I a noob to this area of computing. What exactly is it that I need to hop onto someone else's interent signal. I have this Gift card from CC and am considering buying whatever it is to ride of the neighbors broadcast (if there even is one 5 duplexes within 100ft of me). My brother use to always ask me if I had a "router" when he brought his laptop to my house. However, I thought I would need a wi-fi card to do that. Also, I'm looking to install this in my tower case, not a laptop. What is the probability that I could get internet usage for free?
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Free internet - Router or Wifi?
- Thread starter scwam
- Start date
EQTakeOffense
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2002
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- 1,643
I say 50/50.
There's two ways you could do this, you could put a WiFi card in your desktop, and hope they don't have WAP/WAP2/WEP or whatever other wireless security they might have and just 'steal it'. Or you could find out who it is, and offer to help pay their broadband bill in exchange for their letting you use their WiFi connection.
You might want to ask them about it first... It is a rather shakey area legally... some people have sucessfully sued for intruding on the network, some people have failed because the signal is out in public.
Oh- and if they are one of the lucky few that get sued by the RIAA... who do you think they could turn around and blame it on??? You.
BobSutan
[H]F Junkie
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You need to check your local and state laws on this. The FCC meant it to be for public usage, as in if free to use just like public TV. However, due to the general level of ineptitude (don't know what else to call it at this point), an open AP isn't necessarily supposed to be open. Its akin to watching Sat TV when the provider forgot to encrypt the signal. But I digress. Analogies are a slippery slope when it comes to wireless.
Anyway, back to the point. Many people run open hot-spots on purpose and may in some way indicate such by using a creative SSID or maybe a default homepage via a captive portal.
In short, user of free wireless beware.
Anyway, back to the point. Many people run open hot-spots on purpose and may in some way indicate such by using a creative SSID or maybe a default homepage via a captive portal.
In short, user of free wireless beware.