I got a new VAIO over the weekend which came with a wireless network card. I don't have any wireless routers/hubs in my apartment, so I didn't bother to configure it.
Get this, I turn on the laptop and behold, the task bar tells me that it has detected THREE wireless connections! Two of the connections has harmless names like "linksys" and "netgear." The other names are more specific, like ram13 or something to that effect.
So I connected to the linksys connection, thinking that since the laptop is new, there is no information that outsiders can steal anyway. Before connecting, I had to acknowledge to XP that I understand the information I download/transmit will not be secure.
So where did this wireless mana come from? I live in downtown los angeles, on top of the MOCA (6th floor), across from the Disney Concert hall and the Omni hotel.
Is this just a wireless connection to my neighbors, or am I in some kind of cosmic hot spot? Should I be wary of using this free connection (I'm guessing the answer is yes, but I hope the answer is no.)
[ April 02, 2004, 04:47 PM: Message edited by: vwiggin ]
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
Would the person with the wireless router detect my presence? I don't think I will use it to download stuff, since I will be taking huge chunks of my neighbor's bandwidth. But, for general browsing.... well, there's enough bandwidth to go around right?
Thanks for the info!
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
This isn't uncommon.
All you have to do to keep your personal information safe is make sure that when you transmit information, you do so in an encrypted way; that is, look for that little lock in the lower left of the browser when submitting any online form (actually, for anyone who's using a wireless router without even changing the default network name, they probably aren't listening in, but someone else piggybacking might be).
Regarding legality, using such a hot spot isn't clearly against the law, and someone'd be hard pressed to find a lawyer willing to pursue such a case against you if you stopped upon being asked, I think.
As far as morality goes, so long as you don't suck up so much of their bandwidth that it affects the person's usage (not hard for most people's usage levels), I think you could sleep easy. Bandwidth costs are almost never metered in the US for home users.
If you wanted to be super sure, you could find the person and ask. You should have a little indicator for the strength of the wireless signal somewhere, and it will only be at full strength within a room or two of most hotspots. Take your laptop and go wandering and you'll find the place soon enough.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
adam -- the person providing the network would not be legally responsible. Now, they'd probably not take the time to track you down, but if they knew it was you it would be you they would sue. The music industry has dropped lawsuits against people who could show they were not the ones doing the uploading, for instance in this case:
Of course, any usage high enough to trigger the RIAA's interest would be impolite to the person providing the network.
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
Thanks Fugu. I think tracking down my wireless neighbor is a great idea. Maybe I can offer something in return, like sharing my netflix movies or something. Then we will both be happy.
Adam, I think you are right that they will not notice my presence. As long as I know I cannot accidentally delete someone else's files, I am happy.
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
I'm gonna have to find that line that I read recently about some people that were leeching (which is what you'd be doing if you didn't offer something in return) on this guy's WiFi network.
Basically, it came down to the person waiting for a while, then going into each machine and leaving some really funny files (horse porn if I remember right).
Edit: found it!
quote:(Mootar) morons. (Mootar) these people who live in my apartment complex are connected to my wireless (Mootar) they must think they're super-cool hackers by breaking into my completely unsecure network (Mootar) unfortunatly, the connection works both ways (Mootar) long story short, they now have loads of horse porn on their computer.
[ April 02, 2004, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: slacker ]
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
I wouldn't bother trying to track down an owner: eg OmniHotel is one of the many free WiFiHotspots in California.
[ April 03, 2004, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
For the next 4 hours, if you're in South Tempe, there's a free WiFi spot. Unfortunately, it's not connected to anything (I'm playing with the Linksys WRT45G router before sending it back to the $%$#%$ @ Staples).
Posted by Zevlag (Member # 1405) on :
Slacker, that is an absolutely awesome wireless device. I love them.
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
aspectre. That list is awesome! I also go to the Hennessey's Tavern all the time and never realized they have free wireless connection. I owe you big time!
Slacker, I'm not worried. No one can rival my collection of horse porn. No one.
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
So that was you who tried to put that on my laptop and erased my collection!! I'll erase your froggy porn for that!
Ok, after playing with the WRT54G for 4 hours, I've come to the following conclusions:
- Linksys' support sucks (flashback to the last time I made the mistake of calling them - Linksys' product support sucks (whadda mean no WPA protection for my WPC11 v3 card???!!) - Linksys' software can kiss my fuzzy little butt (see above two reasons)
I've decided that I'm not going to keep a product that continually dances between 5.5MB/s and 2MB/s (and *very* rarely hitting the expected 11MB/s) when my laptop is within 6 feet of the AP. I tried the different combos (turning on WEP64 and WEP128 - no WPA for me!! - and enabling/disabling SSID broadcast.
So back to Staples it goes.
Posted by Suneun (Member # 3247) on :
I'm in an off campus apartment, and sometimes bum off a neighbor's free wireless. There used to be two free networks, and four encrypted, now it's just one free. For the last two years, I've had internet, but haven't had to pay monthly gouging fees. Sneaky, very sneaky.
for a year, we had a bridge connecting us to the college's network. Mildly against school policy, but I got the bridge approved by that building's computing gurus. Then the bridge stopped, due to some unknown problems (I haven't even picked up the other half yet), and we switched to a neighbor's wireless for a month or two. Then Brown rolled out its campus wireless, and we're on that now. One of the people in the apartment have to login, then the rest of the apartment is fine. We're all brown students, so it works out well. Only problem is that it limits the connection to https, http, and ssh. We use web aim for aim, and webmail for sending mail.
I have a laptop I connect to Brown's wireless over VPN for sketchier uses (so far, Brown turns its head for Direct Connect usage, as long as it's not absurdly high).
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aspectre. That list is awesome! I also go to the Hennessey's Tavern all the time and never realized they have free wireless connection. I owe you big time! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)