Hi Daniel,
As you know I have always been very suspicious of anything Telstra “Offers -
Free”!
Don’t you just ‘adore’ this bit from Telstra under SECURITY… (There is NO
SECURITY)!
To their credit (if I have to give Telstra any credit), they at least warn
users… if Users read all the documentation ;-)
/Begin Quote:
"How secure is the Telstra Air Network?
Providing a secure and easy Wi-Fi experience for customers is important to us.
Like most public Wi-Fi services, browsing sessions on Telstra Air are open with
the communication between a computing device and the wireless point
unencrypted. We recommend to customers that it’s okay to use the service for
general web browsing and for streaming content, however any activity that
requires a secure connection such as internet banking should be done via a
mobile or fixed broadband service.
If customers are wanting to share personal information when they're out and
about should consider:
• Using a mobile network connection
• Using a VPN app which in initiates the exclusive connection from the
computing device
• Or checking that the site they would like to use has HTTPS to protect
their exchanged data before proceeding. HTTPS is in wide use on popular sites
such as Facebook which started offering it in 2011.
What customer information is collected when connected to a Telstra Air hotspot?
Once you are confirmed as a member of the Telstra Air network we don't monitor
your internet usage other than how much data you use from your Fixed Broadband
account.
/End Quote:
What a joke that last bit ‘Re ‘We don’t monitor your internet usage...'
I’m out of here after adding my 5c on the subject (only 5c as it was a short
reply) ;-))
Regards,
Ronni
> On 15 Oct 2017, at 9:58 am, Daniel Kerr <wa...@macwizardry.com.au> wrote:
>
> Telstra Air and FON networks (in my opinion) I feel are one of the
> “strangest” things around,..and in fact I’m unsure how Telstra actually get
> away with it.
> People that have recent Telstra modems generally are also one where these two
> “free” networks are sent out from.
>
> For example. You have a Telstra modem, and it broadcasts the network you use
> (e.g. Telstra1AB234 and Telstra 1AB234-5G). These are the two you would
> expect to see. However, the modem also broadcasts Telstra Air and FON
> networks from that same modem as well. So effectively it’s broadcasting 4
> networks. Two that are the ones you use with your own password and two which
> are ones that a Telstra customer can join with their own Telstra details to
> log in to it.
> So, effectively if someone did join it. they are logged on to your modem.
> However it’s “seperate” from your network, so in theory they can’t access any
> of your things. And from what I understand it doesn’t affect your quota. But
> as I see it, it would be using your bandwidth. (I could be wrong on this
> part, as I haven’t fully looked into that part).
>
> And the other thing which is also a bit annoying, is that you can’t actually
> turn this off without calling Telstra (though recently you can log in to your
> Telstra account and are meant to be able to turn it off there now as well!
> You can log in to the modem and see the networks are broadcasting (by logging
> into the modem interface using something like 10.1.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 or
> 192.168.1.1 or something similar to that). But even being logged in , you
> can’t de-activate it from there!
>
> As I see it, this is how Telstra are making their “Telstra Air network” cover
> all of Australia. In using modem spread around that anyone can join. But my
> issue with it is, that a lot of people don’t realise it’s from their own
> modem. And, how did they advise they were happy with their modem being part
> of the “large Telstra pool of internet” to make this. More then likely it’s
> in the “Terms and Conditions” that everyone reads and agrees to. :))
> I had one client that had 5 people on his network downloading movies and TV
> shows and lots of streaming. We could actually see the download speed
> decrease when it was on. When we turned off Wireless for the two “Free”
> Telstra networks, we then saw the speed increase. Perhaps this was a
> coincidence, but to me common sense would have to say that more people on a
> freeway, the slower the traffic is going to be. So the same would apply to a
> modem and internet speed as well. And when I explain that their Telstra modem
> is more then likely the one broadcasting these networks (and show them in the
> interface page) they’re quite surprised and asked how they turned it on! (and
> most importantly how do they turn that off, as they don’t want other people
> using their modem).
>
> Again, I could be wrong here, but it just seems like a bit of a sneaky way to
> supply internet to other people. Surely if it was something that was going to
> be OK, it would be spelt out very clearly so people could opt in to it when
> they signed up to Telstra. Rather then it just being on when they get the
> modems. And like others have seen here, it’s annoying sometimes as some
> devices jump to that open network straight away rather then to their own
> network, so then it has to be changed back (or ignored, or removed from
> settings etc). So it can be a bit of a pain too.
>
> Some more info on it -
> https://crowdsupport.telstra.com.au/t5/Broadband-nbn/Telstra-Air-Frequently-Asked-Questions/ta-p/473504
> https://www.telstra.com.au/telstra-air/at-home
> I particularly like this last link and where it says,…
> /quote
> Can I opt out?
> …...By deactivating Telstra Air, you won’t be able to access our network of
> hotspots in Australia or overseas with your home broadband service.
> /end quote
>
> In other words,…if you won’t play with us, we’re taking our ball and going
> home. ;) Turn off our network at your house,..you can’t use our free Telstra
> Air network elsewhere. That soooo sounds like a tantrum,….lol.
>
> Now as mentioned, this is just my personal opinion and take on this,…so I
> could be a little wrong, or perhaps I’m missing something to understand it
> all and how it works. But I’m judging it on what I’ve seen out and about when
> working. I do realise the Telstra phone boxes do the same sort of thing as
> well, so some is coming from there, but I think a lot of it is coming from
> people’s home modems (generally).
>
> Sorry for the long post, (and any mistakes as I don’t re-read what I write
> somedays,….lol). Just thought I’d offer my 15cents on it (it used to be
> 2cents but the price of everything went up,…don’t get me started on
> that,….lol).
> I’ll leave it there for food for thought, and go back to getting ready for my
> Sunday family activities,…hehe.
>
> Enjoy!
> Kind regards
> Daniel
>
> ---
> Daniel Kerr
> MacWizardry
>
> Phone: 0414 795 960
> Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au>
> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au>
>
>
> **For everything Apple**
>
> NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and
> as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry.
> Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or
> accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this
> email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the
> author be requested.
>
>> On 15 Oct 2017, at 8:57 am, Peter Crisp <petercr...@westnet.com.au> wrote:
>>
>> HI Walter, I was getting this to in the apartment I am in. It is annoying to
>> have this pop up like it is. I think it is simply telstra saying “we’ve got
>> wifi where you are located and you can connect to our service”. I use my own
>> controlled wifi 4G service so ignore it.
>>
>> Pete.
>>> On 15 Oct 2017, at 8:40 am, FW <whae...@iinet.net.au> wrote:
>>>
>>> Good morning,
>>>
>>> A screen frequently pops up while I am in Safari:
>>>
>>> “Join Fon WiFi”
>>>
>>> from Telstra. Is this something legit ? Or scam ?
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> Walter
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