Wifi101 covers about 80% of the city of East Palo Alto and about 40% of East Menlo Park. This is a link to a map showing the location of the WiFi101 base stations. If You ability to connect is dependent on several factors including how far you are from one of our basestations, what might be blocking the signal from our basestations, and the type of receiving equipment you have. If you are very close, you probably can get a good connection with your laptop in doors. If the signal is weak, an indoor booster such as a Ruckus, PePlink, etc. will help. Other locations might need an outdoor antenna. More information about this booster equipment is available here
You should also remember the ability for the signal to reach you depends on the type of building you are in and the type of blockage. Buildings block the signal, especially ones with a lot of metal or concerete Large, dense trees block the signal.
Once you are connected to WiFi101 you can use your Internet connection for any purpose within our terms of use. Our terms of use prevent you from sending spam or doing anything illegal with the connection
When your computer has connected to WiFi101, you must agree to our terms of service before you can connect to the Internet You need to launch a web browser to see and agree to the terms of use.
WiFi101 is not a secure network. If you want your information to be protected from eavesdropping you need to use a VPN or some other security service. However on our supported service we do offer protected community using WPA-PSK. See information about our supported service for more information.
Even though your data is not encrypted on WiFi101, as stated in our Terms of Service we do not monitor your traffic content. For network management reasons we do monitor the amount of traffic that you are sending or receiving.
There is no charge to use the network, however the only support provided is via these FAQ. You can obtain support for a modest fee as explained here.
More information about the network topology is available here.
- SSID
This is the identification of the WiFi network. The free network in East Palo Alto uses the SSID of <wifi101>. When your equipment looks for a WiFi signal, you may see many different SSID. To use the free network you need to select <wifi101> from the list
- WiFi
This is the common name for wireless equipment use to connect computers in home and office. The technical name of this radio system is 802.11b and 802.11g, but WiFi is the more consumer oriented name.
- Consumer Premise Equipment (CPE)
This is equipment in your house or office as opposed to the network equipment that is mounted on the roofs of schools, churches, etc. in East Palo Alto.
- Virtual Private Network (VPN)
This is a software service that allows your computer to setup a private communication with another computer or website. If you have a VPN, then your data is protected even when it flows over an insucure network. Connecting to a secure website using SSL is actually a VPN between your computer and the website.
