Virgin Mobile is just rebranded Sprint 3G.

Just heard of that, pretty awesome but very limited where you can use it. Sprint has a strong but very small network. Mostly cities and shit.

It should be fine as long as they provide you with a new username and pass. You dont want to have a network where everyone shares the same username and pass. But all in all it should be fine. Just make sure directory sharing is off.

Also use On-Screen Keyboard for login use for even extra protection, whenever you away or at home.