VPN

Virtual Private Networks

Many companies who have employees who travel or work from home allow their employees to connect to the corporate network from remote locations through what is known as a VPN or Virtual Private Network.

A VPN is a private, encrypted channel that secretly "tunnels" it's way through the public Internet in such a way that only people with special software and credentials can access it.

The process usually involves a Secure ID PIN that changes every few seconds. You have access to this PIN through a little "dongle" device you carry around with you. You enter a combination of a secret number only you know and whatever is on your dongle and shazzam it's like you never left the building!

If your on travel your hotels wireless network either supports VPN or it doesn't. If it doesn't there's not much you can do about it. Your best bet is to try to find a wired connection somewhere. If you working from home there's a lot you can do to make sure you can VPN into your work network from home.

VPN Settings

This video describes where you can find the VPN setting on several routers and what to do if your router doesn't support VPN.