No sniffer needed for free WiFi

[palmsolo]

I just got back from taking my youngest daughter to the doctor for an ear infection and discovered something cool on my NX70V. We had to wait about 20 minutes so I pulled out my CLIE and on a whim went into the Prefs and selected a new Wireless connection. I named it and left the SSID blank and all the advanced stuff on auto. Lo and behold, I was then wireless surfing fast after tapping connect. They must have had a WiFi setup without an encryption because I was able to surf and check my email no problem. We even went to Disney.com for my daughter's enjoyment. I will now take my card with me to check other places as I am out and about. Anyone else find access this way?

[JC2K]

would this be considered "war-doctoring"?

:-)

[CMC]

Great!

[OcellNuri]

The WiFi card keeps tempting me more and more... arg!

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by palmsolo
I just got back from taking my youngest daughter to the doctor for an ear infection and discovered something cool on my NX70V. We had to wait about 20 minutes so I pulled out my CLIE and on a whim went into the Prefs and selected a new Wireless connection. I named it and left the SSID blank and all the advanced stuff on auto. Lo and behold, I was then wireless surfing fast after tapping connect. They must have had a WiFi setup without an encryption because I was able to surf and check my email no problem. We even went to Disney.com for my daughter's enjoyment. I will now take my card with me to check other places as I am out and about. Anyone else find access this way?

There are quite a few who don't encrypt their LANs. Could lead them into serious trouble!

[jhudgins]

Try your local Compusa. Mine has an open network. On a security note, it may or may not be secure if left open. I run mine open on its own isolated network. If anyone finds it any easier to access my non WiFi network than anyone else out there on the Internet then they deserve to hack me.

[TheMooch]

2 128MB Memory Sticks - $92.00
WiFi Card - $150

--then the wife finds out --
Lawyer Fees - Upwards of $OHMYGOD

Being able to surf anywhere from my NX - Worth it...LOL

[CosmicBlend]

My school has a wireless network for the entire building but they use mac address filtering for the wireless, so i cant get on untill i bribe one of the network guys to add my wifi card's mac address.

[Drexer]

Your school dosnt allow you to enter the network???

Not cool and weird

[palmsolo]

You may want to also check out the details I provided in this post, http://www.cliesource.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1636.

[profvisor]

Has anyone else had any luck doing this?
Just curious!

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by profvisor
Has anyone else had any luck doing this?
Just curious!

What is doing this???

[profvisor]

Has anyone else been able to "find" open networks by setting up a profile in the manner described here and just trying randomly?

[n2ifp]

Originally posted by profvisor
Has anyone else been able to "find" open networks by setting up a profile in the manner described here and just trying randomly?

http://www.80211-planet.com/

[pusfarm]

Originally posted by profvisor
Has anyone else been able to "find" open networks by setting up a profile in the manner described here and just trying randomly? I just did this Saturday night.  I was visiting a friend in a Westlake Village, CA townhouse complex and popped the card in.  To my surprise, it connected very quickly.  Unfortunately, my main MS with PocketLink was at work and an old copy of Palmscape I found kept crashing, but I was able to connect with a profile I just called "generic."

I tried the card in my laptop and was more surprised to find that the Sony card with a PCMCIA CF adapter detected the network, whereas my D-Link card did not.  I couldn't surf since we'd moved to another part of the complex and the signal was very weak, but it did detect it.  That was so cool!

[mashoutposse]

I have a story similar to pusfarm's: I was at my father's home, and thought that I would further demonstrate the benefits of WiFi (I convinced him to get a wireless network up and running at home weeks before). I connected, as I expected -- but he told me that he turned off all of the wireless stuff! Seems I was able to connect to someone else's network (nice speed, too!). Here's the interesting thing: My father tried to log on to this network via his brand new Toshiba laptop, and it couldn't even detect it!

I think you get what you pay for, and, while the WL100 is expensive as far as CF WiFi cards go, it has EXCELLENT range. I was on the third floor when I initially connected, and I was able to remain connected downstairs, and even in the parking lot as I wait in the car! FAST connection, too. Now THAT was cool :D

[emmert]

Sometimes when I'm out, I'll fire up the Clie Mail program and hit connect. It will keep "Retrying" until it either connects with a network, or times out. I've found a number of connections this way.

[javadog]

FYI: (and this applies to most WiFi cards, laptop, etc.) you would set the SSID to "ANY". That informs the card that it can connect to any open WAP connection regardless of the name. It just so happens that some cards/drivers also accept a blank SSID to mean "ANY" also. I use this trick between my office WAP and my home WAP, which have WEP enabled, but different SSIDs (the WEP is the same on both).