[P1] OT: Setting up Public Wi-Fi

[gwallace]

On Mar 14, 2004, at 12:39 PM, Brian Pearce wrote:

> The easiest solution is, of course, buy your own Internet acess and 
> set up your own wireless network, and then you can do what you please 
> with it; make it open, make it closed, share it with your neighborhood 
> (depending on your ISP's policies) or don't. You make the choice for 
> yourself, rather than for someone else.

When I first posted this topic I was trying to stay away from 
particulars and see what people thought about the concept of 
accidentally stumbling upon a wireless signal.  But I'm a little 
uncomfortable leaving the impression that I'm a freeloader.  I do in 
fact have my own wireless network at home, and I do in fact have a 
password enabled on my network (which is how I know how easy it is).  
My ISP allows 4 devices; my TiBook, my husbands desktop computer, our 
ethernet printer, and our airport fill the 4 slots.  We also both have 
iBooks belonging to our schools that we occasionally use at home and 
seldom need to connect to the internet. Once in a while it's helpful to 
get online from the iBooks, so we've played around with various ways to 
share the signal with our iBooks, but none is ideal.  The best so far 
was to use my laptop as a software base station rather than the 
airport, but then the TiBook is no longer portable and we cannot print 
from the iBooks.  We can also unplug the cable modem, shut down all the 
home computers and try to get working IP address, but it doesn't always 
work. The airport can be configured differently to share the signal, 
but then the airport needs to be reset a couple of times a day. Usually 
I just connect with the dial-up number from our ISP.

Anyway,  I discovered the additional signal a few days ago, and by 
coincidence the thread about setting up a public wi-fi was begun the 
same night, so it seemed like a great forum to post my question.  I 
could have said it was for occasional use only, I could have described 
my home network, but that really seemed irrelevant to the dilemma I was 
posing.  I've been fascinated by the range of opinion (from people with 
sniffers who roam the streets looking for unprotected networks to those 
that I suspect leave a quarter on top of the pay phone if by accident 
they get a free phone call). For the record, I've connected via the 
mystery network for a total of 2 or three minutes in the past week. I 
don't think that changes the rightness or wrongness of it, but I'm 
curious to see if it does.

When I say "I choose to believe" I am consciously aware that this is an 
ambiguous situation, so I contend it is not rationalization.  That 
would require that I believe I am right and keep my doubts buried 
somewhere in my subconscious. (But then I suppose some would say I'm 
rationalizing again).  After reading the various opinions posted here 
and talking to others here in the real world, I've made a decision for 
my own situation.  Others must do the same for theirs. Thanks for such 
an interesting discussion.
-----------------------
Gina Wallace
Topsham, Maine
-----------------------