I just got a new computer with a wireless card. I think this means that I can access hot spots that might be available. Every so often, a little note pops up saying that a wireless connection is available and when I click on it, indeed a wireless connection pops up.
First off, I am not sure where these wireless connections are coming from and I don’t want to ask how to do anything illegal. So if it’s illegal to tell me anything, then don’t. But there are hot spots provided by, e.g., Starbucks, which are not illegal to access. Only I have no idea what to do to get on them. Do I just say “connect” and it connects? Do I have to disable my dial-up? When I’ve tried to connect to the “available” ones, just to see what happens, it doesn’t work. I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or if I’m just not allowed to access them.
Anyone know anything that is legal to tell me?
In general, if you are in a location that advertises a wireless hotspot, you can connect to it without worrying about legality. Whether you can then use the hotspot to browse the internet or send email depends on whether the company sponsoring the hotspot charges for it. Usually, you will not be able to browse the web or send email without getting some kind of page asking you to pay a charge for a certain amount of time. Many coffee houses, airports, train stations, and the like have public hotspots, and charges range anywhere from free to outrageous.
If you are getting a signal in a place where you don’t expect one (say, a neighbor’s house or in a business complex), there is a good chance you’ve stumbled upon a private but unsecured access point. I don’t know the legality of using such an access point, but it’s probably on the dark side of ethical.
Hope that helps!
JOhn.
If you are able to find and use wireless networks on your computer then the error lies with whoever is broadcasting the signal unsecured. I am not a legal expert but I would imagine it’s perfectly legal to use someone’s unsecured network.
You might be finding the networks of home users who were not savvy enough to set up wireless security (heck, it was a pain in the ass for me to set ours up and I call myself a computer-literate!)
It does so happen that there’s an unsecured wireless network in my neighborhood. I too am not sure it’s illegal to access it - it’s there and if the person who set it up didn’t put any security measures on it, then maybe they don’t care who uses it. I am not able to access it though, and I think it’s because I’m doing something wrong - not because I’m not supposed to be accessing it. I am wondering what it is I’m doing wrong because when I come across a network that is publicly available I want to be able to use it. E.g., there’s one at a nearby train station, provided to one and all at no charge. If I’m at Starbucks and my computer says the Starbucks network is available, do I just click “connect”? Or am I supposed to do something else to my computer?
To answer your question, yes there are plenty of places that offer free wireless hot spots - libraries, cofee shops, hell, even some cities are offering it as best they can.
I can only speak for Windows (XP), but right-click on the wireless network connection icon on the taskbar (looks like two monitors) and choose “view available wireless connections”. If one is available, just choose to connect to it and you are on. I would think something similar would be done on a Mac.
Thanks - I think I’m going to have to hit up a known free hotspot and see how it works, and if it doesn’t then either I’m doing something wrong or I’ve got something set up wrong.
I do have XP, by the way - should have mentioned that.
Using private hotspots is a grey-area.
Among the circles I pay attention to, a network operating without any security at all, is free for anyone to use. It’s quite simple to set up security on a wireless network (mine involves 4 clicks, and copying down a series of numbers and letters) therefore, if someone doesn’t want to do that, they allow public access to their network.
Even if someone doesn’t want others on their network, and doesn’t want to implement security, they still have options, like placing the APs of their network in a place that limits the accessibility. Mine is below ground level, and is only accessible within the house, and outside through a single window. Netstumbler will allow you to move around and find where your network is available, not to mention the others in the area. One can create a .Cantenna and keep your wifi confined to a certain diection/area. And the most simple way of limiting access, would be to change your network’s ID to something unfriendly like “PRIVATE USE ONLY”, which may keep out nice people, using your network for benign purposes, but would probably only encourage the people who aren’t looking to be nice.
The dark unethical side involves breaking the encryption of a network, which is quite simple, and may take less than an hour to break.
The program I mentioned before, called Netstumbler, is probably the most useful program I’ve used for Wifi. It will tell you when it finds a network, whether that network is encrypted or open, the network’s name, show a graph of the signal strength, and you can even hook it in to a GPS and it’ll make a map of the access points found. I have mine set-up so that when I drive around with Netstumbler running, it plays sound when it finds a network, and plays a midi note which tells me the signal strength (higher the pitch, better the signal).
If you haven’t already figured it out, I recommend Netstumbler to anyone with a wireless network.