When you get home from a lovely week away, ready to catch up with emails and get back to work only to find that your internet is out… Nightmare!

We went to Devon for a week, which was lovely. In-keeping with our digital detox from the other week, our beautiful little countryside cottage had awful Wi-Fi which nudged me in the direction of avoiding social media, which turned out to be rather refreshing.

However, once home, I was keen to get back online – Yes to share a few photos, but also to get back in the zone of work before Monday arrived.

So I switched on my laptop, connected to the router, but no web pages were opening. The Slack app wasn’t letting me read my messages on my phone. No online video streaming on the TV to distract the kids!

What was going on?

I sent a text to both my neighbours – One was fine, but the other had had no phone line or broadband earlier in the week either.

Time to contact our broadband provider. After a few text messages, it transpired there was a fault on our line and they would have to send an engineer out. This would hopefully be within 72 hours but could take up to 5 days. Of course, this was Friday afternoon, and of course, the 72 hours doesn’t include the weekend. Time to text the boss.

Thankfully the engineer arrived on Monday morning and fixed the issue.

And the problem? Rats! Apparently rats had gnawed through the cables and they had to be replaced.

I work from home most of the time so it’s pretty important that I have a reliable internet connection. Didn’t think I’d be getting back from holiday and straight away having to tell the boss that I couldn’t get online because of rats chewing cables. It’s a bit “The dog ate my homework, miss” isn’t it?!

Anyone else had a rodent related outage? What’s the worst reason for bad Wi-Fi you’ve heard? Or used?? We’d love to hear them.

Here at Geekabit, we can’t control rats getting in to external cabling, but we can do a lot of other things to help improve your Wi-Fi. Check out our website and see what we can do for you and your business.

https://geekabit.co.uk/what-we-do/

You can also contact us on any of the below; We serve clients across Europe from our offices based in Hampshire and London.
Contact us: London 0203 322 2443 | Cardiff: 02920 676 712 | Winchester: 01962 657 390 | info@geekabit.co.uk

With thanks to http://rodrepel.com/blog/blog/outages-due-to-rodents for the image.

Our Director, Steve, has recently got married and has just got back from his honeymoon – A celebration of his nuptials but also a much needed break from the digital demands of his world. While I (and probably his new wife, too) insisted that he switched off whilst he was away, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the odd sneaky peek at emails just to make sure that we were ticking over okay.

Which got me to thinking… Is there anywhere left in this world that forces you to have a proper digital detox?

As Brits, we have what can only be described as an addiction to the internet. Any moment we stop and sit down like waiting for a train or a bus, you’ll find heads pointed down at brightly lit screens, eyes devouring the media on the screen. A lot of times, they don’t even need to sit down!

We go to the pub to catch up with friends in person, see each other face to face, but still pull out our phones and ask ‘What’s the Wi-Fi password?’

A staggering 99% of young Brits (16 to 35 years old) use the internet (who are the other 1%? What do they do with their time?). What’s even more staggering is that these internet users are consuming media online for 10 hours per day, with the majority being viewed through a smartphone or tablet.

So it would seem that Britain really could be in need of a Digital Detox, and somewhere where it’s not left merely to willpower alone. With an internet addiction like this, there really is no other way than Cold Turkey (not one of the destinations, I’m afraid…)

Akamai, content delivery network and cloud services provider, have compiled a list of countries that would fit the bill.

Due to a lack of infrastructure, these 35 countries have a user penetration rate of less than 20% – This means that only 1 in 5 of the residents of these countries can access the internet.

1. Guatemala
2. Honduras
3. Nicaragua
4. El Salvador
5. Senegal
6. Burkina Faso
7. Mali
8. Ghana
9. Cote d’Ivoire
10. Benin
11. Algeria
12. Libya
13. Sudan
14. Eritrea
15. Ethiopia
16. Cameroon
17. Uganda
18. Rwanda
19. D.R. Congo
20. Malawi
21. Zimbabwe
22. Zambia
23. Namibia
24. Madagascar
25. Mozambique
26. Angola
27. Yemen
28. Pakistan
29. Turkmenistan
30. Nepal
31. India
32. Bangladesh
33. Sri Lanka
34. Myanmar
35. Indonesia

Obviously, there are some countries on this list that it’s not possible to visit due to the foreign office advising against travel to certain places because of civil unrest, war and poverty. Obviously these reasons also impact why internet usage is so low.

However, there are countries on this list that are the perfect retreat for a bit of solitude and well worth a trip. Telegraph Travel pinpointed some of them earlier this year, including a beach holiday in Nicaragua, a walking holiday through the Himalayan foothills of Ladakh, India, and a three-day trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake in Myanmar.

You could also do some lemur spotting in Madagascar, hop between islands in Indonesia, visit the rock-hewn churches of Ethipoa, track down the breathtaking sight of mountain gorillas in the DRC, or explore the utterly desolate coastline and desert of Namibia. They might be the most photogenic of opportunities, but you won’t be posting those pictures on Instagram until your feet are back on British soil.

There are plenty more incredible travel destinations on this list too like Guatemala, Senegal, Malawi, Mozambique, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

This list is of course not definitive, and there will be other internet-free places just as worthy of a holiday to satisfy the needs of a detox from digital life. You might want to scream from the top of the Facebook mountains about meeting Kazakh eagle hunters but you’ll be far from towns, roads and mobile reception in the real-life Altai Mountains. (The reason this one didn’t make the list is due to most of the population living in Ulaanbaatar which has excellent connectivity).

Other areas off the beaten track and away from the pulls of digital media could be Russia’s far east where you’re more likely to meet a bear than a person, Chilean Patagonia, the USA’s largest protected area Wrangell-St Elias National Park in Alaska, and The Yukon in Canada which is 80 per cent Wi-Fi-free.

Shockingly, Steve didn’t choose any of these destinations for his honeymoon… I can’t think why?

For more information on the last places on Earth with no internet, and where we found this list of countries, head to The Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/the-last-places-on-earth-with-no-internet/

With thanks to https://www.iconspng.com/image/56627/no-wifi-here-quiet-zone for the image.

Should UK venues offer free Wi-Fi to delegates and visitors? The debate is a fierce one and not showing any signs of diminishing. ESSA (Event Supplier Services Association) and ABPCO (Association of British Professional Conference Organisers) have widely campaigned the issue with differing views.

Below you’ll find a ‘Question Time’ style discussion between the Chairs of both associations – John Robson for ESSA and Michael Foreman for ABPCO. Or skip to the end for a conclusion of their points.

Just how important do you see the provision of Wi- Fi to be within a venue, to ensure the success of an event, be that a conference, show or exhibition?

Robson: It is absolutely essential these days. We are becoming increasingly dependent upon connectivity to run our personal and business lives and this does not stop when we enter an event or venue.

Foreman: A recent ABPCO debate with venues, conference organisers and suppliers highlighted that Wi-Fi is increasingly becoming the lifeblood of events. Provision of Wi-Fi has moved from becoming a “luxury” item to a fundamental utility, in a similar way to light and heating – this is where the venues need to review their provision. Not only do delegates need to access basic communications such as emails and social media, but increasingly Wi-Fi is required for delegates to participate in the conference content, such as voting, Twitter Q&A and downloading applications.

What level of guaranteed service do you believe should be available to organisers, delegates, exhibitors and visitors at an event?

Robson: Simply put, if you need a specific level of connectivity then you should plan for it. It could be a basic level that allows all types of user to collect/reply to email as attending an exhibition or conference is no longer seen as a day out of the office but part of a working day and the expectation is that it will be business as usual. However, anyone requiring guaranteed connectivity (e.g. for download/upload, presentations etc.) should plan for and purchase the appropriate level of service, as the very nature of Wi-Fi means that it is subject to interference and packet loss unless delivered appropriately. It’s the same analogy as relying on a 3G connection from a mobile operator in a busy location – you expect it most of the time but you would choose to use an alternative source of Internet connectivity if your life depended on it.

Foreman: With regard to the provision of free Wi-Fi for conference delegates, which is what ABPCO’s Conference Cloud campaign focuses on, participants at our recent debate agreed that there is a need for “basic” free Wi-Fi. What “basic” constitutes will vary slightly for each venue, but they do need to be clear about what the offer is at that basic level (bandwidth and how many users can access simultaneously etc). The suggestion at our debate was that it should provide access to email and social media, also possibly accessing tools like Dropbox, but that it would be acceptable to charge for a more sophisticated and high bandwidth usage, such as video.

Where would you like to see Wi-Fi available at an event – in the lobby, networking area or within the conference/show?

Robson: There is no reason why it should not be available everywhere including within conference areas. The availability should represent the needs of the event. For example, these days many events are interactive and people tweet constantly during and after seminar sessions and keynotes. On the counter side, some organisers would prefer not to have this distraction during the presentations. Often mobile signals are weak or unavailable, so Wi-Fi should be available to enable other communications such as using an event specific app or Twitter.

Foreman: One of the benefits of providing free Wi-Fi at a venue is to avoid delegates disappearing at intervals to somewhere that does offer it (whether outside in the street as I witnessed in the USA or a local Starbucks). The networking element is hugely important in events, so we would anticipate Wi-Fi being available in networking areas in addition to the main auditorium to participate in applications such as live voting.

To ensure fair access, would you be comfortable to have a third party supplier or the venue manage and control access to Wi-Fi and have the ability to shut down any non-authorised access?

Robson: If shutting down unauthorized activity improves the service and makes for a better experience for all, then yes, third party suppliers and venues should have this control. They will have a much better understanding of Wi-Fi than most event organisers and can use this to ensure that the delegates, exhibitors and visitors all have the required level of service. Education is key; it looks simple, but it isn’t and technology alone cannot guarantee connectivity. Control measures are absolutely essential and third party suppliers and venues should have the power to shut down unauthorised access.

Foreman: I don’t think it is relevant as long as the delegate does not have to pay. The way that venues set up their network is up to them. We would like to see a system in place where either basic Wi-Fi is offered free or the organiser has the ability to fund this basic option (through sponsorship or other methods) with an upgrade on demand.

Can the available technology satisfy the demands?

Robson: Yes it can but it’s not enough to simply provide a network. The Wi-Fi provider needs to work closely with the organiser to work out what those demands are and where the pinch points lie, so that additional infrastructure can be deployed if necessary. In addition to active planning, active management needs to be applied to ensure that rogue networks and rogue devices are shutdown to minimize interference and maximise up time. It’s worth noting that the technology is available to provide acceptable levels of Wi-Fi connectivity but don’t be fooled into thinking that because a venue claims to have a good Wi-Fi network that it’s using the latest technologies or that it is adequate for every event. Event organisers must ask specific questions when choosing a venue about how many people they want to connect concurrently and what sort of experience (i.e. bandwidth) each user can expect, especially in areas where large numbers of people will gather e.g. lobby areas, cafés etc.

Foreman: We learned during our debate that there is a lot of legacy infrastructure in situ at many venues that is not currently equipped to deal with the bandwidth demands. This is a big part of the discussion for many venues, as there is a cost to invest in upgrading their systems to offer greater functionality and service levels to professional conference organisers and their clients. What we explored at our debate was a number of initiatives, highlighted by Cisco, which can assist with cost covering through sponsorship and other marketing initiatives.

Be it a permanent or temporary supply of Wi-Fi, if there is a cost to deliver a robust and accessible service within a venue, who should carry the cost – the venue, an event organiser or the visitor?

Robson: This is a commercial arrangement between the organiser and the venues. This is not about whether the Wi-Fi should be free or not. The hardware, the continual upgrading of the hardware to meet the ever increasing demand and the management of the Internet and the Wi-Fi for each event costs a lot of money and has to be funded. If it’s provided free to visitors then one way or another the event organiser will pay for it. This might be a direct cost; a cost bundled within the price for the space, or a sponsorship of the Wi-Fi perhaps via landing page advert or a video that each user sees when they connect to the Wi-Fi network.

Foreman: As consumers we are increasingly benefitting from high-speed Wi-Fi access on multiple devices and our expectations are changing. Wi-Fi is seen as much more of a basic utility than previously and delegates should not see a separate Wi-Fi charge for logging in to basic access (checking emails, social media etc) when they attend a conference. Whether the venue covers the cost for this basic level in its room hire is up to the venue, but the delegates certainly should not pay. What is required is much greater clarification on what can be offered at a basic level and what will be required for more sophisticated, high-bandwidth usage. We are working on a document highlighting the questions that professional conference organisers need to be asking their clients about their Wi-Fi requirements and what venues need to be clear on. That way we will all have greater transparency and understanding about when there is more to pay for a complex requirement.

What do you see as the next step in the process of attaining solid Wi-Fi connectivity at events?

Robson: New infrastructure in venues that can operate on both the 2.4ghz and the 5ghz bands. More devices in the marketplace capable of operating on 5ghz band and an acceptance from the organiser and the venues that the Wi-Fi has to be actively planned and managed pre and during the event. Also, people need to be pro-active and aware and to keep abreast of technological developments and the impacts they may have.

Foreman: Education and understanding between venues, conference organisers and their clients is the key to moving forward. We are working on an outline document, which will provide organisers with some guidance on what questions they need to be asking. We will also be continuing with our Conference Cloud campaign and encouraging venues to sign up and offer free Wi-Fi to delegates. We have over 130 venue sites listed across the UK already and we receive more requests to join each week.

Conclusions:

Both associations agree that Wi-Fi is now a crucial part of any type of event. People depend on being able to connect for both personal and business reasons, thus, venues need to be able to provide that connectivity.

Fundamentally, whatever level of connectivity required by an event organiser must be planned for so that the basic level of service meets expectations. The definition of ‘basic’ will differ, so each venue must be transparent about what exactly is being offered. But what, if any service, should be free? Should a ‘basic’ level of service be free, with the opportunity to then purchase a higher level? Or should all levels of service be purchased to meet the event organisers exact needs?

It seems a unanimous agreement that Wi-Fi should be available anywhere and everywhere at an event venue. The pros to having Wi-Fi available to delegates throughout the venue (ability to participate in interactive seminars, live tweeting, avoiding absconding) outweigh the cons (potential distraction during presentations).

It is acceptable for third party suppliers or venues to be able to manage and control Wi-Fi access, including shut downs, as long as it is to ensure excellent service and delegates are not paying for that service.

The technology is there, but careful planning must be carried out when researching venues with detailed questions being asked about the service level required. While there is the technology to meet specifications, it is not a given that venues will have the necessary systems in place.

The provisions that need to be in place in order to provide Wi-Fi cost a lot of money, and continually have to be updated. It seems that it would not be possible for a venue to completely swallow this cost and offer free Wi-Fi for all. The cost is inevitably knitted into overall costs e.g. room hire or day delegate rate or passed down to the end user. The general consensus is that the delegate should not be paying for it, and either the venue organiser needs to be covering the costs, or a sponsor who utilises the landing page for marketing purposes.

The next steps to attain solid Wi-Fi connectivity at events are; venues operating on both 2ghz and 5ghz bands, proactive planning and management before and after the event from planners and venues, technological education so there is clear understanding between parties, and finding a way to offer delegates free Wi-Fi e.g. through ACBPO’s Conference Cloud campaign.

Here at Geekabit, we provide a comprehensive Wi-Fi service for businesses, venues and events – For more information head to our website https://geekabit.co.uk/what-we-do/

You can also contact us on any of the below; We serve clients across Europe from our offices based in Hampshire and London.
Contact us: London 0203 322 2443 | Cardiff: 02920 676 712 | Winchester: 01962 657 390 | info@geekabit.co.uk

Bad news for WiFi wireless networks everywhere has been revealed by security researchers. Several key management vulnerabilities have been found in the 4-way handshake of the WPA2 security protocol, which helps to keep modern Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) secure via encryption, 

Everyone has hopefully ensured now that their home wireless network and devices are all connected using the latest Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) method of encryption, which has so far served us all well. The bad news is that a string of new vulnerabilities have been discovered that could result in WPA2 secured networks being decrypted, hijacked and generally abused (it works against both WPA1 and WPA2 – personal and enterprise networks – and against any cipher suite being used like WPA-TKIP, AES-CCMP and GCMP).

As the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) states, “The impact of exploiting these vulnerabilities includes decryption, packet replay, TCP connection hijacking, HTTP content injection, and others. Note that as protocol-level issues, most or all correct implementations of the standard will be affected.”

The details of all this are due to be published shortly via several vulnerability announcements (CVE-2017-13077, 13078, 13079, 13080, 13081, 13082, 13084, 13086, 13087, 13088) and the collection of flaws are being referred to as KRACK (aka – Key Reinstallation Attacks). Researchers have set up a dedicated website to provide information on the incoming problem – https://www.krackattacks.com.

Statement by the Researchers

We discovered serious weaknesses in WPA2, a protocol that secures all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. An attacker within range of a victim can exploit these weaknesses using key reinstallation attacks (KRACKs). Concretely, attackers can use this novel attack technique to read information that was previously assumed to be safely encrypted. This can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos, and so on.

The attack works against all modern protected Wi-Fi networks. Depending on the network configuration, it is also possible to inject and manipulate data. For example, an attacker might be able to inject ransomware or other malware into websites.

The weaknesses are in the Wi-Fi standard itself, and not in individual products or implementations. Therefore, any correct implementation of WPA2 is likely affected.

So, are we all doomed? Well.. yes and no. Certainly if you read a lot of the media coverage then you’d be forgiven for thinking that the sky was about to fall and hackers are due to break into all your home networks and / or devices. KRACK is certainly no laughing matter and it is indeed a very a serious problem, although it’s important to put these things into some common sense perspective.

The detailed research paper on KRACK  covers what appears to be quite a complex method of breaking through WPA2 and it’s one that, due to some flaky implementation of WiFi standards (802.11), won’t work effectively (yet) on Microsoft Windows or Apple iOS machines / devices. Most of the problem resides with Android based Smartphone and Tablets, where the paper largely focused.

On top of that there’s currently no known public attack code available to exploit the vulnerabilities, although that will no doubt change. Any hacker would need to be both very skilled and also situated in close proximity to your network kit in order to conduct the attack.

The industry doesn’t need to create WPA3 in order to tackle the problem because WPA2 is patchable, which is the good news. The bad news is that some broadband routers and other software or device manufacturers, as well as many users themselves, can be quite poor when it comes to keeping their systems up-to-date. Suffice to say, keep an eye out for the latest patches and deploy them.

One other thing to note is that the main attack is against the 4-way handshake, and does not exploit access points, but instead targets clients. “So it might be that your router does not require security updates. We strongly advise you to contact your vendor for more details. In general though, you can try to mitigate attacks against routers and access points by disabling client functionality (which is for example used in repeater modes) and disabling 802.11r (fast roaming). For ordinary home users, your priority should be updating clients such as laptops and smartphones,” said the researchers.

The researchers are now moving on to ponder whether other protocol implementations are also vulnerable to key reinstallation attacks. Protocols that appear particularly vulnerable are those that must take into account that messages may be lost. “After all, these protocols are explicitly designed to process retransmitted frames, and are possibly reinstalling keys while doing so,” said the team.

Contact us: London 0203 322 2443 | Cardiff: 02920 676 712 | Winchester: 01962 657 390 |  info@geekabit.co.uk

www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/10/krack-attack-internet-panics-big-wi-fi-flaws-wpa2-security.html

 The following post talks about the importance of selecting the best antenna and understanding coverage patterns.

In any RF system, the antenna is the radiating element. RF waves are to be propagated through free space, and it is this component that causes this to happen. The antenna device also receives the RF signals from other transmitters. Available in various forms, the antenna results in varied radiation patterns and, therefore, various coverage patterns given the same RF power input. The antennas design impacts the reception of RF signals, in addition to varied radiating patterns.

Key factors when selecting an antenna are the gain of the antenna and the radiating pattern, as well as the frequency range for which the antenna is designed. Antennas should be either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz antennas in most AP or bridge implementations today. Once you have identified the appropriate frequency band, the appropriate gain and radiating pattern must be selected.

Today, antenna gain is usually listed as dBi and is measured in decibels. This metric is achieved by comparing the antenna’s gain in the intended radiation direction against that of a theoretical isotropic radiator. The isotropic radiator is a theoretical antenna, radiating energy equally in all directions out of the antenna. Whilst it is considered spherical, no such antenna actually exists. For example, the common antenna included with a consumer-grade wireless AP or router is a 2-3 dBi antenna. This simply means that the antenna has 2-3 dB gain in the direction of intended propagation.

A higher gain antenna (for example, 11 dBi as opposed to 2.14 dBi) will radiate a receivable signal further in the intended direction in free space. Of course, indoors there will be reflections and other RF behaviours, so the signal may not radiate as far at acceptable signal levels as it would in free space, but it would still radiate farther than a lower gain antenna.

Now, the final part to consider when selecting an antenna is the radiation pattern or simply, the antenna pattern. Antenna charts are the most frequent mode of communication of antenna patterns. The horizontal and vertical radiation patterns of the antenna are shown in the charts. 

In the elevation charts, the vertical pattern is shown, and the Azimuth chart shows the horizontal pattern. 

Helpful tip! Remember that the elevation chart shows the radiation pattern of antennas as if you are looking at it from the side. The Azimuth chart shows it as if you are looking down on the top of the antenna (assuming the antenna is vertically upright).

Elevation = side view

Azimuth = top view

The following images show each chart type:

Once you’ve got the hang of this information, you can use it to easily select the appropriate antenna for you and understand the different coverage patterns you can expect from them.

London 0203 322 2443 | Cardiff 02920 676 712 | Hampshire 01962 657 390 | info@geekabit.co.uk

https://www.cwnp.com/selecting-best-antenna/

Why would you need to calculate RF wavelengths I hear you ask? Well, an antenna needs to best receive the intended frequencies, thus the length of RF waves impacts decisions being made during the design process. This means you need to understand the wavelength of the RF waves being generated in a given frequency.

There are 2 basic formulas you can use to calculate RF wavelength. One is used for feet and the other for metres.

The following post will provide the formulas you need, plus an Excel spreadsheet for calculating the wavelengths for each 20 MHz channel centre frequency in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

802.11 channels work on a centre frequency. In the below spreadsheet, you will find the centre frequencies for each 20 MHz channel in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

To calculate the wavelength in feet, the common formula is:

wavelength = 984 / frequency in MHz

The common formula to calculate the wavelength in metres is:

wavelength = 300 / frequency in MHz

So what are you waiting for? Get calculating!

Alternatively, you could give us a ring here at Geekabit – We are the Wi-Fi Expert afterall! With offices in Hampshire, London and Cardiff you could just get in touch with us and avoid the potential mathematical headache by letting us sort it out for you.

https://www.cwnp.com/calculating_rf_wavelengths/