Do you have free WiFi at work?
- Thread starter ifmanis5
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We have a hidden network that our domain joined PCs automatically connect to and a guest wifi that is free, but that requires an account. Since I'm in IT I can create an account but they are only for "business purposes" since I can't persuade anyone that I need to look at twitter, facebook and SOSH etc on my phone for business reasons I'm not allowed to create an account for myself (and it will get deleted if my boss sees it).
One of my coworkers had a clear modem that he called to cancel, they offered to drop the price to $20 a month, so he brought it into the office and I used that. He quit a month and a half ago so now I'm back to trying to to use all my data...
One of my coworkers had a clear modem that he called to cancel, they offered to drop the price to $20 a month, so he brought it into the office and I used that. He quit a month and a half ago so now I'm back to trying to to use all my data...
Yes, but it's filtered the same as my work PC. Games and adult content obviously blocked, social media is allowed.
No, but other parts of my organization in the same office complex do, and it is frustrating. We don't have a paid option either.
No. No free wifi. But I use a Mifi and with the new XLTE network Verizon dropped in New York City, the connection is legitimately awesome. Before a few months ago, it was barely worth using at all.
No. There is a semi-secret free WiFi net that is available to execs but not the rest of us riff raff.Curll said:
Yeah, we have a private internal wifi network for employee use that's on the main internal LAN and a semipublic one (still password restricted, but we give that password out to customers/vendors for presentations/etc) that's in a DMZ.
Technically no, but our non profit partner does. Came in damn handy when our server fried last week.
I work in a county government building and there is free wifi but almost everything of interest is blocked. Like facebook, and youtube, yahoo, buzzfeed, etc. . But if you have those sites open before you connect, then you can proceed as normal. I guess they just block the login page or something. I take my tablet to board meeting and happily flaunt the lock-out while waiting for my turn to speak.
Orange Julia said:
If their web filter is that weak you may also be able to get around it by going to https://facebook.com as opposed to just http://facebook.com I used to sell lower end filtering solutions and many don't look at https sites because of the added load on the H/W.
HriniakPosterChild said:
Possibly but unless you really piss off someone in IT or HR is looking for a reason to fire you it is rather unlikely they ever look through the logs to see who went where. In fact most lower end filtering solutions will only provide the IP address of who went to what site so unless the company uses static IP addresses it can be quite cumbersome to figure out which IP address matches which machine.
A dedicated filtering solution will provide a lot more detail but then again a dedicated solution isn't simply looking for a login page.
I'm at one of those freewheeling nonprofits so our wifi is fast, free, and screens out all ads from Pandora.
The last sizeable for-profit I worked at was relatively liberal on blocking sites, but there was no wifi access.
The last sizeable for-profit I worked at was relatively liberal on blocking sites, but there was no wifi access.
I have hardwired internet in my office, it is just the public wifi that is blocked (although the county "private" internet filters porn-ish sites there too) and most county employees do not have access to much of anything via their networked computers. You have to submit a very lengthy document saying why you need access to anything that some hack might considered "not work related." I also have a verizon MiFi that i got for the interns so they could legitimately use facebook and youtube etc. (I'm a non profit squatter in a government office.)
I don't look forward to the day where I'm working somewhere without wifi, or with some sort of firewall. Wifi's been a game changer(as well as the company laptop) for productivity and decompressing from crazy days. I can go anywhere in the office and do my job. I can get away from annoying colleagues or sit in a general area if I feel like being sociable.
j44thor said:
As a career protection strategy, I have always assumed that someone might be looking for a reason to fire me, even thought that never happened.
Maybe that's why it never happened.
As a guy with exposure to many, many IT departments ... Don't underestimate your average IT guy, who is also a neckbeard dick, who goes looking to cause trouble for people.
Yes, and we use our work login to gain access. The only thing they block on the network, that I've found, is Clash of Clans. Thank God for that.
Yes, I think so. I assume so. So, yes.
I can't imagine a scenario where I would use it, but it exists.
I can't imagine a scenario where I would use it, but it exists.
We use it all the time. Sometimes just working collaboratively and dragging a laptop over to a co-worker's desk so you can both work together, sometimes giving demos in conference rooms where there may be one or two ready network cables but more people with something to show off. Sometimes just for taking notes and looking things up during planning meetings.Drocca said:
We have seamless WiFi throughout the office for devices provisioned/maintained by the company (laptops, work phones/tablets, etc - there's some kind of MDM/certificate scheme for these boxes). I can work anywhere (break room, conference room, someone else's cube, etc) on that network. Presumably, everything is logged but you are inside the firewall, can access our internal build servers/exchange/compute resources/etc - basically this works everywhere on any of our campuses transparently, when I go to Tokyo I'm on the same network as if I was in SF, just with more latency. I have once in a great while checked my personal gmail off this network, or sent someone a facebook IM - none of that seems to be blocked. But, normally I use my personal devices for that stuff rather than the work ones:
Separately there is "free" wifi with registration/sponsorship required, you can request an account by going to a webpage inside the firewall, giving an email address and instantly get a username/password good for up to 48hrs. You can use this account with your personal devices that you bring to work (phones/ipads/tablets/laptops/whatever) - I register them to my personal gmail address, and if you email the IT dept they will extend the account for a couple months. I expect everything is logged there too and there's probably filtering going on (haven't tested it much because no reason to do it), but on that Wifi network, you are sitting outside the firewall and just get generic internet access. I use this to do my personal email at lunch, check in on Clash of Clans when taking a coffee break, make dinner reservations, look up vacation info, etc.
We also use those guest logins for vendors/customers who are visiting the office for meetings/training so they can VPN back / check their email / download their powerpoint, which I think is the actual point of the system.
Separately there is "free" wifi with registration/sponsorship required, you can request an account by going to a webpage inside the firewall, giving an email address and instantly get a username/password good for up to 48hrs. You can use this account with your personal devices that you bring to work (phones/ipads/tablets/laptops/whatever) - I register them to my personal gmail address, and if you email the IT dept they will extend the account for a couple months. I expect everything is logged there too and there's probably filtering going on (haven't tested it much because no reason to do it), but on that Wifi network, you are sitting outside the firewall and just get generic internet access. I use this to do my personal email at lunch, check in on Clash of Clans when taking a coffee break, make dinner reservations, look up vacation info, etc.
We also use those guest logins for vendors/customers who are visiting the office for meetings/training so they can VPN back / check their email / download their powerpoint, which I think is the actual point of the system.
Are there people who have paid wifi at work, and not free? I don't mean you can pick up the signal from a Starbucks or hotel next door, but actually at your place of business.
Here we have wifi networks on every floor, accessible to anyone who wants the password. Since we all work from docked laptops, I only connect to it through my phone.
Here we have wifi networks on every floor, accessible to anyone who wants the password. Since we all work from docked laptops, I only connect to it through my phone.