SillyDog701

[Antony]

According to today's Sunrise (show), "Would you believe 32% of Americans use their neighbour's Wi-Fi and sponge off that?"

For me, it is pretty much unbelievable. I can see neighbour's Wi-Fi networks, but they all have password protections. There aren't many free (public) Wi-Fi available. Some, but mostly operated by cafes to encourage customers to stay longer and to order more coffee.

Anyhow, I use my own 3G broadband when I go out, and when I am in my friends' places, they have to put the passwords onto my devices.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101203 AlexaToolbar/alxf-2.0 Firefox/3.6.13

[James]

We use our own and it's locked down. To use someone else's is quite simply... theft.

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[Antony]

To use someone else's is quite simply... theft.

Totally agreed.

I am guess one reason many Americans do not bother to protect their Wi-Fis properly (either no passwords or manufacturers' default passwords, according to Don) is that most internet in USA is much much cheaper and have no quota limit (or extremely generous quota allowance). Unlike here in Australia, internet access is still very expensive compared to USA and many other major countries. Almost all internet comes with limited quota here.

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[iJohnE]

I have sponged off of other people's wifi. In my opinion their really isn't anything wrong, if they're not securing it, then they're inviting me to use it.

Now however, I have wifi at home, at school, and at my grandparents. So I don't really have to sponge all that often.

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[hengrui123]

sometimes. i would also use my neberhour's wifi. but i would not sponged off it. because i only do little with it.......

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1)

[iJohnE]

Honestly, I just use it for light browsing. It's the same as using a public access point if it's unsecured. Now I don't hack it, however.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0.1

[James]

I'm disappointed in you, John. It's not the same as a public access point and you know it. You're rationalizing. Not good, my friend.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:6.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/6.0

[Antony]

Well, I have signs like this in the house.


All my guests are welcome to use the Wi-Fi network. It's there free to all my guests. And I don't make it open for neighbours to leech. It is on a separate guest network, thanks to the Guest Networking feature in AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule Base Station.

At least, I provide 802.11n connection, unlike some public Wi-Fi places, still using ridiculously slow 802.11b connection speed.

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[iJohnE]

Honestly if you're not putting a password on it, you're leaving it out there to be used. It's as simple as that. If you don't want people to use it, put a password on it.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0.1

[Antony]

John,
If I don't put up a password, there will be leechers from neighbours. Guests visiting my place is a different story. Hence I think it is still a good balance, although it might look stupid.

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[James]

Honestly if you're not putting a password on it, you're leaving it out there to be used. It's as simple as that. If you don't want people to use it, put a password on it.

Now, John. You're way too smart a young guy to be taken in by your own rationalization. Come on. You're assuming that all folks are as savvy as you when it comes to computers. They aren't. Not by a country mile. In essence, you're taking advantage of their ignorance. Still not a good thing. It's like saying: "Well.. since you left you bicycle unlocked, I guess I'm free to take it. If you had not wanted me to take it, you would have locked it up." Now you know that doesn't cut it with the law and you know that taking bandwidth that doesn't belong to you since you haven't paid for it would be viewed the same way.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:6.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/6.0

[iJohnE]

Honestly if you're not putting a password on it, you're leaving it out there to be used. It's as simple as that. If you don't want people to use it, put a password on it.

Now, John. You're way too smart a young guy to be taken in by your own rationalization. Come on. You're assuming that all folks are as savvy as you when it comes to computers. They aren't. Not by a country mile. In essence, you're taking advantage of their ignorance. Still not a good thing. It's like saying: "Well.. since you left you bicycle unlocked, I guess I'm free to take it. If you had not wanted me to take it, you would have locked it up." Now you know that doesn't cut it with the law and you know that taking bandwidth that doesn't belong to you since you haven't paid for it would be viewed the same way.

If you can use Google, you can put a password on your router.

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[snoppy]

No, I think it is unbelievable for me too. They have passwords to protect their Wi-Fi.

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[James]

Antony... snoppy is here too, resurrecting an old thread.

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[Antony]

thanks, snoppy's account has been snapped.

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