Who uses their neighbours wireless connection?

bad-head-day · 01-30-06, 01:31 AM

I was going to buy a wireless router, but I tried connecting at my house & someone has an unsecure signal available. So I'm using that (and thank you very much, whoever you are!)

Does anyone else connect for free thanks to neighbours, or a nearby business?

Wireless is good :)

netsyd · 01-30-06, 09:16 AM

1. It's theortically illegal.
2. Whenever I can :approve:

Seriously though, There are about 3 insecure wireless access points around my house. I have wireless myself, so no, I don't use any of the other ones, but I have been known to connect up to a business or two to check my email as I stroll downtown :)

Terryvi · 01-30-06, 09:18 AM

One thing to consider when you connect to someone elses network. Your PDA is open to them, so any sensitive info is vulnerable.

01-30-06, 10:03 AM

Yeah... I've done this before. Just to see if I could. I didn't stay on it long though. Heck, I leave mine open. I should probably do something about that.

aximbigfan · 01-30-06, 10:12 AM

my negbors gave me their wep key in return for testing the security of their wifi network every so often.... i still test their security but i have my own ap now... it is a wap11

chris

DJAd · 01-30-06, 11:05 AM

all the time! if it's not got a WEP key i'm on it. Thats the main point of wireless!!

Brewncue · 01-30-06, 11:23 AM

That's how I usually visit this site first thing in the a.m. Not for too long - I don't want to use up a lot of their bandwidth. I most surprised that 1. there are so many wireless routers nearby and 2. so many have NO security!

01-30-06, 11:49 AM

I have never accessed someone else's network, but I have looked to see if there was anyone stupid enough not to secure their network. I don't think that it is wrong to see who has it, but it is wrong to connect to it and use it.

DudeZXT · 01-30-06, 12:09 PM

If you have a wireless network, I would strongly recommend password protecting it because you never know when someone will do something illegal or just plain unethical on it. If the FBI or some other government agency comes knocking at your door, I don't think they'd be all that understanding to you for supporting/allowing your neighbor's child porn addiction or other illegal activity...

bad-head-day · 01-30-06, 12:13 PM

As far as I understand it is up to the owner to make their network secure (not that I'm complaining). I suppose some nutter could use the connection to find out how to build a bomb (or something more sinister, let's not name it) and the i.p would be at the network owners house. I only connect at odd times of the day (like this morning 6:30am) because I don't want to be seen on the network by them - it could be embarrasing.

crawil · 01-30-06, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by bad-head-day

I only connect at odd times of the day (like this morning 6:30am) because I don't want to be seen on the network by them - it could be embarrasing.

I have my DHCP leases set for either 24 or 48 hours. If I look at the connections screen of on my router's web interface, it would show all active leases within the specified time frame, whether or not the leased address is connected at the moment or has traffic flowing over it. If you were borrowing my wifi at 6:30 a.m. and I looked at the lease page at 4:00 p.m., your Ax would still show up on my DHCP list.

USMC - Retired · 01-30-06, 12:55 PM

This may seem a bit odd but I look at it this way: If my neighbour has his sprinkler system running and my flower beds get get watered by it that is his fault and his responsibility to adjust his sprinklers to keep the water in his own yard. Likewise, if he is worried about others using his wireless then he should secure it, it isnt much harder than adjusting the sprinklers and could keep him from having to do some explaining if his network were to be used for illegal activities.

01-30-06, 02:48 PM

In some places in my condo my neighbors connection comes in strong than my own, so I tend to pick theirs up at these times. A few of my neighbors share a wireless connection by mutual agreement though, I've thought of linking up with them but I just can't believe that split between 4 people the connection can maintain speed.

artweeks · 01-30-06, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by bad-head-day

I was going to buy a wireless router, but I tried connecting at my house & someone has an unsecure signal available. So I'm using that (and thank you very much, whoever you are!)

Does anyone else connect for free thanks to neighbours, or a nearby business?

Wireless is good :)

When I first setup W-Fi at my house, mine was the only network around. Once others started popping up nearby I quickly secured mine (I that I should have done this from day one, but was lazy).

Even if I knew I could use another household's access point, I would not unless I knew them. If there is any illegal activity going on (hacking, identity theft, kiddie porn) you might be implicated.

01-30-06, 03:17 PM

I checked my Linksys to see if I could determine is anyone gets onto it, but I didn't see anything that looked like it would retain that information. What would one look for?
I keep my wifi network secure.
But, I remember when I first got it and was tinkering to get it set up, my wife's macintosh laptop found another network in our neighborhood.
I have since found some with my Axim, but just because you can find one (SSID) doesn't mean you can access it. I tried to ping (vxutil) from a couple and some are secure some are not.

There are plenty of places I can go that have open wifi, coffee shops, resteraunts, and even at church.
I've been on those, mostly for a quick check of e-mails.

Here is my wifi thread pet peeve (recommendation: skip this)
Let's PLEASE stop with the analogies of what "borrowing" wifi signals that are unsecured is like. We get tons of them from both sides, and they always have some sort of hole or something. It is just not nice to read (perhaps I think too much about analogies).