The highest security risk is with the free wireless hotspots in pubs and cafes that are valued and used by many of us. Typically these would have no security features and must therefore be used with extreme care.

Apart from the obvious attraction of being free, their lack of security  is ironically a key part of their appeal. The fact that there is no need to obtain and enter a password makes it very easy to set up a connection with minimum fuss.

The downside is that the data that you send over the wireless connection can be accessed by anyone with a relatively simple wireless monitoring device and some form of recording system.

Someone in the corner of the pub, or parked outside, could not only snoop on your emails, but could also easily record your email account details when you login.

They can then use your email account later to get username and password details from websites that send these to your email account if you forget them.

Even if the wireless hotspot has some sort of security through the provison of a code that is rarely, if ever, changed then anyone who has that code is connected to the network and can monitor your wireless traffic.

The situation is a bit better with wireless hotspots that require payment or some form of on-line registration via a splash home page. These are inherently more secure than free hotspots with encryption on each wireless channel that makes eavesdropping on your wireless connection more difficult.

Even with apparently secure public wireless services the key point to be aware of is that when using a wireless network anything that you transmit or receive over the wireless connection can be monitored and that even the most secure encryption systems can be cracked.

Apart from the risk of eavesdropping there is also the risk that a public wireless connection can be used to hack into your laptop or other mobile device. Most devices have some form of firewall protection to guard against this, but these are usually designed to protect against attack from outside the network.

On some wireless hotspots with minimal security all wireless devices would be effectively on the same network making it that bit easier for someone to hack into your device.

It is possible to minimise this risk by using Windows or Mac OS integrated network security features or by using a third-party internet security package.

They switched to our preferred Internet Service Provider (Quik Internet) when we sorted out a connection problem they were having a few years ago.

Since that initial visit they have been the ideal customers: ie prompt payers and no reported problems!

However, that changed a few days ago when I got a call from the new Bursar who demanded a resolution to their long-standing internet connection problems.

This was a surprise to me as I had not been made aware of any long-standing internet connection problems.

The Bursar advised that the internet connection was dropping regularly and could only be restored by switching the router off then on again.

I was sceptical that it was anything to do with the external internet connection as all our remote tests indicated that there was no problem with the connection.

Nevertheless, I arranged a visit to the Chaplaincy to try and get to the bottom of the problem.

The set-up at the Chaplaincy is that there is a Netgear DG834G modem/router connected to a data switch that provides connections to indivudual outlets throughout the premises over a Cat 5 cabling system.

The premises cover 3 x floors over 2 x adjacent buildings.

I first went to their comms room and checked the router and upgraded its firmware.

I couldn’t find anything wrong, the connection was steady and as fast as could be expected.

I then talked to the Bursar and asked about the devices that are connected to the network.

I discovered that in addition to a couple of PCs directly patched to the Cat 5 outlets there are several Apple Macs connected wirelessly through 3 x Time Capsules and 1 x Airport extension device.

The Time Capsules are connected directly to the Cat 5 outlets and the Airport is connected wirlessly to one of the Time Capsules.

Internet access is also made available to students by providing them with the wireless log-in passcode.

The Time Capsules had been introduced after I had configured the original network.

I started to suspect that there might be some sort IP address conflict that was causing the internet access to lock up.

I thought that the Time Capsule IP addresses could be conflicting with those provided by the other Time Capsules and with the IP addresses in subnet created by the Netgear DG834G.

I soon discovered that none of the Time Capsules were set to the required Bridge Mode of operation.

With Bridge Mode the IP addresses to the devices connected to the Time Capsules are managed by a connected router which in this case was the Netgear DG834G.

I made the required changes to the Time Capsules and set up a single wireless network with seamless roaming across the 2 x buldings.

The Netgear DG834G now has total control over managing the IP addresses and there is no possibility of an attached device having the same IP address as another attached device (unless one of them is using a fixed IP address).

This appears to have resolved the problems with no reported internet access problems for several weeks.

This situation highlights the fact that the natural assumption of most customers when they have an internet connection problem is that the problem must be with their internet service and they make their first call to their service provider’s support number.

I find this odd since the the natural assumption when an electrical appliance stops working is that it is the appliance that is faulty and not the electricity supply.

The truth is that most internet access problems are caused by the customer’s equipment or local network connections.

In my view a large part of the problem is the misleading error messages displayed by the applications on the user’s computer when the internet is not available.

These usually advise that internet access is not available and suggest that the customer should contact their network administrator or service provider.

While it may be true that the internet access is not available to the application, most customers do not appreciate that the problem could be caused by the  software in their computer (eg  the firewall), or it could be their network connection (wired or wireless),  or it could be their modem or router or as in the above case it could be other devices connected to the local network.

All of these are a much more likely cause of the problem than the external internet connection.