What happened to my free internet???

I just bought my notebook on Thursday. When I got home to my apartment and booted it up Friday night it said "wireless networks detected" It detected like 6 wireless networks, four of which were password protected.

I was like, "Joy!"

I connected to one (although it was slow) and downloaded all my updates, firewalls, etc... All the sucky boring stuff. I was all ready to wake up Saturday morning and have fun.

Saturday morning I could not get any websites to load up. It would say I was connected, but nothing more. I moved my notebook around the house and found about a dozen more hotspots (only 4 or so that were not password protected). I could connect, but could never get any sites to come up or anything else for that matter.

I though my network card was busted. I went around town all day trying to connect, with no luck. Finally I drove an hour out of town to my Mothers house to see if I could connect to her wireless router. The moment I walked into the house I was online.

What happened to my free internet at home??? The connections were listed at the same speeds as they were the night before, and they still weren't password protected. I don't understand. =0(

 

Well for the note -

What your doing is stealing Wi-Fi. I don't care what anyone else says - its downright stealing.
There have been people arrested for doing this believe it or not, so best bet is to stay away from doing this.
If they are free public places as School, Libraries, etc. thats fine, since your actually paying for that internet through taxes.

But other than that, something like this is stealing. Im not the one to tell you this but NBR won't help you with things like that.

Just be a good neighbor and if its in a home residence, tell them that there network is open and it needs to be locked.

Sorry for being wierd about this but its the only help i can give you.

Nick

 

Tell them you'll pay half.

 

Now why would you rob internet, cant you afford it?

I have done so personally before but in a country where that law isnt worth a da*n.

Its probably because you are getting a bad connection, or your internet explorer LAN Settings isnt set to get the IP automatically.

 

Or maybe their networks use static IP addresses.

 

What's the difference? You were still stealing Wi-Fi!

Aerophis, split the bill with your neighbor. It's legal and better...

 

Actually you never know -

Ask the neighbor you know - "I see you have a wireless network, do you mind me using it just for internet browsing"?

Ask someone you know and trust.

Nick

 

Being new to the wireless game(but not the internet) I would have thought the same thing as aerophis. Maybe he didn't realize he had to pay for internet service? Just my 2 cents from a newbie.

 

Not at all

I mean, you know if you are connecting to the internet and its not yours. Cmon now.

Basically, if your sitting in your house, signal comes by, you don't know where its from, its not yours, and you connect. Its flat out - downright stealing.

Nick

 

I totally agree with nickspohn. A neighbour came over and asked me and I said sure why not. She just wants to use the internet for school stuff.

Also, to ask a question like this, you MUST be really new to wireless computing and the like. They disappeared because some people turn off their internet connections when not in use, so yeah that's why they're not around.

Cheers,
Mike

 

nick-
You'd be surprised how many people think that because their new laptop comes with "wireless" it means they can get internet anywhere in the world for free.
I work for a cable company and we sell wireless internet (cust gets a cable modem and wireless router combo). I'm constantly surprised that people get it, and then call and ***** because "I went to my mom/sister/uncle/boyfriend's house and i couldn't get online! Where's my wireless i bought from you?!"

Never underestimate the ignorance of the average consumer.

 

I sort of agree with that. There are people out there actually think that.

But i think that if anything, they will ask first if they are not sure.

 

Ok, I 'spose you're right, nick, but, still, people have a lot of nerve sending all those d@mn signals through my home! They really expect to get away with that?? It's my house, and their signals were not invited.

For the record: in addition to our wireless, there usually are at least three other signals here - none password protected.

 

Haha Nice Rob

 

We should probably think about the nature of the theft before judging its moral implications. Whether or not it is theft is not up for debate; it definitely is theft. What is questionable, however, is whether or not we can simply say both that "theft is theft" and that "theft is always wrong."
1) It is most certainly not comparable to the theft of tangible items. This is not determined by severity, but may determine it. Put simply, if I take another's car, that other no long has his or her car. Let's not pretend this factor doesn't matter. I happen to have an eccentric sense of justice and therefore consider the moral value of such behavior to have a notable range, though it is generally not a good idea.
2) On the other hands, it is also not the same as the theft of intellectual property in its various forms, of which I can imagine two main ones:
-That theft in which someone literally copies information
and uses it for his/her own purposes, such as sharing
music. The supposed victim in such instances is not
actually the person from whom the material is being
taken, but the person who is legally responsbile for the
distribution of the material (e.g., the person who stands
to make a profit from its distribution). Without going
into detail, ny take on such theft is that it is solely a
legal matter and hardly qualifies as immoral. I want to
be clear about this: I am not advocating such behavior.
It is illegal, regardless of any moral weight. I am merely
saying it is not, as a general rule, immoral.

-That theft in which one takes another's ideas and
claims them as his or her own in a public way, such as
by copying test answers, plagiarizing, etc. In these
cases, one is actually taking something which is the
fruit of another's labor and doing one of two things:
either passing it off as his/her own in such a way that
the creator may have trouble claiming it OR using it in
such a way that one may genuinely be said to be
cheating the other out of his/her labor. I consider such
behavior to vary widely in its moral value, ranging from
insignificant to abhorrant. Of numbers 1, 2A, and 2B, I
consider this the most morally grotesque.

In the case of stealing Internet access, my question is the extent to which it resembles either of the above. On one hand, it certainly does not use the item in a way that the other person cannot access it, use it, "claim it" (whatever that would mean), etc. In fact, it is unlikely that the person would ever really know it's happening without specifically monitoring the activity. On the other hand, it does decrease the performance of the connection on that person's computer(s). My take is that the moral value of this behavior falls somewhere between the other two.

Again, to be clear: I am not advocating Internet theft. It is illegal. However, when I moved to my current residence, I did give it a shot, but I could not get a decent signal.

In this case, it would be a good idea to ask if the person might be willing to split the cost and access. Of course, you would be morally (and not just legally) prohibited from engaging in behavior which could get the other person into trouble, such as illegal file sharing.

Howie

 

Hmm. Didn't format the way I expected it to. Oh well.

 

IMHO, if it comes into my house it is free game. I think the way it should be seen is if someone don't protect thier network then it's there problem. If and when I do in fact get a laptop if I see a signal i will try and connect to it (live in kentucky highly doubt it). On the other hand if it's a protected network (by password) I am not gonna spend hours/possible days trying to get into it. There are some areas of the world where wireless internet is given away free. I think the laws regarding stealing need to be changed and put more on the consumer. What I mean is if you hook up a wireless network it should be your responsibility to secure it. Then if someone breaks in and steals it, then it is officially stealling. But if you take and broadcast it without it being secure how can it be stealing? If you come to my house as a passer by and you drop a 20$ in my yard and don't come back for it, it's mine. Same thing with the net I feel, if it comes into my house without being secured, you are offering me a free service. I might say something to someone if I find out who owns it to be nice, but I don't see it as stealing.

 

i dont see what he did as wrong unless like his question says this is long term, when moving into apartments waiting for cable company to come by ive stolen wifi but to justify myself they should protect there network and this was a temp solution for the few days till my cable was installed.

so its nice u got your drivers and such but now its time for u to get ur own wireless lol

 

While I do agree its wrong I also do feel that its the persons responsibility to protect their internet and encrypt it, otherwise you are asking for someone else to use it. And someone using your internet browsing should be the least of your worries for for the person allowing the free access.

 

If your not paying for it, but you connect to the network and use it, your stealing it.

Stealing: The act of taking feloniously the personal property of another without his consent and knowledge; theft; larceny.

So lets say your neighbor has a network, they have it set up so where they can transer files between computers. They access your neighbors computer with personal info on it. If they find out, it won't be pretty. And then, if you get a virus/adware/spyware/trojan/ug while on their network, who are you going to blame?

Same goes with you. If you had a wireless unprotected network in your home, what would you do if you found out someone was stealing it?

If your online and they are online with the same network, there is going to be a slow down. I wouldn't be to happy if i found out someone was stealing mine, so i have top security on mine.

Nick

 

Myself of course, why would I blame anyone else?

Protect it.

I was at a friend's apartment a while ago and he could pick up some unprotected wireless network from someone. Not only it was unprotected so he could "steal" bandwidth - there was no password on the router, so he basically could login to it and do whatever he pleased, like locking the rightful owner of the network out. LOL, it would have been hilarious.

 

Hmm, interesting responses from all of you. I have heard of so many people "piggy backing" on other people's internet connections that I just thought it was something everybody with a laptop did.

To be honest, I figured that was what WIFI was. I didn't realize that people actually charged for it. (as silly as that may sound). I have no way of knowing who's internet I was using. I am in an apartment complex where I can view at least a dozen different wireless connections who could be anywhere.

I did some other research though and found that I can get free WIFI at the library in my town as well as 3 different non commercial chain coffee shops.

I have heard rumor that their are cities that are actually considering broadcasting free WIFI city wide. (that would be pretty cool). Until then, I'll just have to stick to using the internet at the library or at a friends house.

I guess somebody has to pay for the internet one way or another... Thanks for your input on this everybody!

 

I guess it all depends on the person. I wouldn't mind sticking up a free network in the middle of a downtown area free to everyone, but it would also be under the terms of no bandwidth hogging (torrents, etc).

As long as you keep it to short stuff like web browsing and emails, hopping here and there doesn't hurt anyone. If you keep it small enough it almost doesn't even hurt your ethics

The people I want to murder though are the guys that use open wifi to do illegal things like mass spamming or ordering over your internet connection with fraudulent credit cards.

 

Ask first? You're kidding, right?

 

Well yeah, if you are unsure of a wireless card and how it all works, i assume you would want to ask.

They really need to make a bigger deal on these wireless card packages and explain with each new computer what the wireless card is for and used legally and properly.

Just my opinion

 

Actually, if you read your IP's agreement, odds are 'sharing' the cost probably ain't legal, either.

 

Sounds like your ****ed if you do, your ****ed if you don't. I like the guy who suggested my neighbor should keep his filthy signals out of my apartment if he doesn't want me using them.

 

Well here is my 2 cents on the subject. I borrowed my bro-in-laws laptop for the last quarter of school. While I was out and about campus typing up a paper I noticed a wireless signal (school doesn't provide wireless). I though what the hell and connected and did some quick research. I then started walking around the area I was receiving the signal as I wondered where it came from (there was a nearby housing area). I started to wonder down the street judging signal strength. When I felt I was in the right area I went door to door (3 houses total) till I found the owner of the open wi-fi signal and informed the owner that his wi-fi signal was unsecure and that I could potentially see everything on his computers (I could too cause he had file sharing on). He told me he didn't know anything about wireless security and if I knew someone who did he would appreciate any help. I told him I knew what needed to be done (studying network administration and have 12+ years exp.) After securing his network he tried to pay me and I declined, but he said to add the lappy mac address to the mac filter so I could connect at any time. Guess it pays to tell people their unsecure.

 

Nicely Done Pharoke.

It does pay :thumbup:

 

Yep...That was a good one Pharoke...

On the other hand, this could be a consequence of an unsecure network.

I lived 2 blocks from campus when I was in school in a first floor apartment (those where your living room window is at ground level). Girls from school used to come to my front lawn (less than 3ft away from the window) and lay there studying for hours. Then I bought my WiFi and, being an ignorant in the matter, didn't protect it.

This was in Minneapolis where winter months are so harsh that girls can use a bikini to sunbath when it's 55F outside (and they do, that's a warm day there).

I used to get 1 or two sunbathing girls per week (I always had my blinds shut since I don't like sunlight at all) but after my WiFi was on...whoa! It was like one of those pools in a rapper's video...

Neddless to say, social life increased considerably...

Good bless WiFi

 

lacv75,

Great...that would be awesome GGW with your wireless connection...that is hilarious.

Well about the free internet issue. I have 4 wireless signals around my house...2 G and 1 A, 1 B...all of which are unsecure. And 2 actually have their phone numbers as the SSID...how bad is that. I called the 2 numbers and they asked it I could help them out. I walked them through the steps...later on I found out 1 was a cop and the other was a fireman.

Nothing like getting in good with the forces.

 

I didn't keep up with this post after my last comment. The reason I said that people don't realize internet is not free is because of my neighbor. He never had a computer at all and bought a wireless laptop. He had internet service(not his) and thought that was how it worked. I know this because, one day, I saw him walking around his backyard with his laptop like it was a cell phone! He tried to explain to me he knew he had free internet service. Long story short, he subscibed to an ISP later that day.

 

These are great stories! Truthfully I think it is very easy to believe that wireless laptop=mobile internet.

I know that my network is secured, but everywhere I go I see at least 2 that aren't. Hopefully (haven't tried them) they at least have MAC filters....but I doubt that as well.

lacv75, that was a great story...

Now all you have to do is WEP/WPA it and then go talk to them about stealing internet! ;-)

 

Just wanted to add that I enjoyed reading all the great stories.

Just to add my two cents- The law regarding this issue generally state that you have the right to receive any signal broadcasted in your vicinity. Where it becomes illegal is when you broadcast on that frequency or cause interference. Thats why wardriving (searching for wireless networks using a program like netstumbler) is legal, unless you actually connect. Its pretty interesting to do especially in big cities like NY just to see how many wireless networks you can find. You'd also be amazed by how many of them are not secured at all- I would estimate about 70 percent have no security. One night with some friends we drove by best buy with a laptop and detected their wireless signal and even it was unsecured, even worse they hadnt changed their router password from the linksys default. Had we wanted to, we could have changed the SSID, router password, etc. But I'm a big believer in not only following the law, but karma.

Thats just my .02