News

Rogue access points made easy: pocket-size Linksys router ships in Europe

The crucial difference between this and all the other pictures of the Linksys Travel Router that you'll find on the Web is the bit that's missing: a US standard main plug. This has a universal plug, and will work in Europe. It's designed to provide PC users what the Mac user has had for months: a pocketable WiFi hub they can set up anywhere.

The thing will delight users. It may not amuse hotspot operators quite as much, however.

For the user (the writer of this piece, specifically) it means, finally, I can stop carrying a power brick around. For the last three years, I've used a remarkably compact 802.11b access point designed and made by Xircom before Intel took the company over and anaesthetised it. It was everything you wanted in a portable Access Point, except that it needed a power brick and a tea-kettle cable.

It was worth it! I carried that thing everywhere with me, and wherever I could get an Ethernet plug, instead of plugging the cable into my notebook, I plugged it into the Xircom instead. And if they still made them, I'd have sold dozens; everybody who saw it, wanted one. Last trip to a small hotel, Spread Eagle in Jedburgh found me connecting the thing to a very dubious Mine Host's ADSL system, and then being able to surf wirelessly from anywhere.

"I'd always understood there was masses of work and skill involved in setting up a WLAN!" he said. "Can I buy that?"

Next time I go there, I'll be able to point him to the Linksys WTR54GS.

Here's the bit that may alarm people like airport authorities: "A unique feature, currently found only in the Linksys WTR54GS, allows multiple computers to share a single wireless Internet access account."

This can save a fortune. I can remember sitting in one European airport where France Telecom was offering to take ten Euros per person logged on per hour for WiFi access. We had a technically competent consultant with us who logged on, signed up, and then turned on Internet connection sharing, using his own WiFi antenna; all we had to do was log onto his PowerBook.

Apple these days makes it a bit easier; you plug their Airport in (to the airport power supply!) and feed Ethernet into it.

The caveat is "Where permitted by the Internet access provider’s Terms of Use, " but of course, most users won't take that too seriously. "This capability is ideal for those users with a subscription to a wireless internet service who would like to simultaneously share their account access with colleagues or friends at locations such as hotels, airports or coffee shops."

The thing launched in the US in July/August; it is now starting to ship in the UK and EMEA, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.Apple Airport, WiFi, Hotspot