Who uses their neighbours wireless connection?

[flint hills]

I'm sitting in my living room and have access to 2 networks in the area. What are the issues if wi-fi is broadcast into my dwelling? If I go to a coffee shop and buy a cup of coffee, wi-fi is included in the price of the coffee. But walking to the end of street to poach the signal from some one else is unacceptable.

[bad-head-day]

Ok how about your neighbour is in between you & the coffee shop & you might accidentally connect through your neighbours' wireless point. I think if it came to the crunch, in an urban area (let's say you live in a town) you have more responsibility to secure your connection. That makes sense. If that makes sense then it's up to everyone to make their connection as secure; since until you encrypt you're open to anyone.

[mikeh]

If I walk around the perimeter of the yard I could probably pick up about 18 networks, and all of them are encrypted. I once did a hard reset on my router cuz i accadentaly set a wep key and forgot it and I was lazy and didnt encrypt it or change the default logon pass for the settings page for a day or two and a neighbor gussed that the username was admin and the pass was blank. He logged on to the settings page and encrypted my router and changed the admin password so I couldnt find out the wep key. I had to do another hard reser on the box. I then emmediately encrypted. Why can't anyone in my neighborhood be stupid enough to leave their network un-encrypted so i can log on in areas of my yard where my own router dosent reach to?

But back to the point. I always connect to other people's network when i on the road. I'm only on for a couple minutes to check me email and so forth.

[pr5owner]

im sorry but only n00bs and h4x0rs *accidentally* connect to other peoples wireless networks.

my G network is faster than my neighbors B network so no, i dont connect to his unless im at his house for lan party

as for windows auto connecting, i really must stress that its not the best way to do things. you may one day connect to a MITM rouge access point and have someone steal all your passwords and other confidential info

[treyjazz]

Those attacks are designed to mimic the real AP so even if you connect manually you still could be had.

[Noisy Crow]

Those attacks are designed to mimic the real AP so even if you connect manually you still could be had.

Which is why you should always run a software firewall on your machines. That way even if the network is compromised your machines are still protected.

As a side note, the software firewall should be configured to warn of all unauthorized incoming attempts. Since your harware router/firewall (you do have one, don't you ) and Access Point will normally block such activity, you really do want to be notified if someone has managed to get past the router.

[bad-head-day]

I've got my own wireless network up & running as of 10 minutes ago, wpa secured. Connected through odyssey & working really well. I bought a belkin wireless router, apparently I'll be able to change the firmware to get higher speeds (than 54g) so I'll do that sometime. I bought it from a shop. It's like going into a market & handing over some cash for goods

[keet]

I keep my own wireless network hidden and secured/encrypted, but I don't mind connecting to other peoples' networks occasionally. I don't know if it's illegal in South Korea, where I'm living temporarily, but I don't think it's wrong, unless you actually use so much bandwidth that they notice that you're using their network. When I first arrived here, I had no connection, so I just tapped into someone else's. There are plenty of unsecured connections here, just about everywhere.

The average connecting here is 6Mbps to 12Mbps, so really, who's going to notice if you browse the web a little using their connection? I know some people think it's unethical, but I don't really care. The only reason why I secure mine is for, well, security.. to keep people off my computer, not because I want to keep people off my internet connection.

They probably can't even notice that I'm using theirs, and frankly, if they came to my apartment and asked to use my computer because they didn't use one, I'd say sure; it's just simple sharing, who cares? I don't see what the big deal is, unless you're leeching their connection for bittorrent and multi-gigabyte file transfers at the same time, or they're using dialup or something..

The funny thing, though, is when people don't even change the default password of their routers. I could practically own so many routers by now, if I were the sort to do it. But I'm definitely not.

[Clegs]

I use it when Ii'm setting up a new device and don't feel like getting my wireless key.
Then again, everyone here is on 1.5mbps.
If you are going to use it as your main connection then you should ask their permission.

[oversteve]

If you check your email via someone elses wireless connection, cannot that be traced back to you?

[m.baurmann]

I think lots of folks do--maybe not on a regular basis, but here in Central CA we have DSL via Verizon, and their setup instructions doesn't mention security. I solved the issue--before I learned about security--by wrapping a ground wire around the antenna to shield it!

I've been in hotel parking lots and until lately been able to access their "free" wireless. In one case, there was a key, so I went into the lobby, found the folder that goes in every room and got the key that way, then wen't back to the parking lot and the hood of my rental car where my laptop was!

[TheFang]

If my neighbor leave their car unlocked withthe keys inside, it just because they want me to take their car for a run. During that time they do not have access to their car and I may do something to it as well. This is the same as taking their WiFi You use it you stoled it.

Thank you Frenchy!
I know of at least 2 unsecured networks that show up on my computer. Do I use them? Heck no! I have my own and it is secured. I do know of one neighbor who does use anothers connection, but I think that is just wrong.

[paulg1957]

With me, its the downtown businesses. Especially the coffee bar that advertises free wireless