2 weeks of amazing social experience. 2 weeks of intense updates on the Wireless Industry. Tutorials, News, and Gadgets. In our effort to keep you updated on the latest, it was a great learning experience for us too.

The number of public WiFi in India, today, is bulging in leaps and bounds. More people are getting ready to pay for public WiFi access. One of the major concerns public WiFi users face, is security. Thankfully, with the latest operating systems (especially the Open Source ones) making the devices’ data more hard to breach, and more secure, the notion is changing sure and fast. All we hope for is a nation where everyone gets to log onto the Internet, any time, any where, with any device.

Without any more ado, it’s time to announce the winners of the 4th week of July. And they are Praval Singh and Sourav Banerjee. Congratulations!

We are thankful that all of you participated in the contest. This contest is closed for now. but don’t you worry, we are not going to stop giving out Airspot Routers for free. But, it will be on another new day, over another new contest!

In the mean time, you can still get Airspot Routers for free, here.

Last week, we had announced a contest where you can win 3 Airspot Social WiFi Routers, every single week. We had amazing fun, and it was great to see the immense amount of response we received from the Twitter and the blog-o-sphere! We counted over 500 Tweets and 5 blog posts, about this contest. And for the first week, we surely think it’s tremendous. With our tweets, we hope that you have managed to learn a bit more about the WiFi networks. We hope that you feel more secure the next time you plan to access a public WiFi network. And we also hope that you are excited about not just this one, but all the future releases and exciting features that will be added to the Airspot Routers.

Okay, enough of jargon, and it’s finally time to announce the winners of the 3rd week of July. And they are Rajeev Mahadevan, Gaurav Thorat, and Raj. Congratulations, people!

Thanks a lot to every one who participated in the contest. In case you haven’t won it yet, do not lose your heart. The contest is still very much on, and you have one more week to win the Routers!

By the way, in case you do not wish to wait until the end of the week, you can also get an Airspot router for free by filling out this form.

So, what are you waiting for? Dive in!

(image courtesy: lumaxart)

For most small businesses, a reliable connection to the Internet is vital for both communication and commerce. A key component of Internet access is the Domain Name System (DNS), which allows you to reach sites using familiar and user-friendly names like airspot.in rather than inscrutable and difficult to remember IP addresses like 63.236.73.55. Whenever you access a Web site, send or receive e-mail, chat via instant messaging, or use any other type of Internet application, DNS is working behind the scenes matching domain names to IP addresses.

As you read this, your business is probably relying on ISP-provided DNS servers to reach sites and services on the Internet. They often do an adequate job, but they’re prone to sluggishness (and sometimes outages). Switching your business over to the independent DNS service provider OpenDNS, on the other hand, can make Internet access a bit speedier and safer for everyone on your network, as well as provide added features like content filtering so you can determine which Web sites your employees can and can’t visit.

OpenDNS uses a combination of caching technology and a network of strategically located servers that generally perform DNS lookups much quicker than ISP servers do. Considering that loading all the components of a single Web page can often involve lots of individual DNS lookups, saving even a fraction of a second on each can really add up.

One of the advantages of using OpenDNS is that it includes anti-phishing. Phishing is where someone sets up a fake website and lures you there with a phony link, then tries to get information like account numbers, passwords and social security numbers from you. OpenDNS also provides filtering categories for parental controls.

DNS server of few ISPs can be real slow and unreliable resulting in slow Internet browsing. You can easily use OpenDNS instead of your ISPs DNS server for faster browsing.

You can replace the DNS numbers your ISP provided, either in your computer settings or the settings on your wireless router or airport.

The OpenDNS server addresses are: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. You can use these numbers without setting up an account at OpenDNS.com, but if you create a free account there, you have access to instructions, a knowledge base and support help.

Here are quick 5 steps to set up OpenDNS on Windows:

1. Click Start > Run – type ncpa.cpl and then click OK button. Vista users click Start and type ncpa.cpl in the search bar and hit the Enter key.
2. In the new window, right click on the active network connections icon and then click on properties option.
3. In connection properties window click Networking Tab and then click on Properties button next to uninstall button (make sure Internet Protocol TCP/IP option is selected).
4. In new properties Windows, highlight option ‘Use the following DNS server addresses’, then type 208.67.222.222 in preferred box and 208.67.220.220 in the alternate box.
5. Click OK on opened properties windows and OpenDNS is set up on your computer!

It’s been a week since we had launched Airspot, and we have already been swarmed with queries, not just on our website, but also on Twitter. Our product is still very nascent, and we are continuously working to make it evolve. All the love that we have received so far is exceedingly overwhelming.

Starting Monday, July 12, we announce an amazing contest that shall take not more than 5 minutes of your time, everyday, and you can win 3 Airspot routers for free, every single week! So, how do you get it?

Monday onwards, we shall be tweeting on anything and everything about WiFi – be it latest news, gadgets, security tips, tutorials or even interesting tweeps who you should follow. The schedule for the same is going to be like this -

Now, you can join in with the revolution by retweeting our tweets, or coming up with points of your own, or even write blog posts on the same. And for every single activity, you shall be awarded points.

The Points System

• 2 points – for retweeting any of Airspot’s tweets with the above hashtag
• 5 points – to tweet original tweets, with relevant hashtags
• 10 points – to write a blog post about this contest
• 15 points – to write a blog post about Airspot
• 5 points – if Airspot’s Twitter and Facebook fan pages’ URLs are also included in the above blog post

15 points – Minimum points required to be eligible for winning the contest

At the end of every week (Saturday), we shall evaluate your points, and announce the top three scorers on every Monday. All of those 3 winners shall receive a complementary Airspot router from us, along with lifetime upgrade, and support.

As a reminder, you should follow us on Twitter, or ‘Like’ our Facebook Page to stay updated on more contests, offers, and updates!

Of course, if you have any queries, you can mention it in the comments section, of this blog post.

Amidst the stupendous wins of Spain and Paraguay, last night, it’s time for you to bring up those vuvuzelas again. We have finally released the very first beta version of Airspot – the wireless router that shall make your WiFi go social, for the first time in India. The routers shall be available for purchase either from our website, or from any electronics store near you.

Some of the key features of the Airspot router are -

• Unlike regular routers, it gives out 2 SSIDs (or WiFi signals).
• One of them is private, and is meant for the router owner’s personal use.
• The other signal takes 30% of the total Internet bandwidth and transmits a public SSID, that can be accessed by one and all.
• This turns your house/establishment into a WiFi hotspot.
• Registration and authentication of public use of your Internet connection shall be taken care of by Airspot highly adept servers. As an owner, you have nothing to worry about.
• 50% of all revenue earned from the public WiFi usage shall be shared with the owner, every quarter.
• Being a part of the Airspot Community also makes your WiFi hotspot a part of a social network where you shall be able to give more information about your Airspot, interact with your Visitors, and also interact with other Airspot owners.
• It is a 802.11n compliant router, for the price of a 801.11g one. Which means higher bandwidth, and better connectivity.
• Being an Airspot Owner also means that you shall be able to access Internet on any other Airspot location for free.

The Future

We do not say that we have gotten it perfect in our very first try. But we are proud that we have started to walk towards a dream we had visioned, a while back. And the attempt to innovation definitely doesn’t stop here. We have a lot more plans in store, and our developers are still coding away so that we can bring the next release to you very soon. Here’s a snapshot of the additional features you can expect, in very recent future -

1. Maps - Next comes a basic but nifty map where not just yours but every single Airspot location shall be featured in a map. There are plans to add a couple of extra information too, about the locations.
2. Variable Bandwidth Sharing - Currently, the Internet bandwidth sharing has been fixed to a ratio of 70:30, where 30% is shared with the Airspot users. However, we do understand that having the choice of deciding of much of the bandwidth you would like to share is important, and hence we are working towards it for the next release. After all, it is your own Internet bandwidth!
3. Remote Upgrade - Currently, you shall have to download the upgraded firmware from our website, and install the update yourself. We are working hard so that the upgrade can happen automatically, with minimal interference.

So, do let us know your feedback, about our brand new product, and also about the Airspot service. And yeah, in case you are interested to get an Airspot Router for free, subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed, be a part of our Facebook Fan Page, or keep an eye at our Twitter page. There are a lot of contests and free giveaways in the offing!

In the last blog post, we introduced the concept behind Airspot, how we dreamed to make the humble WiFi signal go social. Today, allow us to introduce the whole Airspot Team. These are the folks who had given in all their knowledge, and efforts, to make Airspot transform, from a dream into a reality.

We have had a lot of internal discussions on how could we make the Airspot routers available to the masses. And must say, the idea to go the Google way (for Nexus One) was very tempting. However, we realised that Indian consumers still prefer to visit their nearby electronic stores, or malls, touch and feel the product, and test it, before buying it. Thus formed our decision of actually sourcing the Airspot routers to your local vendor so that you can buy it right off the shelf.

So, how do you set up an Airspot location of your own? It’s pretty simple, actually.

1. Visit your nearby electronic store, and buy an Airspot router off the shelf.
2. Come home, plug in the Airspot router to the power supply.
3. Plug in your existing broadband Internet connection.
4. On your computer/mobile device, search for the wireless network (SSID) “Airspot-Public”, or visit http://airspot.in/register.
5. Type in any URL in the address bar of your browser, and the router registration URL should automatically load up.
6. Input all your details, and voila! You are a registered Airspot Host, and have a personal Airspot location now.
7. By the way, do not forget to update your Social Profile Dashboard, so that all your Visitors can know more about your location, and even interact with you.

Still confused? You can always check out the manuals and tutorials that we have put up for detailed help. Of course, you can also shoot your query to us at support[at]airspot[dot]in.

John Locke had once said that “Man is a social animal“. Judging by the raging popularity of the social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and iBibo, one wouldn’t really differ from him. The modes of communication have evolved a lot – from the humble letter to telephones, to the Internet. Even on the Internet, there were mailing lists, then came in discussion forums, which later paved way for the social networks, the way we know them today.

As and when social networks grew popular, several others started sprouting up, that catered to a very niche segment of audiences. Some of the were PagalGuy (for the higher studies aspirants), Connectbillions (social network for the Indian villages), LinkedIn (network for the professionals), TrackMyPeriods (a network for women who wish to track their menstrual cycles), and many more. This gave rise to the idea of making the WiFi go social.

Today, India is touted to have one of the best potentials for the growth of Internet connectivity. However, lack of ease and availability of access has been playing a major role in hindering that growth. While biggies like Bharti, BSNL and TATA have been trying hard to get every single inch of this country’s 3.2 million square kilometers wired, India’s varied topography poses a huge challenge. This makes Wireless Fidelity (popularly known as WiFi) the best possible answer to the Great Indian Dream.

We, at Airlink Wireless, decided to pursue this Great Indian Dream, but with a twist. Today, we find almost every single home and establishment going wire-free. We, ourselves, have deployed over 5,000 WiFi locations all over the world. And the number is steadily increasing.

This is where Airspot figures in! While almost each of us uses a WiFi router today, try imagining how the world would be when suddenly every single WiFi hotspot network can be accessed by anyone and everyone around you? How many times has it been that your mobile phone notified you of a couple of wireless networks around you, but you couldn’t access it because they were meant to be for private use only? Yes, we are speaking of a WiFi usage boom, here.

We understand that the very first idea to strike you is the security concerns. We also understand that the very reason why you can not access a private wireless network is concern for security. And we have taken complete measures to plug the security hole with the best of industry standards. While, a detailed explanation of the security measures does not figure within the scope of this particular blog post, do expect one from us, very soon.

So, getting back to our discussion, how do you reckon it would be, if you could access a wireless network any time you wanted, didn’t matter where you were? That is precisely our mission statement, with Airspot. “Airspot allows you to share your existing Internet connection with everyone around you.”

How does that happen?

Every Airspot router broadcast 2 SSIDs, “Airspot-Private” and “Airspot-Public”. “Airspot-Private” is for your personal use, while others can log onto your network using the other SSID, “Airspot-Public”. They shall need to purchase a Internet access plan and are ready to surf.

Why should I share?

As they say, more you share, more you get. In real life, this why you might wish to share your Internet connection -

• No one uses his Internet bandwidth to the fullest. it never hurts to share the surplus with the world.
• You get to earn easy money, sitting at home. All you need to do is share 30% of your Internet bandwidth and you earn 50% of what a Visitor pays, to access the Internet on your network.
• Your Airspot locations gets its own social profile on the web.

What is a Social Profile?

This is why we say that WiFi has finally gone social. Every Airspot location gets to be a part of the Airspot Community, and also a profile page of its own, with the following features -

• Feature your own Content - Be it your blog posts, Twitter updates or even photos that you have uploaded on Flickr, you can now feature all of them, at one place, on Airspot’s Social Profile page.
• Aggregated Social Presence - You might be a member of Facebook, Twitter, or even Orkut. You do not need to share all your profile URLs anymore. Just share your Airspot profile URL and the rest shall already be featured, right there.
• Live Online Status - Anyone who might want to plan their public WiFi usage can sit at his home and confirm whether your Airspot location is currently online, or not. Customer satisfaction is our key priority.
• Testimonials - More people write about your Airspot location, higher are the chances for people to use your network, rather than your neighbor’s. This definitely means more money for you!

Of course, there are a lot of questions that are still hovering in your mind. Kindly allow us to approach your concerns and queries, one by one. While you can always connect with us via this blog’s comment section, our Facebook Fan page or even on Twitter, you could also visit our FAQ page, for now, to know more. In the mean time, let us get back to our word processor and churn out more blog posts for you.