Safety When Using Wireless Internet

Whenever we go out of town I have to drag a laptop to do work, so having a secure connection is extremely important to me. Every time I have gone out of town I have people telling me different things about how to connect safely. All of the men in my extended family are either programmers or scientists, so I have access to a lot of information that I usually ignore.

I have been told by them before that plugging a laptop into the wall at a hotel or condo rental is a safe Internet connection. I have also been told that it's incredibly unsafe and that you might as well set your computer on fire. I've been told that tapping into a hotel's wireless connection is perfectly safe and also that it's the most foolhardy thing a human can ever do.

This time I made it clear that I wanted the most secure connection possible. With two weeks in the rental, I needed to do everything that I do at home, minus making fun of the redneck neighbors. I got the programmers together and got them to tell me what is safer. One answer. No double speak. No programming terminology. Just. Tell. Me. What. To. Do.

The answer is apparently to get your own wireless router and to use your own secure connection for your Internet forays. A wireless router is about 40 bucks and can be bought at Wal-mart, Target, etc. It's easy to set up, too. Here's how to set it up for the most secure connection when you're out of town:

Get a relative to set up your router for you. Read some Anne Rice while he sets it up. Ask him periodically if it's set up yet. Once it's set up, use the computer. And that's how you can set up your own connection and stay safe while on vacation. At least, that's how I did it.