What Is Beach Wireless?

Beach Wireless is a network of public wireless Internet access points placed in resorts, campgrounds, marinas and other public gathering areas. Our goal is to bring dependable and affordable high speed Internet access to our customers.

How Do I Use It?

Take your 802.11b (Wi-Fi) equipped laptop, Pocket PC or PDA to one of our Wi-Fi Zone hotspots. Your software will probably find the network automatically, but if it doesn’t, you may have to manually set the Channel and/or SSID (Service Set Identifier) so that your card will know how to find the network. Different cards will have different software and may function differently, but generally your wireless card’s software should let you examine and change these settings. The SSID is: beachwireless and most of our access points operate on Channels 1,6 or 11

Open your web browser. No matter what page you request, you will be directed to the Beach Wireless logon page. Follow the instructions and think thankful thoughts about the people who brought you “Your Internet Home Away From Home.”

Can I Access My E-Mail or Company VPN?

You can use other services such as e-mail clients and VPNs, but you must use your web browser first to visit our logon page where your access will be authorized.

How Fast Is The Connection?

While the speed between the access point and the client computer is as fast as the wireless can go (theoretically 11 Mbps with 802.11b), we limit the speed of connection to the Internet for the sum of wireless users. This is so the host’s network does not suffer any performance degradation because of the wireless access point. Most nodes are listed at 356 Kbps (upload speed) and 1.5 Mbps (download speed)

Are All Your Access Points 802.11b? Are there plans to do 802.11a or 802.11g?

At this time, all access points are 802.11b. We’ve designed the system to be easy to upgrade as technology changes, and most Wi-Fi cards will access both 802.11a and 802.11b and the newer ones will also access 802.11g. However, the day when Internet speeds requiring the full capacity of 802.11a or 802.11g are a long way off.

Is A Wireless Connection Secure? Can I Make A Credit Card Purchase, etc?

Wireless connections themselves are not very secure. Even using the standard method for encrypting, there are several security issues. However, if you use a secure web site, the data will be encrypted between that web server and your browser, adding a suitable degree of protection. Most web-based e-mail has this capability.

Why Don’t You Use Wep?

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is a security scheme designed to add some encryption to data transmitted over wireless networks. For WEP to work, both the access point and the client computers need to be set up with a security key. Because we want the average user to sit down, start up a laptop and get on with a minimum of customization, Beach Wireless does not use WEP on any of our access points.

What Does It Cost?

Beach Wireless has designed its pricing plans with flexibility in mind to meet the needs of our on-the-go customers. You may choose from four plans that will fit both your needs and your budget: