THSCC Forums

Yeah, I'm a bastard. I'm at my Dad's beach house right now (actually about 0.5 miles from the beach) and there is only dial up access from his place.

Turns out I had the wrong number for Earthlink and couldn't get logged on. Funny thing though, I'm sitting here in the livingroom surfing at high speed because the wireless card found an "open" network.

Yeah, I'm stealing bandwith right now. Maybe I better turn the XP firewall on just in case.

Don't worry, I've found the right Earthlink number and I'll do it legally next time...

Shhh, don't tell.

see yall in a week!

Scott

I'm back, I "borrowed" the high speed long enough to get a local access number out of earthlink. I've got to admit, the borrowed bandwidth is a lot faster than the dialup I'm on right now.

According to the software with the Cisco card, I was getting about 25-30% signal strength, and the connection was "fair." Signal quality was rated at 85% or so. It woudn't work at all with anything less than "fair."

Most of the houses around here are vacation properties and are vacant, I don't even see anyone at any of the nearest homes. What is the range of 802.11b anyhow?

So, I'm on vacation in FL surfing the net while Sally is in bed with a nasty cold... Great vacation so far.

At least we got to drive 11 hours yesterday, some of it through the hardest rain that I've ever driven in...

Maybe I'll head to the beach and try to catch a fish (rather than stay inside and catch a cold).

Scott

Using an unprotected wireless access point is not stealing. It's a bit like listening to a concert from outside the fence. If they didn't want you to use the connection they would have encrypted it.

If I'm at a location where I can set up to share my network connection over my wireless card I invariably do so.

Share the 'net.

Simon

yea, and if time warner didn't want me to tap into my neighbors cable line they would have put the connections in some type of lock box.....oh wait, they did, nevermind...please go about your business.

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05 MCS

When we were in Hawaii someone in a condo unit near ours had an open wireless link, and we didn't feel bad using it. As far as we could tell, no one else was using it at the same time, so we weren't depriving the actual account holders of any bandwidth, and it was presumably paid for.

At this rental condo we just bought (where we are now), we got a cable modem and wireless router, which we've intentionally left open. We're even advertising it as a feature for renters. If the neighbors discover the open connection too, well, that's OK with us, for now anyway. I don't think it's likely to be a problem, though.

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Carl Fisher

Be Cool to the Pizza Dude:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=4651531

Besides its only stealing/illegal if you get caught

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

Isn't that a lot like surfing the 'net at work?

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Theoretically it'll go a block or so, but that's if there is NOTHING between the antenae. Realistically, I can get signal from about 3 houses away using a good quality card (which that Cisco certainly is) or barely a signal from my own WAP in my house using a bad card. Every wall it goes through cuts this dramatically. YMMV.

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

You know, I find it really interesting that my ham radio license gives me operating privileges in the 2.4 -GHz band in which 802.11 networking resides. Hmm, I wonder if that means that I can run more power than allowed under Part 97 rules....

I've been getting HBO for 5 years now and never paid for it. I didn't ask for it, and I didn't modify anything to get it, so technically I guess I'm not stealing it. Besides my Adelphia Cable sucks so bad that I don't get MTV, History, TV Land, etc. They should throw me the HBO bone for free.

Oh and with my 31.2K dial-up connection at home I think my ISP is stealing from me. No matter I guess, I get enough internet time on high-speed here at work for free...uh....I guess they are paying me to use it!

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

Here's an interesting article on the subject.

Simon