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Business: Hotels don't want to deal with computer networks, they just buy this service... And for 99% (made up number) of hotel guests it's sufficient that the

by cnvogel 14y ago

Business: Hotels don't want to deal with computer networks, they just buy this service... And for 99% (made up number) of hotel guests it's sufficient that they enter their credentials once, and are able to use facebook / access hotmail.com for the remaining evening. There's no monetary incentive for anyone to go beyond this service. Technical: Most of these systems don't hijack DNS but rather employ a transparent proxy: Traffic to port 80 is not forwarded directly but to a proxy that replaces answers to queries from unauthenticated clients with a redirect to a authentication page. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_portal) These systems most often let ICMP and TCP/UDP to port 53 (DNS) through unfiltered, because of the hassle involving customers with strange DNS configurations. Even if unauthenticated. So if you can get a cheap dedicated server somewhere: Just run a VPN on port 53/UDP and have a ssh-server listen on port 53/TCP and quite often you can connect to those without any passwords or credit card details being entered anywhere...

sadlyNess 14y ago
So what should the tech providers do to provide a secure and end-user simple Wifi for their clients, the hotels?
- caw 14y ago
  End user simple usually means more complex for hotels. It's already been said most of their IT is outsourced. It could be possible to set up more of the enterprise configuration, where each user has their own password onto the WiFi. However, that means creating and destroying authentication accounts on a fairly regular basis. It's so much easier for the hotels to change 1 login key every week to a bunch of random characters and to hand that out to guests. If a guest has a problem, everyone at the desk knows the passkey, and they can help them on. Otherwise, the front desk won't be able to help. I think most guests would rather the front desk solve their problems if possible. They don't care about the wifi being secure. If they do, they're already using corporate VPNs.
laurentoget 14y ago
I used to think that kind of crappy service was sufficient but personal experience is that you will be able to get your hotmail every other day, and the connection will be good enough to upload a 1M picture every third day or so.

by cnvogel 14y ago

sadlyNess 14y ago

So what should the tech providers do to provide a secure and end-user simple Wifi for their clients, the hotels?

caw 14y ago
End user simple usually means more complex for hotels. It's already been said most of their IT is outsourced. It could be possible to set up more of the enterprise configuration, where each user has their own password onto the WiFi. However, that means creating and destroying authentication accounts on a fairly regular basis. It's so much easier for the hotels to change 1 login key every week to a bunch of random characters and to hand that out to guests. If a guest has a problem, everyone at the desk knows the passkey, and they can help them on. Otherwise, the front desk won't be able to help. I think most guests would rather the front desk solve their problems if possible. They don't care about the wifi being secure. If they do, they're already using corporate VPNs.

laurentoget 14y ago

I used to think that kind of crappy service was sufficient but personal experience is that you will be able to get your hotmail every other day, and the connection will be good enough to upload a 1M picture every third day or so.