Public Wi-Fi… Who’s Got YOUR Info?

As I’m sitting in the Seattle airport tonight I heard another announcement about free wi-fi. And I’m online (as is obvious by the blogging!) but I’m on my own private mifi hotspot. I tend to be careful with public wi-fi, and this reminded me that Shel Horowitz forwarded me a link to an eye-opening scary post by Peter Shankman that you need to know about: Why It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Free Wi-Fi

I already didn’t do anything sensitive or that required a login on public wi-fi because I knew it wasn’t safe to transmit passwords over insecure networks.

But, the good news is that there are easy, more secure alternatives! I got the coolest little “toy” a few months back and was already thinking I’d blog about it, and this is the perfect time.

What I’ve got is called a MiFi and it’s basically your very own little internet hot spot. It connects to the cellular network so anywhere you can get a cellular signal you can get online. Set it up with a tricky password for security.

Now you want one, too, right? Check with your cellular provider and see what they’ve got. With a contract some cellular providers are offering them at reasonable monthly rates and no upfront costs. Or, for a prepaid option check out what Virgin Mobile‘s offering.

Or, if that’s overkill for what you need, check out www.getpeek.com as an easy, affordable way to stay connected to your email while you’re away from the home/office/home office. It’s another one of my favorite tech toys.

And I’ve got to run as my flight is boarding.

I’ll be posting again soon as I’m sure I’ll have lots of great info to share from Nancy Marmolejo’s I Heart My Biz this weekend!

Stay tuned!