Following on from the article above, with the advent of truly mobile computing, a number of enterprising companies and organisations have installed publicly available Access Points (typically providing access to the Internet via one of the major telecommunications providers).  They are usually located in public places – railway stations, airports, coffee bar or restaurant chains etc..  The objective is to permit anyone with a laptop computer or handheld PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) equipped with a wireless network card to access the Internet whilst using their establishment(s). 

In order to be validated to that particular vendor’s network, you will normally have to be a subscriber to the relevant network or Internet Service Provider.  However, this can be done often by purchasing a card which provides a User ID, password and either a set number of hours of access time, or in some cases unlimited time over a specific time-frame.  The areas in which the wireless radio access are available is normally referred to as a “Hotspot”, and extends to the 50-300 metre range defined by the wireless protocol defined in the previous article.  You can now wait in the station or airport, or enjoy a coffee, whilst surfing the Internet and checking your email etc.