All the WiFi vendor had to do was use a properly-sized subnet like 10.N.0.0/16, but no, they couldn't provide something better than a shitty retail home router with an aviation-grade reset button panacea.
I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
141–150 of 171 posts
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#14215+ years ago, I had the same problem at a Starbucks. I asked the cashiers to reboot the modem, but they didn't understand why. Then I showed my new Microsoft certification card which has MCSE and few others and told them that "trust me, I know what I'm doing". They called their manager, who was also suprised but decided to go along with it and restarted the modem, solving the problem. I remember all the employees we…
That's adjacent to "Do you know who I am?" The problem with certifications are that they aren't a very good signal of quality employees because A+ and MCSx were on every resume along with SQL and Java. The best technical people I've know/n have few to no certifications to please HR, but maybe a Master's or PhD in CS or CCIE. Mostly, certifications have fallen by the wayside since 2008 apart from low-productivity businesses that aren't technology-focused.
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#143> Obviously, one solution to the problem is that DHCP leases on planes should be drastically shorter, like at 1 hour intervals. Secondly, the number of leases should be drastically increased. Why isn't the solution as simple as, "Reset the Internet at every flight turnover"? Once the plane lands and (almost) everyone deplanes, hit the button as another step in crew handover.
That would help, but I can imagine that on larger planes, especially if people connect their phone, then later their laptop, and so on, you could hit the limit of a 192.168.x subnet even during a flight.
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#144Deep in the granite mountain where the internet Kill Switch is located, there is also the US national Internet Reset switch. What exactly, in this fictional universe, is the restoration flow if it is pressed?
You have to unplug the giant router and plug it back in like South Park did. https://giphy.com/gifs/southparkgifs-l0Hlwi7KzoajIJTI4
The problem is it's incapable of running DD-WRT.
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#145Interesting. The "minimum F/A's required: 5" sticker suggests it's a pretty big plane that holds around 250 passengers. So it probably happens less often on smaller planes.
Probably a narrowbody though. I've been on overseas flights on widebodies where there were ~20 F/A's.
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Note that what the author did could have been done in a purely passive way, just by capturing packages and seeing the DHCP responses others got. I don't think that qualifies as "hacking".
Tell that to the judge then.
The ignorant masses demonize what they don't understand. If you don't appreciate the subtleties of passive investigation vs. offensive intrusion, then why are you even here?
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#147Always good to see something from Rob.
Question would be how high in the management chain did that have to go before a "internet reset" button was added to a plane.
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#148The author has more courage than me, opening “hacking tools” (Wireguard and Terminal) on an airplane.
(Yes, I know they’re not actually hacking tools, but try explaining that to a random flight attendant.)
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#149> Apparently in the front near the entrance/exit, there's a button simply labeled "INTERNET RESET" that she presses whenever a customer complains.
I worry that this is actually part of a RESTful interface. In that case it probably garbage collected erratarob et al, replacing them with a fresh version of our universe's page that had working internet for that plane.
Until someone proves me wrong we probably shouldn't press that button again...
Re: I told the flight attendant "the WiFi isn't working"
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost certainly no. Unlike the assertion made, she didn’t need to escalate it.
Why didn't she need to escalate it? I can imagine the hospitality industry would not want the WiFi sporadically going down for their guests; that's not a very hospitable experience.
Path of least resistance.
She offered a solution, customer refused it. She had no obligation to act further (assuming no such requirements set by company policy).