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Google WiFi+VPN Confirmed
An anonymous reader writes "Google is actually (confirmed!) rolling out their wifi network, first in the San Francisco bay area (see the FAQ for details.) They are also including a Secure Access program for use in conjunction with this. So far, as per usual, it's in beta, and only for the San Fran bay area. Soon the entire US, perhaps??"
Not surprisingly, it doesn't work unless you're in that area :)
Here is a link to a CNN article about it.
you insensitive clod!
... is google turning *that* evil ?
And the next step (after rolling it out nationwide) is to introduce a cheap ($30?) handset that accesses the network. A "cellphone" with free phone calls -- forever.
That whistling is the sound of every phone company imploding at once.
It could end up being a hugely smart move.... I am sure that 90% of you have already figured out the business model... They will know exactly where you are (or close enough for hand grenades and horse shoes and... ads)...
Watch out clear channel... Why pay thousands to put your ad on an ugly billboard when you can put your ad less than two feet from a potential customers face... local.adwords.google.com.... (fake url) customers already use gmail and google at the hotspot, even without having some annoying gonna be hacked forced page to surf for free web machine, they can just set all the google sites that people already visit to places right around the corner...
If podcasts are going to replace radio, google wifi will replace ?
(a question for all those who recently took the sat)
From the FAQ: "Why did Google develop Google Secure Access?
One of our engineers recognized that secure WiFi was virtually non-existent at most locations. As a result, he used his 20% project time to begin an initiative to offer users more secure WiFi access. Google Secure Access is the result of this endeavor."
That guy would need slightly more that 20% project time to help extending the service to the entire US..
Attitudes make the difference between Space and Time: we want to MAX our temporal, and MIN our spatial extension.
Google, please roll this out in my area. My neighbors finally got smart and put passwords on their wireless routers.
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
but there's no money to be made in doing this in towns (large and small) and rural areas.
Do you think there is money to made at all when they are not charging?
To those commenting on how hard this is...
The announcement is not about rolling out hotspots. They are just providing an easy-to-set-up VPN connection using downloadable client software. Extending it to the rest of the country would just require distributed VPN host nodes.
People who disagree with you are not automatically evil, greedy, or stupid.
Just be happy that you got something for free. You have no right to complain about anything because we put "beta" on it even though it is far beyond beta-grade.
So 5 years from now if your Google WiFi beta connection drops out you must react in the following manner, "Hmmm. . . that's interesting. I can't communicate with my clients anymore. But I guess I can only blame myself for depending on a Google, ahem, uh, a beta product."
It is a VPN client.
You download the software and it creates a VPN to vpn.google.com. It doesn't even have anything to do with wireless other than using this with wireless allows you to encrypt all your traffic on each end instead of with weak WEP or otherwise.
I just downloaded the client and just using my normal network card in my PC I was able to successfully connect to google and an ipconfig reveals a second connection:
PPP adapter vpn.google.com:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled : No
IP Address : 192.168.201.8
Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway : 192.168.201.8
DNS Servers : 66.51.205.100 66.51.206.100
I only hope they'll create a server version too and give it out. I must say there was zero configuration and a monkey could have installed it. If they release a server version and allow a small amount of configuration this could come in handy.
I guess one side effect is that I should be able to anonymously browse the web through google.
Consequently, they must be having DNS issues or something of that nature because nothing seemed to resolve while connected.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
> Do no evil? Commendable philosophy, but do I want
> to be put in a position where I only have your
> word to rely on to ensure that you do no evil to
> me?
You are in that position every time you turn your back toward anyone.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
They've done this many times without any fanfare: each result URL is a link to a Google wrapper, but they use onMouseOver='' to pretend to show you the real URL in your status bar. Here's one write-up about what was being done recently.
For more information, click here.
There are none.
It's a VPN. Nothing more.
However, they seem to be generating the username and password on the fly. The username consists of a number. I had expected that you'd have to use your Gmail username and password but this is not the case. There is something fishy about it. Presumably the Google Secure Access client retrieves some credentials over an out-of-band connection (HTTPS? Will have to figure out with a network sniffer).
There are some curious things in the VPN connectiod that GSA creates. First, they use an IP address (66.28.250.27) instead of vpn.google.com. The IP address is not even owned by Google. The connectiod allows the outdated protocols CHAP and MS-CHAPv1 to be used. Ouch. It also binds the MS Client and File and Printer Sharing to the connection. You better have a firewall on your system before you connect. PublicVPN seems to be a better option but it is not free.
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Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
It is called lock in and choice.
If I want to use AOL I have no choice but to use their proprietary PPP software. Google's ISP is standards-based VPN, I can use any number of software packages to connect to it.
If I want to use the MSN Messenger network I have (at least from MS's point of view) no choice but to use MSN messenger. Google's IM network is standards based Jabber, I can use any client and they even promote this.
If I want to use MSN TV I have to use Windows Media Player. Google Video uses standard open codecs and I can even download the source code for it.
AOL and MS want to try to lock you in to use only their services. Google wants to *convince* you to use their services by making them the best. This is a huge difference.