# Fuck you AT&T, Fuck you landlord **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351 "2012-08-03T22:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/21 "2012-08-04T04:16:18Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > Anybody who leaves their wifi unprotected in an apartment building is, IMO, inviting their neighbors to use it. Not this bullshit again. “Anybody who leaves their door unlocked is, IMO, inviting vagrants to take a shower in their bathroom.” ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/22 "2012-08-04T04:48:31Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Perhaps you should stop stealing from your neighbors before you bitch about your landlord. I did put a note on the door of who I suspect is broadcasting saying he should secure it. Until then, fuck it. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/23 "2012-08-04T04:56:48Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I did put a note on the door of who I suspect is broadcasting saying he should secure it. Until then, fuck it. It’s nice of you to let them know, but that still doesn’t give you permission to use other people’s property. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/24 "2012-08-04T05:04:58Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I want to have internet, without mooching off the neighbor with the unsecured network (which I just found. Thanks neighbor!) Have you been living there for four months? What have you been doing for internet up until now? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/25 "2012-08-04T05:32:52Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > It’s nice of you to let them know, but that still doesn’t give you permission to use other people’s property. Do you call ahead for permission before you go to a restaurant or grocery store? That’s other people’s property. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/26 "2012-08-04T05:35:54Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Do you call ahead for permission before you go to a restaurant or grocery store? That’s other people’s property. You cannot seriously believe that’s an appropriate analogy. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/27 "2012-08-04T11:20:32Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > Not this bullshit again. “Anybody who leaves their door unlocked is, IMO, inviting vagrants to take a shower in their bathroom.” These people have set up a device to broadcast signals into the OPs apartment. They have set up that device to accept broadcast signals from the OPs apartment. Now they get to bitch that the OP is exchanging broadcast signals with the device? This is more like having a big screen TV next to an open window, then bitching at people on the sidewalk who are looking at it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/28 "2012-08-04T11:41:11Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I’ll nag the landlord a little longer. if he doesn’t feel making a simple call is his responsibility, imagine how much he’ll enjoy being nagged (your word). ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/29 "2012-08-04T11:43:47Z")
How about knocking on the door of the person with the router and asking if you can share the internet legitimately? I have a similar arrangement with a flatmate at university, I pay him £5 a month and we split wireless. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/30 "2012-08-04T11:51:06Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I’ll nag the landlord a little longer Make it as easy as possible. If you can, write a letter certifying that you are a new tenant, and the prior tenant is no longer in residence. Present it to your landlord to sign, then fax/scan it to AT&T. All your landlord has to do is write his name. If you communicate by mail, send him a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope with the letter. Your landlord is being lazy, but it’s also not going to be fun for him to sit and wait on hold for 15 minutes, then spend 15 minutes trying to convince AT&T that he’s the landlord. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/31 "2012-08-04T12:19:48Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > This is more like having a big screen TV next to an open window, then bitching at people on the sidewalk who are looking at it. That analogy doesn’t work since bandwidth is a finite resource. My watching your TV is not going to degrade your own use of the TV. (Besides, watching TV from the street is passive and involves no interaction with the device.) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/32 "2012-08-05T02:15:47Z")
YOU didn’t find that wireless connection, your computer did. I think they want you to use their connection. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/33 "2012-08-05T03:24:30Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > That analogy doesn’t work since bandwidth is a finite resource. My watching your TV is not going to degrade your own use of the TV. (Besides, watching TV from the street is passive and involves no interaction with the device.) What gives the neighbor the right to broadcast internet frequencies into surrounding apartments without asking? Surely you realize no one’s listening or agreeing. Cranks rarely care, though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/34 "2012-08-05T11:01:00Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > That analogy doesn’t work since bandwidth is a finite resource. My watching your TV is not going to degrade your own use of the TV. (Besides, watching TV from the street is passive and involves no interaction with the device.) Except when the folks on the street are cheering on the local football team. There you are, trying to enjoy the game with your Big Screen TV, and some open windows that just happen to be at street level, 10ft from the sidewalk. Your neighbor from across the street shows up, he doesn’t have the football package that you pay an arm and a leg for, and has a crappy little TV. So he sets up a folding chair outside your window and yells and screams like it’s his own living room. Do you get to bitch , or should you maybe shut your drapes? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/35 "2012-08-05T11:22:36Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Except when the folks on the street are cheering on the local football team. There you are, trying to enjoy the game with your Big Screen TV, and some open windows that just happen to be at street level, 10ft from the sidewalk. Your neighbor from across the street shows up, he doesn’t have the football package that you pay an arm and a leg for, and has a crappy little TV. So he sets up a folding chair outside your window and yells and screams like it’s his own living room. > > Do you get to bitch , or should you maybe shut your drapes? The analogy would make more sense if he had his own remote and was changing the station (hogging bandwith) or ordering PPV (going over the data cap). ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/36 "2012-08-05T11:26:07Z")
Most people don’t even realise they’re doing it. It seems a bit of an arsehole move to take advantage of their naivety–at the very least, inform them (which **ST** has). Does anyone seriously believe it’s more likely that generous souls voluntarily allow strangers to get free access on their money, or that it’s unintentional due to a lack of technical know-how? Why should they pay for your free access? ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/37 "2012-08-05T11:33:50Z")
Phone (don’t email) your [state utilities commission](http://www.naruc.org/Commissions/?). Usually they have a phone line into the executive problem resolution department of the utility. Usually if it is a trivial matter, a call from the commission will cut through the red tape. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/38 "2012-08-05T13:00:54Z")
If you use twitter, try sending a message toward @ATTCustomerCare. That’s actually the best response I’ve ever had from AT&T - had they been remotely as responsive last summer, I might have stayed a customer. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/39 "2012-08-05T13:01:36Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > Most people don’t even realise they’re doing it. It seems a bit of an arsehole move to take advantage of their naivety–at the very least, inform them (which **ST** has). > > Does anyone seriously believe it’s more likely that generous souls voluntarily allow strangers to get free access on their money, or that it’s unintentional due to a lack of technical know-how? Why should they pay for your free access? Outside of the question of assholishness, anyone know if it’s actually illegal to use someone else’s unprotected Wi-Fi? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351/40 "2012-08-05T13:35:54Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Outside of the question of assholishness, anyone know if it’s actually illegal to use someone else’s unprotected Wi-Fi? > **[6 Laws You've Broken Without Even Realizing It](https://www.cracked.com/article_19450_6-laws-youve-broken-without-even-realizing-it.html)** > > None of us can claim with a straight face that we've never done anything illegal, be it speeding, drunkenly stealing a shrink-wrapped pickle from a bowling alley or hunting the homeless for sport. But on the whole, we're upstanding citizens. After... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-at-t-fuck-you-landlord/630351.md?page=3)