# ISP Sharing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292 "2012-04-19T17:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/1 "2012-04-19T17:24:31Z")
Is it possible (and legal) to share my ISP connection with my close-by neighbor with wireless? If so, how? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/2 "2012-04-19T17:29:53Z")
It’s possible. It’s probably against your ISP’s service agreement. Assuming your neighbour is in wireless range, he’d just get a wireless router and set it to act as a wireless bridge with your WiFi network’s security credentials. Alternately, if all of his devices support wireless and are in range of your router, they can just connect directly to it. This is also why strong wireless security is important. It’s the only difference between him needing your permission and him not needing your permission to do this. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/3 "2012-04-19T17:32:22Z")
Just remember that if either one of you does anything illegal (file sharing) the blame goes to the person who’s name is on the bill. Also remember that you will be sharing bandwidth. If one of you is streaming video, downloading/uploading huge files etc, then the other will face slowness. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/4 "2012-04-19T23:11:37Z")
It’s almost certainly against your terms of service. That doesn’t make it illegal, just a contract violation. If the ISP finds out, they’ll cut off your service. For the hell of it, I looked up my ISP’s terms of service: “The Service is a consumer grade service and is not designed for or intended to be used for any commercial purpose. You may not resell, re-provision or rent the Service, (either for a fee or without charge) or allow third parties to use the Service via wired, wireless or other means… you may connect multiple computers/devices within a single home to your modem and/or router to access the Service” (FWIW, it’s also a violation to “post off-topic information on message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites” or “use the service … in a manner that is obscene, sexually explicit, cruel or racist in nature”. That, plus piracy, covers approximately the entire goddamn internet. ) Realistically the ISP doesn’t have any way to police connection sharing. They’d probably figure it out if you were, say, using residential service to provide access to an entire coffee shop. But how would they tell the difference between sharing with a neighbor vs just having a lot of heavy users in your household? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/5 "2012-04-19T23:30:32Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > (FWIW, it’s also a violation to “post off-topic information on message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites” or “use the service … in a manner that is obscene, sexually explicit, cruel or racist in nature”. That, plus piracy, covers approximately the entire goddamn internet. ) Which ISP is that, and what year in the range of 1993-1997 do their offices reside in? ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/6 "2012-04-19T23:42:51Z")
Verizon FIOS. I bet your ISP has similar cover-their-ass terms… ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/7 "2012-04-20T03:35:29Z")
Mine doesn’t. I can go off topic as much as I want. Here’s a link to [Slutty Brownies](http://whatsgabycooking.com/slutty-brownies/). Ha! Take that, ISP! ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isp-sharing/619292/8 "2012-04-20T06:24:46Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > I bet your ISP has similar cover-their-ass terms… I have Comcast (not by choice). They have about 14 pages worth of cover-their-ass terms. (Ok, I’m exaggerating, but not by much)