Use The Network

I see the Skywave signal and want to try the service. What should I do?

The first step is to establish a connection to any Skywave WiFi network signal. Once connected, try to surf the Internet. Instead of going to your home page, you will be redirected to Skywave's "Splash" page. You will want to click on the Register button on the left, fill in the form, including the service plan of your choice and credit card information. Once you have established an account with us, you can use this account (email/password) any time you find yourself at a Skywave splash page, across our entire network (visit http://www.skywavebroadband.net/maps/locations.php for more information).

Is there a way to try the Skywave Network before I hand over my hard-earned money?

Feel free to try any of our "Free" links in the OpenSky section of our web site to judge your network connectivity and speed (click on the top of the main banner).

I see many Skywave Networks in my wireless network client. Which one should I use?

You should always choose the network that works the best. Unfortunately that might take some experimentation. Wireless Client software often shows many networks with great signals (5 bars, etc.) when they are not usable or sub-par. Try out the networks in your area using our free OpenSKy links and then use the one that works best (be sure to make it first on your list of preferred networks or you may find you connection jumping to another network when you don't want it to).
Always remember to run a "Repair" (Windows: right-click network icon, choose "Repair") on your interface when changing networks so you can get a new IP address (and clear the old information).

Can I use P2P file-sharing on The Skywave network?

No. Due to the fact the 99% of all P2P programs distribute illegal media, it violates our acceptable use policy. We have had enough complaints filed by HBO and others that we no longer allow P2P file-sharing on our network. Plus it's a bandwidth hog and impacts other users on the system.

Does Skywave charge by usage or in blocks of time?

With Skywave, you buy a contiguous block of time that starts from the minute you signed up. You are not charged by the minute (cell phone style), so feel free to use the Internet as much as you want during the time frame you purchased.

Just an example, our 1 Day plan is $8.95-$9.95. If you were paying 10 cents/minute, that same plan would cost $144.00!

Languages

Do you have plans to translate into other languages?

We currently have English and Japanese and are going to be launching in Korean in the Fall of 2009. Plans are in the works for Chinese as well. If you would like to see another language, let us know with an email to info@skywavebroadband.net

Connection Errors

How do I find out if the Wireless Gateway gave me an IP address?

Open a DOS Window by clicking on "Start"->"Run" then typing "cmd"(no quotes).
When the window opens type: ipconfig /all
This will tell you the status of every network adapter on your laptop. Locate your wireless card (by the manufacturers name) and see if you have an address in the 192.168.x.x range or 10.x.x.x range. Without this address, you cannot access the network.

Why do I have to log in after I have been idle for 30 minutes?

The gateway checks periodically for activity on your connection. If it does not see any for 30 minutes, it will close the firewall. This is done to free up ip addresses and to prevent someone spoofing your ip and mac address for a free ride.

My laptop says I have a great signal but I can't connect to the network.

Many outside factors can interfere with Data Transfer on wireless networks (especially in a vertical town like Waikiki). So, even if the radio signal is strong, there may be too much noise to use it. Think of it like static on a phone call, you are connected but you can't have a conversation.
Also, wireless communication is a 2-way street. Skywave transmitters are a slightly higher power than most laptops. You my be able to receive our signal but be just too far away to send back (our antennas have very high receive sensetivity but the signal may degrade too much by the time it gets there)

I bookmarked the login page for easy access but now I can't log in?

The Gateways work on redirection technology. You should not bookmark the login page as it will try to use a stale Session Token and will also not set a redirection variable (to send your browser to after a successful login). The long and short of this is, do not change anything on your computer. Just opening your browser (after connecting to the network and getting an ip address) will send you to the login page and from there to your home page on the Internet (after login).

My hotel has tinted or reflective windows. Will that cause problems with the wireless signal?

In a nutshell, yes. Tinting, wire-mesh, reflective surfaces, and metal doping in windows all kill RF signals. If you can open the window, you can sit by it and probably get on. If you can't, then you will probably not get enough solid signal to move data.

Why does my VPN not work?

Some VPN clients do not work well through NAT routers. Check with your IT Department to see if this affects you.

Also make sure you are using IPsec in tunnel mode, not transport mode
(transport mode will not work through NAT).

Connection Issue

I keep getting disconnected and reconnected to a different wireless network. How do I make this stop?

If you are using Windows XP, in your wireless network management window, click on the text link that says "change the order of preferred networks." Find the network that is causing the difficulties and REMOVE from you list of preferred networks.

Signup Difficulty - Address

I have a PO Box as my address but the Registration form is rejecting my address.

Try typing "P.O." instead of "PO".

Which address should I use on the registration form?

Be sure to use the billing address of your credit card and not your hotel or rental. This is used to authenticate your charge.

Email Errors

Why can't I send Email (Part 1)?

Most ISP's these days block mail at their Mail Server that was sent from an "Untrusted" network (one that is not theirs).
You might be able to get around this using the secure ports and username/password authentication or by using a web mail client (over https naturally).
This is always a good idea at a public hotspot anyway, as mail sent over regular port 25 is in plain text and anyone can "sniff" it and read it easily.

Why can't I send Email (Part 2)?

For your security and ours, we don't allow email sent from private SMTP servers. Due to abuse by spammers and the possibility of identity theft, we have shut down Outgoing port 25 on our Network.

You can still send email through your providers SMTP server (if they allow it) on port 25 but we recommend using one of these secure ways:

1) Use your companies' or ISP's secure port to the email server which are encrypted (usually port 465 is secure SMTP)

2) Most email providers have a web client now that you can run over HTTPS. This is securely encrypted with SSL.

3) You can use a third party service like Mail2Web (www.mail2web.com) to tunnel your email through port 443 (be sure to use the SSL connection!)

We are sorry for the inconvenience but this is really for the best as the the results of not being secure can be very damaging.

Site Survey Tools

What is the Signal Strength Indicator and how do I use it?

The Signal Strength Indicator shows how strong your signal is back to our Access Point much in the same way that your "Bars" show the strength of the signal from our Access Point to your Laptop.

Since we use High-Powered cards and large, external antennas, your laptop might "see" our Access Point just fine (4-5 Bars) but the antenna on your wireless card may not be strong enough to talk back to the AP.

You can now use the Signal Strength Indicator to see how good the signal is from your laptop to the AP. You can try it on any AP in the area and, since it refreshes every 3 seconds, you can watch it as you move about the room to find the best spot. This is known as a "site-survey".

The recommendations of the Signal Strength Indicator are a bit generic along round numbers. Since different wireless cards have different receive and transmit capabilities, these are just recommendations. You might get it to work just fine in the "Fair" category but proceed knowing that it has a low signal to noise margin.

0 to -69 = Great. Use it
-70 to -79 = Good, should be ok
-80 to -89 = fair. might have issues
-90 and up = Bad. Not recommended

Make sure to notice that these are negative numbers, so the bigger the number, the worse the signal is.

Why doesn't the Bandwidth Test show up for me?

You need to have Java installed to run the test. IE no longer installs Java by default having lost a lawsuit to Sun Microsystems.

Install Java from Sun if you want to use this or download a superior (standards-compliant) browser like Firefox.

Account Errors

I forgot my password. How can I get it back?

When you first signed up, we sent you an email with your username and password. if you kept this email, you can look it up there. If you no longer have this email, simply call our support line 866-374-7065 24/7 and they will change it for you after verifying some personal information.