POLL: How do you feel about "stealing" wifi?

[acemcmac]

acemcmac's theory on WiFi:
Peter Gibbons: Um, the 7-Eleven, right? You take a penny from the tray.
Joanna: From the crippled children?
Peter Gibbons: No, that's the jar. I'm talking about the tray, the pennies for everybody. We're basically doing the same thing only we take it from a much bigger tray and we do it a couple of million times.

 

[VTHodge]

I'm pretty sure it's not the first poll on the topic. That having been said, you get what you pay for in terms of speed and reliability. But I leave mine open in case some one else can benefit from it.

 

[adairusmc]

I am a network engineer for the only broadband ISP in the area. If I find an unsecured AP, 99% of the time it is going to be one of our customers. I shut off their service entirely until they secure it, it is a violation of our TOS to have an open AP. If they still want it unsecured, they waive their right to tech support.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

my router is wide open for anyone.

just because you don't have permision dosen't mean your not welcome to use it.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: VTHodge
I'm pretty sure it's not the first poll on the topic. That having been said, you get what you pay for in terms of speed and reliability. But I leave mine open in case some one else can benefit from it.

I definitley haven't seen a comprehensive one with the range of positions... then again, I did not search.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: OrganizedChaos
my router is wide open for anyone.

just because you don't have permision dosen't mean your not welcome to use it.

do you police it? What would you do if you noticed bittorrent traffic?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

"Is the name Linksys? Is it unlocked? I'm there, but only for a minute!"

If I need something real quick and someone has their internets unsecured, I'll definitely take the invitation and use their connection. Anyone determined enough to break through the WPA on my router is fine by me, they can use my connection as long as they like.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

This is a "crime" that only geeks care about. I don't see this as an unethical act, though I don't make a habit out of it (unless I'm staying in a hotel with no wireless, and I can hook into a nearby business - believe it or not I once used a bank's internet connection for this purpose).

 

[Fingolfin269]

Most of the non-geek people I know who have wireless are usually hooked up to someone else's unsecured network and don't even know it.....

 

[lokiju]

I only hope on someone else's when I don't have any other means of a connection and need to get online for just a moment.

 

[ArchCenturion]

If someone is not to educated on their wifi, how would they ever notice if someone else is using their connection?

Lets say you are just browsing the internet.
would they notice any performance hits?

how about if you are playing a game

and how about if you are downloading

which of these if any would disrupt the original guy?

 

[LordMorpheus]

When fvcking roadrunner dropped us for weeks at a time because they'd mislabelled the damn lines to the house, I'd steal wireless from the neighbors.

fvcking roadrunner.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

ive done it before but only really when i had to.

my friend binita has used their next door neighbourghs internet for a while because of the girls she lived with continuously maxed out their connection with bit-torrenting. they did ask her countless time to stop it, and even unplugged her from the router but she still did it.

our WiFi is unsecured, but it would be painfully obvious if you were using it. you'd have to be physically sat in our garden on your laptop. were a detached house and our neighbourghs arent that far away from us. but solid brick walls throughout the house ensure the signal isnt even strong enough to use properly in the dining room (which is the closest point of the house to the next house)

 

[0roo0roo]

if its openits still a bit shady, unless its named clearly open or something. if my neighbors hacked my wifi i'd do something bad to their cars in the dark of night.

 

[lyssword]

so, I'm guessing you guys are talking about apartments? because if you own a house it would be impractical to try to leech (cause you'd have to drive close to the house)

 

[Bateluer]

Since I live in an apartment complex, there's often several wireless networks in range that I could connect to. There's usually 1 or 2 named 'linksys' but theres also usually a Netgear and D-Link with generic sounding names as well, all of which are unsecured. Usually there's about 4 to 6 secured networks though, including my own.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: lyssword
so, I'm guessing you guys are talking about apartments? because if you own a house it would be impractical to try to leech (cause you'd have to drive close to the house)

well the signal is strong enough from my neighbors houses that i can detect them on net stumbler and in my linksys routers survey feature

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am a network engineer for the only broadband ISP in the area. If I find an unsecured AP, 99% of the time it is going to be one of our customers. I shut off their service entirely until they secure it, it is a violation of our TOS to have an open AP. If they still want it unsecured, they waive their right to tech support.

hahahha OWNED...i bet old ppl hate u, lol

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Journer

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am a network engineer for the only broadband ISP in the area. If I find an unsecured AP, 99% of the time it is going to be one of our customers. I shut off their service entirely until they secure it, it is a violation of our TOS to have an open AP. If they still want it unsecured, they waive their right to tech support.

hahahha OWNED...i bet old ppl hate u, lol

now that is the stupidest scam I have heard in the longest time

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: fire400

Originally posted by: Journer

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am a network engineer for the only broadband ISP in the area. If I find an unsecured AP, 99% of the time it is going to be one of our customers. I shut off their service entirely until they secure it, it is a violation of our TOS to have an open AP. If they still want it unsecured, they waive their right to tech support.

hahahha OWNED...i bet old ppl hate u, lol

now that is the stupidest scam I have heard in the longest time

I was thinking the same thing - it just sounds like a sh!tty policy enacted more to save money for the company than bandwidth.

 

[n7]

Unsecured wifi is great stuff

It came in incredibly handy on my recent holiday, as i could get online to check stuff when imperative

 

[Demon-Xanth]

IMO:
Unsecured wifi=sharing
Secured wifi=not sharing

I don't care how trivial the security is, doing any thing at all is saying "please do not use".

 

[DaShen]

Meh, as long as the person isn't doing anything malicious or illegal, I don't care.

 

[CVSiN]

I beleive its the same thing as stealing or breakign and entering if you force your way into thier AP...

and should be punishable the same way..
I pay for my service and I lock my service down.. if you force your way into my network to leech my connection youre stealing from me..

 

[Ime]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
IMO:
Unsecured wifi=sharing
Secured wifi=not sharing

I don't care how trivial the security is, doing any thing at all is saying "please do not use".

That's exactly how I see it.