Comments on: My Response to the Whisher Folks http://phoneboy.com/1322/my-response-to-the-whisher-folks Simplifying Network Security, Telecom, Gadgets, and More! Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:36:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Another Round with the Whisher Folks http://phoneboy.com/1322/my-response-to-the-whisher-folks/comment-page-1#comment-3660 Another Round with the Whisher Folks Wed, 07 Feb 2007 06:46:09 +0000 http://www.phoneboy.com/node/1322#comment-3660 [...] like me have to say than FON is. This time around, I’m not going to respond to each point they brought up, just a couple that are worth bringing up: 1. The Fonera does support dual SSIDs, and you can [...] [...] like me have to say than FON is. This time around, I’m not going to respond to each point they brought up, just a couple that are worth bringing up: 1. The Fonera does support dual SSIDs, and you can [...]

]]> By: Mike Puchol http://phoneboy.com/1322/my-response-to-the-whisher-folks/comment-page-1#comment-3607 Mike Puchol Tue, 06 Feb 2007 22:04:34 +0000 http://www.phoneboy.com/node/1322#comment-3607 Hi again, I will try to go through your points, but not being numbered as before won't help :) 1. The Fonera does support dual SSIDs, and you can indeed tag your public, non-encrypted SSID and share your private SSID with Whisher. We are not either or with Fon, but rather 'on top of'. We require WEP/WPA to register an AP, but you can tag any open one. 2. Agreed on the geolocation being tied to good adoption, but that is the same with ANY venture. Even eBay must have had the very first seller who wondered what the heck he was doing there trying to sell something to nobody. Regarding the file exchange, this all depends on your usage pattern, on a university campus it could become quite popular. Fon only provides a log of who has been visiting your AP, but not much else. 3. Regarding granularity - well in your case, you don't require a Fonera either, if you want to share, just leave any of the APs open. Then, a Whisher user can come along and tag it to let others know you are sharing it :) We just tried to make the sharing experience easier, and if you look on the Fon forums, I believe you will find toying with hardware is -not- easy for the average user. 4. Regarding dual SSIDs, security - your case is special, and please don't tell me that the average Joe will follow your setup. I agree it's the best in terms of security, and we actively promote and encourage that, but our target user is the übergeek -and- the regular user. 5. We are working on documents to help out users in these topics, such as increasing security and taking precautions, and your suggestions to promote WPA are right and welcome. I have been involved in wardriving since the early stages, promoting exactly this sort of thing (I wrote StumbVerter, and co-authored 'Wardriving: Drive, Detect, Defend' --shameless plug!). 6. I wonder what FON would think to the idea of putting the login details in the landing page, but it sounds neat :) 7. You don't need to keep the client running all the time, once it is registered, the backend takes care of the rest. The client is only needed to change settings, view local users, etc. You could go on holidays and however you chose to share would still apply - and if you were in buddies mode you could manage access remotely, no need to be physically present. Switching off and on your AP has no effect on your rights or usage of Whisher. With FON, you either share or you don't play. I'll welcome your comments and criticism here or via email, regards, Hi again,

I will try to go through your points, but not being numbered as before won’t help :)

1. The Fonera does support dual SSIDs, and you can indeed tag your public, non-encrypted SSID and share your private SSID with Whisher. We are not either or with Fon, but rather ‘on top of’. We require WEP/WPA to register an AP, but you can tag any open one.

2. Agreed on the geolocation being tied to good adoption, but that is the same with ANY venture. Even eBay must have had the very first seller who wondered what the heck he was doing there trying to sell something to nobody. Regarding the file exchange, this all depends on your usage pattern, on a university campus it could become quite popular. Fon only provides a log of who has been visiting your AP, but not much else.

3. Regarding granularity – well in your case, you don’t require a Fonera either, if you want to share, just leave any of the APs open. Then, a Whisher user can come along and tag it to let others know you are sharing it :) We just tried to make the sharing experience easier, and if you look on the Fon forums, I believe you will find toying with hardware is -not- easy for the average user.

4. Regarding dual SSIDs, security – your case is special, and please don’t tell me that the average Joe will follow your setup. I agree it’s the best in terms of security, and we actively promote and encourage that, but our target user is the übergeek -and- the regular user.

5. We are working on documents to help out users in these topics, such as increasing security and taking precautions, and your suggestions to promote WPA are right and welcome. I have been involved in wardriving since the early stages, promoting exactly this sort of thing (I wrote StumbVerter, and co-authored ‘Wardriving: Drive, Detect, Defend’ –shameless plug!).

6. I wonder what FON would think to the idea of putting the login details in the landing page, but it sounds neat :)

7. You don’t need to keep the client running all the time, once it is registered, the backend takes care of the rest. The client is only needed to change settings, view local users, etc. You could go on holidays and however you chose to share would still apply – and if you were in buddies mode you could manage access remotely, no need to be physically present. Switching off and on your AP has no effect on your rights or usage of Whisher. With FON, you either share or you don’t play.

I’ll welcome your comments and criticism here or via email, regards,

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