# How many wi-fi hot spots can you detect at home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023 "2012-03-28T04:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![festiva76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@festiva76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/festiva76)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/61 "2012-03-31T14:03:27Z")
I count three, including mine, and all secured. I named mine “Boris.” I was drinking vodka at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/62 "2012-03-31T14:55:51Z")
Truly, I never gave a thought to changing the default name of my network until this thread. I have renamed it “World Domination Headquarters”. ---
**Author:** ![Av8trix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@Av8trix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Av8trix)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/63 "2012-03-31T15:06:21Z")
Eight, all secure. The most interestingly named is “Whore Island.” ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/64 "2012-03-31T15:21:48Z")
14 including mine. No particularly oddly named ones unless you consider the name “Burgers” to be odd. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/65 "2012-03-31T18:50:09Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Truly, I never gave a thought to changing the default name of my network until this thread. I have renamed it “World Domination Headquarters”. {Mr. Burns fingers}Excellent.{/MBF} ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/66 "2012-03-31T18:57:12Z")
Now I have to figure out a way to tremendously boost the signal so every laptop in the world can detect my network and their owners will start wondering when my forces will batter down their doors. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/67 "2012-04-01T15:57:12Z")
Surprisingly, I can only detect my networks. My neighbors aren’t that far away, so I guess they either turn their routers off or don’t have wireless. ---
**Author:** ![Walkabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walkabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walkabout)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/68 "2012-04-01T20:29:35Z")
I can see 22 from our house, but we’re just up the road from an apartment building. Most are secured, except for “linksys” and “Pretty fly for a wifi-guest” (the counterpart, I assume, to the secured “Pretty fly for a wifi” network). I’m surprised I can see so many, since we don’t have that many neighbors. There are four houses on our cul-de-sac, four more on each of the cul-de-sacs on either side, an eight-unit apartment building, and maybe five other houses within 100 yards. I guess everyone has wifi. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/69 "2012-04-02T20:02:21Z")
I see six (plus our two) in our suburban subdivision - most are name-related (Davies, james\_sara) but I do like “FBI Connection Logs” as a SSDI. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/70 "2012-04-02T20:39:26Z")
One, my own. Only one neighbor in sight. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/71 "2012-04-02T20:54:34Z")
I can see four networks - two are my own, and two are secured networks from my neighbors. On a good day, I can see a couple others, including a weak signal from the high school about a quarter-mile away. In a suburban-y sort of area, but with nothing but farmland to our north… ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023/72 "2012-04-02T20:58:46Z")
Usually, I see just one other other than my own, but if the winds are right, I’ll sometimes see two others. Apparently we’re all AT&T Uverse customers as all of the SSIDs are “2wire###” and they’re all secured with WPA. Don’t know why, but attempting to change the SSID on mine didn’t work. I’ve just got one WiFi device, so it was easier to just change it, than to mess with figuring out why the gateway wouldn’t let me change the SSID. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-wi-fi-hot-spots-can-you-detect-at-home/617023.md?page=3)