Wireless question.

[Kiwifan]

At home I have a desktop with broadband, 10G a month for $NZ59.95 at max speed (you never get it!) at 3500 down, 128 up. I'm wired, no worries. My daughter wanted a laptop so we searched around and got a pretty good deal and because she is poor ;) decided to stay on dialup rather than go for the higher cost of Jetstream.

The problem we have is when she turns it on in her apartment it "searches" then finds a wireless connection at full speed on someones broadband plan. They can surf away to their hearts desire but I said it's like stealing so they log off and just email on their dialup plan.

What's the proper thing to do here as being wired with all of my PCs I've never had this problem before. Is the other person at fault for not securing their connection or should she just close the wireless down when the PC starts up?

Cheers, Russell.

[WickerBill]

In the US, using someone else's broadband (by cable or wireless) without their consent is anywhere from a class B misdemeanor to a felony, believe it or not. Not sure of the law in NZ, but there's always the option of finding the person who has the unsecured wireless and asking if it's cool if she uses it. If the person says yes, get something in writing. If the person says no, I think a quick "then secure your wireless!" speech is in order. Also might be worth it to offer to help pay for that person's broadband, perhaps chipping in what she normally would have paid for dialup.

[Kiwifan]

Thanks WB. Thought as much. The apartments are quite large, maybe 10 stories high but quite wide taking in views of the Brisbane River so I'm picking there are over 400 units in the 1 of two buildings.

I noticed a community noticeboard by the lifts so maybe she could leave a note advising that there is unsecure wireless.

Take care big guy.

Rusty.

[Andrew Longman]

OTOH, I travel a lot and often stay in hotels with free wireless. And I've stayed in hotels next door to free wireless and helped myself.

Point is, there is a lot deliberately unsecure access out there. Not sure if it is illegal to take if is being left out for the taking on purpose.

One tip for you folks with wireless I got from a NJ State Police Cybercrime detective friend: Label your network with a name that clearly indicates it is private, just in case someone accidentally or on purpose taps into it. Name it "LEAVEUSALONE" or "NOTFORPUBLIC".

[WickerBill]

Oh, I've taken my share too. You'd probably have to be A. doing something really bad, or B. "borrow" from the biggest of jerks to ever get prosecuted.

[dando]

One tip for you folks with wireless I got from a NJ State Police Cybercrime detective friend: Label your network with a name that clearly indicates it is private, just in case someone accidentally or on purpose taps into it. Name it "LEAVEUSALONE" or "NOTFORPUBLIC".

Alternatively you could just lock it down and turn off the SSID from being broadcast. :)

-Kevin

[cameraman]

At least around here there is quite a bit of free wireless. Most of downtown Salt Lake has free wireless paid for by the Chamber of Commerce. They are in the process of adding it to all the city parks too.

[nrc]

When I had to replace our Linksys router a few months back I had to peel off a half dozen "Be sure to run the setup CD" stickers before I could just hook it up and do the setup manually. I'm surprised that if they're having the average joe run a setup program they're not at least setting up some minimal level of security.

BTW, old Linux Linksys router: :thumbup:
New non-Linux Linksys router: :thumdown:

[Insomniac]

Oh, I've taken my share too. You'd probably have to be A. doing something really bad, or B. "borrow" from the biggest of jerks to ever get prosecuted.

That and you have to be quite blatant and out in the open about it. The guys who end up getting prosecuted are ones who park outside someone's house. I think if you're getting free wireless, you shouldn't abuse it. Don't download constantly and eat up their bandwidth.

[Insomniac]

When I had to replace our Linksys router a few months back I had to peel off a half dozen "Be sure to run the setup CD" stickers before I could just hook it up and do the setup manually. I'm surprised that if they're having the average joe run a setup program they're not at least setting up some minimal level of security.

BTW, old Linux Linksys router: :thumbup:
New non-Linux Linksys router: :thumdown:

I think the poroblem is, with no security it's quite easy to get set up and use. When you throw in adding a key, that adds to the complexity. Disabling the SSID makes it harder for a newbie to just find it. Add wireless MAC filters...

[CART License]

My SSID is Not4You and the guy two doors down is TrojanVirus