Rayboy

I work for a Web / Email Hosting & Solutions Company, so i have to handle support calls for the weirdest of things sometimes. Offlate for the last 1 month. Most of my clients have been calling us, saying that they cannot check email/webmail or Browse their own secure sites, or do FTP uploads etc while they are at Kuwait International Airport.  I was wondering initially if it had to do anything with their Laptops or any wifi settings. Until i personally decided to go there and check it out… This is a technical document… sorry about it(Non IT viewers).

I sat in 4 different locations , before the “check in” zone. I used a basic Wireless Adapter inbuilt in my Laptop. I came out to the below shocking results. My clients were right. I noticed most of the ISPs/Wifi Providers have blocked all the ports except for Http browsing on Port 80. This is too bad as when you mean “PUBLIC wifi”(either paid or free) is supposed to support all ports .. you dont block or slow down everything …. its basically useless. These are the wifi zones i found and my comments on each.

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“STARBUCKS COFFEE”
Departure Area — No Wifi.
Arrival Area — No Wifi.

My Comments : Now this is SAD, “Starbucks” is known to have internet everywhere. Somehow they dont have it at the airport. I personally sat there first, ordered my coffee and then the waiter tells me sorry we dont offer internet… i was what?…. 

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“CARIBOU COFFEE”

Offers Wifi , Speed at 512 KBPS, Options , Purchased by prepaid voucher or Directly online on Credit card.

PORTS
PORTS - 80 - OPENED
PORTS - 110 - OPENED (EXTREMELY SLOW)
PORTS - 25 - OPENED (EXTREMELY SLOW)
PORTS - 443 - OPENED (EXTREMELY SLOW)
PORTS - 8383- OPENED (EXTREMELY SLOW)
PORTS -2222 OPENED (EXTREMELY SLOW)
PORTS -21/20 - OPENED (EXTREMELY SLOW)
MSN PORTS - OPENED (SLOW)
MSN ON PORT 80 - OPENED
YAHOO PORTS - OPENED (SLOW)
YAHOO ON PORT 80 - OPENED

DHCP
DHCP enabled
DHCP range - 192.168.1.XXX

My Comments : Now here i realised they are doing “Packet Shaping” or “Bandwidth priority” as i notice browsing normal websites is quite fast. while doing anything else, sending receiving emails on Outlook or my webmail which is located at 8383 is basically impossible. Since i had used my credit card to charge me “while im browsing” based on how much internet i used. I had to logout manually , otherwise Caribou would have charged me 15 mins IDLE time extra. Now the manual log out took around 5 mins. Now if you dont have any other ports to visit and just basic browsing .. this is fine. otherwise its not good.

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 ”NAS”

Offers Wifi , Speed at 1 MB ( i suppose), FREE Usage through Qualitynet

ORTS - 443 - OPENED
PORTS - 80 - OPENED
PORTS - 110 - OPENED
PORTS - 25 - OPENED
PORTS - 8383- OPENED
PORTS -2222 OPENED
PORTS -21/20 - OPENED
MSN PORTS - OPENED
MSN ON PORT 80 - OPENED
YAHOO PORTS - OPENED
YAHOO ON PORT 80 - OPENED

DHCP
DHCP enabled
DHCP range - 192.168.1.XXX

My Comments : Now this is the best i found from the lot, which has open access to all ports, i can check my webmail , use FTP, do work etc … and its FREE. I would recommend this.

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“ SML-MG “

Offers Wifi. Uses SMARTLINK

My Comments :  Now i couldnt test this .. as It doesnt tell me how to login, where to buy the prepaid cards from , it had no credit  card features.  Since Starbucks is tied up with Smartlink, i thought my starbucks Internet card would work on it.. But it didnt…

Dont recommend .. Confuses People

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” ZAJIL “

Offers Wifi , Speed at 4 MB ( i suppose),  Free for 1 Hour, Paid through KNET facilities or User Accounts from KEMS.

PORTS - 80 - OPENED
PORTS - 443 - OPENED
PORTS - 110 - BLOCKED
PORTS - 25 - BLOCKED
PORTS - 8383- BLOCKED
PORTS -2222 BLOCKED
PORTS -21/20 - BLOCKED
MSN PORTS - BLOCKED
MSN ON PORT 80 - OPENED
YAHOO PORTS - BLOCKED
YAHOO ON PORT 80 - OPENED

DHCP
DHCP enabled
DHCP range - 10.0.1.XXX

My Comments : Now this is bad, this was the fastest internet i found in the airport, But whats the use? when all the ports are blocked? Highly not recommended , if you have other services which needs opened ports.

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Personal Note : Apart from the above , there were many wifi zones, which were secure and locked. i assume it belongs to the shops and establishments around the airport mall. i personally feel that when you mean “Public Usage” either free or paid, should not block ports. for example , our services have their business emails located on port 8383. MOC website is on port 7000. Yahoo VOIP uses something else and it goes on & on. I felt only NAS, was satisfying the need for a complete OPEN wifi and personally recommend it.

Disclaimer : This Document is for Users to identify , which wifizones are allowing their services to function. It is not to be used to differentiate any ISPs

Tools used : HP NX6310 Laptop, with Broadcom wireless adapter builtin.
myspeed.visualware.com for measuring internet speed.