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Is your Wi-Fi secure? Do you "borrow" other peoples Wi-Fi?

"We should have a special day to honor the selfless souls with unsecured networks named 'linksys' and 'default'."

Mine's secured. Yes, I've borrowed. Especially from people who are nice enough to pay for internet in the middle of ****ing nowhere.
 
A friend of mine intentionally leaves his network open because he knows his neighbors use it for illegal activity. So does he. However he does know how to completely clean his computers hard drive leaving no traceable evidence of what he as done in case he gets caught. The neighbors don’t, so if he ever gets traced he’ll act dumb and blame it on the neighbors.

Brilliant.
 
william sire said:
A friend of mine intentionally leaves his network open because he knows his neighbors use it for illegal activity. So does he. However he does know how to completely clean his computers hard drive leaving no traceable evidence of what he as done in case he gets caught. The neighbors don’t, so if he ever gets traced he’ll act dumb and blame it on the neighbors.

Brilliant.
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No that's not brilliant because he's still responsible for the data that goes across his connection. If deleting the files and blaming it on the neighbors was that easy, anyone who has ever been busted for pirating music or kiddie porn would be doing it. And even if it was that easy, I hope he doesn't mind handing his computers over to the FBI for awhile while they do their investigation to verify it's not on his computer. Your friend is an idiot.
 
jav6454 said:
Well that explains it. DSL has always been a set back for broadband. Any plans to switch to FiOS or U-Verse?
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I wish FIOS was available here. We don't have anything from Verizon except Verizon wireless, and it's spotty. UVerse just became available, though. And it reminds me of why I hate AT&T so very, very, much. I have 3MB DSL with them, which was the best available when I moved there a little over 1 year ago. I went on the UVerse site and built a package which said 12MB service was available. However, there was some fine print which said something like "services available will be determined at installation". Which basically translates into "Oops, you can still only get 3MB service even with UVerse. Sorry."

I hate them so much that I'm probably switching to Comcast, something I thought I would never do. At least they guarantee 12 MB service is available at my house.
 
steve2112 said:
I wish FIOS was available here. We don't have anything from Verizon except Verizon wireless, and it's spotty. UVerse just became available, though. And it reminds me of why I hate AT&T so very, very, much. I have 3MB DSL with them, which was the best available when I moved there a little over 1 year ago. I went on the UVerse site and built a package which said 12MB service was available. However, there was some fine print which said something like "services available will be determined at installation". Which basically translates into "Oops, you can still only get 3MB service even with UVerse. Sorry."

I hate them so much that I'm probably switching to Comcast, something I thought I would never do. At least they guarantee 12 MB service is available at my house.
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Not really.
Uverse used at least a 24Mb/s connection to feed the TV cable service. It is TV over IP at the end of the day. So it is worth a call and have them come set it up. Could be they might not be able to supply you with a 12 but at least a 6 Mb/s connection for internet plus the room for TV.

I find it sad some ways how people are all about getting 12 Mbs connections but for everythign they do going that high is pure over kill. The TV and internet used different "channels" so to speak The TV will have its dedicated bandwithe that will not be effect by internet and the TV being on and recording will not effect the internet.

It comes down to how close you are to one of the Fiber optical nods in the system. Could be the box you need is like 100 ft away.
 
steve2112 said:
I wish FIOS was available here. We don't have anything from Verizon except Verizon wireless, and it's spotty. UVerse just became available, though. And it reminds me of why I hate AT&T so very, very, much. I have 3MB DSL with them, which was the best available when I moved there a little over 1 year ago. I went on the UVerse site and built a package which said 12MB service was available. However, there was some fine print which said something like "services available will be determined at installation". Which basically translates into "Oops, you can still only get 3MB service even with UVerse. Sorry."

I hate them so much that I'm probably switching to Comcast, something I thought I would never do. At least they guarantee 12 MB service is available at my house.
Click to expand...

With U-verse, if you live close enough to the node, you get 25 mbps coming into your house. 7 mbps is set aside for VOIP and TV service which means you can get up to the 18 mbps internet speed. If you live too far from the node, they'll put you on a lower profile which means you get 19 mbps coming into the house, and a maximum of 12 available for internet use. When the installer comes out to your house, they will hook a meter up to your phone line and measure line quality. If the line isn't capable of providing at least that 19mbps of bandwidth, they will not install U-Verse. My house was just close enough to get that 19 mbps profile. I have the 12 mbps internet speed and I always get between 10 and 12 mbps on speed tests.

That's why the disclaimer is there. It's so if you order the 18 mbps internet speed, you know that you may be on low profile and only be able to get 12. But you should be able to get 12 no matter what.
 
I live in a complex with free wifi (listed by what apt it is hooked up in) in every apartment. So, I have no problems borrowing other wifi if I am in the back room and their signal is stronger. I'm sure others do it to me. It's free anyways.
 
todd2000 said:
Just as the title says, is your wireless network secure? Personally I have no password, and my SSID is "Belkin AP." :) There really is nobody around me who would leech off of it so I never bothered. If I lived in a city I might secure it. Personally I don't care if somebody "borrows" my network for a few minutes, but not long term.

Personally I've hopped on quite a few networks to look something up with my iPod Touch, or I'll drive around a neighborhood till I find an open network and use Google Maps to get directions. I don't see anything wrong with that as long as Im not doing anything malicious, or illegal.

So do you guys secure you networks? And do you see anything wrong with "borrowing" someones network for a few minutes. Im not talking about leeching off your neighbors Wi-Fi 24/7, just using someones network for a little bit.
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You'd be surprised who might leech and what they might do while leeching. And since it is your network, you can be held responsible.

Additionally, people connected to your network could more easily packet sniff, and possibly collect personal data that you don't want them to have. Securing it is easy. Even something as simple as a short password combined with an Access Control List and you're all set.
 
Yep... all WPA2 protected here :) Don't want anyone stealing my 21mbps connection. Mind you, my network is actually called 'No Free WiFi For You'. Serious.

But when I'm out and about I like to constantly scan for open networks on my iPod touch... some obsession of mine that I have :eek: heh.
 
I don't use any security on my Wi-Fi, my neighbors are too far away to access my network. I'm not even sure you could access it from my driveway.
 
WPA2 Personal, Hidden with Mac Filtering. I do have one "floater" IP for setting up a new device.

I was using WPA2 Enterprise with my OS X Server running RADIUS. But, Snow Leopard has issues authenticating when waking from sleep and Apple doesn't let you extend a network using WPA2 Enterprise. So I went back to Personal.

I have borrowed other Wi-Fi networks. But only those who are running WEP. I don't connect to open networks.
 
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