I'm having AIM withdrawal
July 19, 2006 9:23 AM Subscribe
Why can't I access certain things on New Orleans City-Wide WiFi?
My new office doesn't have a network set up yet, so I have to bring in my personal laptop and use the new city-wide wifi. Everything works great in my browser (Firefox of course) but I can't access certain other things: AOL Instant Messenger, my school's webhost via SSH (I don't have access to the company webserver yet so I was going to temporarily use my student webspace to host some mockups), my school's POP email.
I'm guessing that the limited access is some kind of security thing, but I am not really sure what the deal is. I'd really like to be able to access the entire Internet not just the WWW. Any ideas about what is going on here and how I can fix it/get around it? (Windows XP SP2 if that helps).
My new office doesn't have a network set up yet, so I have to bring in my personal laptop and use the new city-wide wifi. Everything works great in my browser (Firefox of course) but I can't access certain other things: AOL Instant Messenger, my school's webhost via SSH (I don't have access to the company webserver yet so I was going to temporarily use my student webspace to host some mockups), my school's POP email.
I'm guessing that the limited access is some kind of security thing, but I am not really sure what the deal is. I'd really like to be able to access the entire Internet not just the WWW. Any ideas about what is going on here and how I can fix it/get around it? (Windows XP SP2 if that helps).
For AIM: Have you tried using AIM Express, also from AOL? I've had luck connecting with it in similar situations. It's not quite as slick as the normal application, but it works well...
posted by whatzit at 9:50 AM on July 19, 2006
posted by whatzit at 9:50 AM on July 19, 2006
As near as I could tell when I was there, the city wide wifi mostly just did http and shttp. I couldn't use ssh, telnet or any IM client when I was there, although I think gtalk worked through the browser when I was logged in to gmail. I didn't work too hard to get around this though I seem to recall that sshing over port 80 did NOT work. On the other hand, lots of places in the city offer their own free wifi [Doubletree hotel lobby for example, just ask for the login and they'll give it to you] so if your work won't handle your network access, perhaps you can go elsewhere?
posted by jessamyn at 10:39 AM on July 19, 2006
posted by jessamyn at 10:39 AM on July 19, 2006
Response by poster: I did try AIM Express, it said "the service is not available." And yes I did get GTalk to work, thank goodness.
I'll try port 80 tomorrow. Yeah I might hop on over to a hotel if they'll have me, there's no A/C in my office yet.
posted by radioamy at 1:49 PM on July 19, 2006
I'll try port 80 tomorrow. Yeah I might hop on over to a hotel if they'll have me, there's no A/C in my office yet.
posted by radioamy at 1:49 PM on July 19, 2006
BTW, amy, it's just in the french quarter and CBD for now. The earthlink deal will expand it to the riverbend. Congrats on the new job, too. Here's the Times-Picayune article on the free Muni WiFi. The print version of Monday's paper had a coverage map.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:04 PM on July 19, 2006
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:04 PM on July 19, 2006
Response by poster: Hi Gunn! Yeah I know it's not fully citywide yet. But it is super-exciting nonetheless, and appears pretty robust.
Oh and for anyone who actually cares and remembers me from my neighbor problem, my new job is managing the office for the construction company that employs my neighbors. Crazy, eh?
posted by radioamy at 9:30 PM on July 19, 2006
Oh and for anyone who actually cares and remembers me from my neighbor problem, my new job is managing the office for the construction company that employs my neighbors. Crazy, eh?
posted by radioamy at 9:30 PM on July 19, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:31 AM on July 19, 2006