Wireless internet connection-how to

[picasso_41]

Hello all,
I'm a new Aluminum Powerbook G4 owner. It has an airport card and runs on OS10.2. Normally, I use a dial-up internet connnection. I would like to "borrow" a wide-band connection in the neighborhood or at a coffee shop hotspot.

My question is: What do I need to use the Wireless Internet Access connection at a hotspot or Wi-Fi-FreeSpot? Do I need any new hardware or software? What do I need to adjust in my network settings?

Is there a Mac-specific site where I can learn about this?

Thanks very much.
Dave

[janey]

all you need to do is turn Airport on and get an application like MacStumbler (search on versiontracker) to search for networks.

btw, its not very nice to steal someone's bandwidth, and anyone with any common sense would at the bare minimum password protect their network. How would you feel if you paid like $50 a month for cable internet, you had a wireless network, and some "neighbor" used it for whatever he/she wanted to do? Not very good right? Especially if they used your network and internet connection to do something illegal like stealing music (RIAA comes knocking on your door with a lawsuit) or hacking something (FBI Cybercrime department agents coming to arrest you)...:p Think before you steal.

[abhishekit]

all you need to do is turn Airport on and get an application like MacStumbler (search on versiontracker) to search for networks.

btw, its not very nice to steal someone's bandwidth, and anyone with any common sense would at the bare minimum password protect their network. How would you feel if you paid like $50 a month for cable internet, you had a wireless network, and some "neighbor" used it for whatever he/she wanted to do? Not very good right? Especially if they used your network and internet connection to do something illegal like stealing music (RIAA comes knocking on your door with a lawsuit) or hacking something (FBI Cybercrime department agents coming to arrest you)...:p Think before you steal.
putting scary thoughts in someone's mind= mind control :D
go ahead picasso..just turn on ur airport card..and hang on to any connection that comes ur way :D

[janey]

putting scary thoughts in someone's mind= mind control :D
go ahead picasso..just turn on ur airport card..and hang on to any connection that comes ur way :D
ya well its the truth i hate it when people steal my bandwidth. if they manage to get past all the security stuff I did (password, mac filtering, etc.), they deserve it, but just any random guy with a wifi card?!
i paid for it, its my property :p if any jerk thinks he can come along and use it, then i'll make him/her regret it :p

[SilentPanda]

I have my airport base station set up with WPA, MAC filtering (I wish it had Mac filtering sometimes too... :)), and no SSID broadcast. I figure if somebody gets past all that they can have my bandwidth 'cause frankly there's not much more I can do... :)

However... I went war driving the other day just to see what was out there... wow! I think a good 90% of the spots I found had no password. They also mostly had an SSID of linksys... hmmmmmm... :)

But I only logged onto one (and only for a few seconds)... there's only 1 other SSID broadcast into my living space and it's passworded... the others are just around town. I was actually amazed at how many people had it...

[virividox]

yeah its amazing how many open networks there are, iv been able to enter the router confic page on many ofthe netgear and linksys ones out there but just looked. people should learn to keep em secure

[picasso_41]

Thanks übergeek. That sounds very easy. No, I have no intention of stealing anyone's bandwidth, except to see if it works. I have no other way of testing my setup.
I wouldn't want to slow down anyone's system.


all you need to do is turn Airport on and get an application like MacStumbler (search on versiontracker) to search for networks.

btw, its not very nice to steal someone's bandwidth, and anyone with any common sense would at the bare minimum password protect their network. How would you feel if you paid like $50 a month for cable internet, you had a wireless network, and some "neighbor" used it for whatever he/she wanted to do? Not very good right? Especially if they used your network and internet connection to do something illegal like stealing music (RIAA comes knocking on your door with a lawsuit) or hacking something (FBI Cybercrime department agents coming to arrest you)...:p Think before you steal.

[mactastic]

Yeah, just turn on your Airport card, set your Airport preference to show the icon in the toolbar and then click on the icon. Any WiFi signal you get will show up by name there. If you click on it and it's not protected, you're on. It's that easy. I can't believe so many people don't realize or don't care about security.

[agreenster]

Are there actually any laws against 'stealing' bandwidth?

Here's an article, but it basically just says it is technically illegal, but more immoral and rude than anything else...

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorDesk/4520-7296_16-5121168.html

[picasso_41]

Cool.
I downloaded MacStumbler and tried it, and it seems to be working. So far there are no WiFi signals in my area except for me.
Oh well. I guess it's off to the coffee shop.

Yeah, just turn on your Airport card, set your Airport preference to show the icon in the toolbar and then click on the icon. Any WiFi signal you get will show up by name there. If you click on it and it's not protected, you're on. It's that easy. I can't believe so many people don't realize or don't care about security.