Man, if I was to pick the perfect place to go wardriving, I would say that Maui would be a pretty good start! Yes boys and girls, there is ‘Wi-Fi in Mau-i‘. As a matter of fact, if you go wardriving there, you will be surprised as to just how much access to wireless Internet there is in that part of the world.

The night was humid. With the air conditioner on high, I drove North towards Kahului. The laptop sitting on the center console continuously pinging at the networks being discovered. “Man, there’s a lot of wireless around here,” I said.

Which shouldn’t have surprised me. The island of Maui in the state of Hawaii is a popular tourist destination with hundreds of hotels and time-share condominiums supporting over 2 million Maui Science Citytourists a year. Haleakala, the dormant volcano reaching to 10,023 feet, is home to ”Science City”, a research facility and observatory. Maui fosters a strong technology community boasting state tax incentives, a modern research & technology park for industry. And Hawaii is the hub of the Southern Cross Network, a submarine fiber optic network capable of providing 1.2 terabits of bandwidth from Hawaii to mainland US, and 480 gigabits of capacity to Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.

Residential and commercial broadband DSL and cable is available to many island residents and most businesses. For those that can’t get wired access, there is a wireless ISP making a go at covering other parts of the island.

All of this makes Maui just another spot on the map for a wardriver like me.

WIRELESS SHOPS

Notable is the many Internet Cafe’s and shops either giving away wireless access for free or charging a small amount for computer or wireless access. One shop in Kihei even has a service where you can rent a Sprint 3G cellular card, which works almost anywhere your cellphone would work - like on the beach.