BE Your Own Wireless Hotspot

June 12 by | 8 comments | Communication, Lifehack | Tags: , , , , ,

I was Googling on how to create your own wireless hotspot for a project of mine (email me with thoughts), and I came across a neat hack from Popular Science Magazine. There hack was to buy some gear, stick it in a backpack, and BE your own hotspot.

What if you could marry the short-range power of Wi-Fi with the huge coverage areas of high-speed cellular services such as EV-DO to create a portable hotspot? You could use any Wi-Fi-enabled gadget anywhere you’ve got a cell signal. [...]Those are exactly the kinds of things you can do with the backpack below.

It’s not a cheap hack, by any means, and there aren’t lots of folks who have this particular itch to scratch, but here are some thoughts on how it could be useful:

  • Marketing Scheme- Stand in a public space wearing a big sandwich board sign saying, “Free WiFi Courtesy of ______.”
  • Unconference Event- Hold your next BarCamp or Mashup Camp or what-not wherever you want with wifi for all.
  • Field Teams- The hack costs about $900 or so all told, but that’s way cheaper than a satellite van or other remote location setup. This would be the perfect relay station for a new media team like a Vlogger team looking to emulate citizen media.
  • Instant Phone Bank- add Skype to a few laptops with wifi cards, and you’ve got a phone bank for events, for emergency management situations, etc.

What other ways could you see this hack being useful?Be Your Own Hotspot – [Popular Science]

Chris Brogan writes about self-improvement and creativity at [chrisbrogan.com]

  • Eric

    90% of cellualr carriers would see this as a breech of contract. Many see re-use of the signal through WiFi, high bandwidth applications, or VoIP to be a violation of contract ( at least in the US ). So before doing this you may want to know what you are in for.

  • http://www.chrisbrogan.com ChrisBrogan

    Actually, thanks for putting that up. I wasn’t aware of that potential breach of contract. Odd, that.

    Do you know WHY that is? To me, if SOMEONE is paying for the pipe, they’re getting paid, right?

  • http://www.chrisbrogan.com ChrisBrogan

    I just realized why I was surfing these things about building your own wifi hotspot. It was this article from “We Make Money Not Art” about the Yellow Chair Project. This is really interesting on lots of levels. Tell me what you think.

  • http://omegalab.altervista.org Dade

    Do you want to become a human antenna? ;)
    Seriously I’d think twice before covering my back in wifi + gsm-or-whatever radios always on… Maybe it is not all that healty!

  • http://chrismarsden.com/ Chris Marsden

    Combine this with the service available at anchorfree.com and you could actually get paid for providing free wifi. The best purpose I could see this used for would be offering free service to everyone at StarBucks so they don’t have to pay T-Mobile to get online.

    Another possible solution (but far less secure) would be to connect through your phone and open an adhoc network with internet sharing.

  • Anonymous

    There shold be a way to use the Kyocera KR1 mobile router instead of the Junxion Box, and it is way cheaper at $270 or less.

  • coda

    Umm…has anyone looked at this? http://www.cradlepoint.com

    That KR1 is too big to put in your pocket but works in a car. This buggar, however, is teeny (the CTR). I’ve used it with a Verizon modem/dongle. It rocks. Wireless network where ever you get a cell signal.

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