Oil change, tires rotated and WiFi!!!

[sigamy]

Where is the strangest place that you got free WiFi on your TH55?

Last night I stopped at one of those quick oil change places. At this one you wait right in your car. I was waiting in a line of 3 cars and decided to play a game. I figured I'd check for any open WiFi access and my TH found a network called "linksys-g"...got right on and surfed the web for a while. All while my car was being serviced.

This was a commerical area in northern NJ--had to be installed at one of the businesses nearby, no homes within range.

So,
#1) was it OK that I hopped on and visited cnn.com?
#2) where are the strangest places you have found free WiFi access?

[jjesusfreak01]

Its very unlikely that an oil change station would mind you borrowing their network for a few minutes. I doubt you could slow down their network, and I would guess that your probably the first to find they even have one. If they were worried about hackers, they would have it encrypted.

How close were the "business' nearby"? The TH-55 doesnt have incredible range, and I think it difficult to imagine the network was too far away.

[RunningWoman]

We have an excellent eye clinic in our area that has recently made WiFi available, and which has posted signs throughout their complex about how to access their network. Their specialists treat many seniors who have glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetes--diseases adversely affecting vision that make it very unlikely their patients will be using PDAs or laptops while they wait for their appointments.

But those of us who accompany their parents to their appointments are most grateful for wireless access to help pass the time!

Kim :rolleyes:

[SonyStyle]

whenever you find free wifi places, use it!!!!

[treffmeister]

In Australia, with my long-ranged NX+WL100, I pick 'em up aplenty. For example. My street has one, and it wes a Linksys. I could only pick it up when at a window. Moral issues aside, I flashed it with alternate firmware and upped the transmit rate. (50mW). Now I have great reception!
Also, my beachside holiday unit and school have available APs. It makes the WL100 investment worthwhile (not to mention using it with my laptop with a $15AUD PCMCIA-CF convertor!)

[jjesusfreak01]

In Australia, with my long-ranged NX+WL100, I pick 'em up aplenty. For example. My street has one, and it wes a Linksys. I could only pick it up when at a window. Moral issues aside, I flashed it with alternate firmware and upped the transmit rate. (50mW). Now I have great reception!
Also, my beachside holiday unit and school have available APs. It makes the WL100 investment worthwhile (not to mention using it with my laptop with a $15AUD PCMCIA-CF convertor!)
Thats so funny, I just cant bring myself to verbally thrash you for that heinous act. At least it was a Linksys, which loses nothing when you flash it. Ill bet your neighbors never knew what you did, but they were probably pleasantly surprised by the increased data rate. Seriously, thats very sneaky, and I hope your neighbors dont read this forum, because you could get in serious trouble for that, though I doubt they would do nothing more than thank you for giving them a reason to password protect their network.

By the way, that doesnt fall under what SonyStyle said.

[treffmeister]

And I quote: "Moral issues aside"
I actually asked them first. They have an unlimited broadband account, and I set up QoS so I did not use too much bandwidth.

[jjesusfreak01]

And I quote: "Moral issues aside"
I actually asked them first. They have an unlimited broadband account, and I set up QoS so I did not use too much bandwidth.
Well if you asked them, then there are no moral issues to put aside.
Unlimited bandwidth, what does that mean? It is really really fast, or does it have no download limit, because some companies will kick you off if you use too much bandwidth.

[rbentley]

whenever you find free wifi places, use it!!!!

I would not be so fast to "use it". I guess the distinction is what is a "free wifi place". If the business advertises free wifi for the public, then yes your free to use it. If however you merely discover a wifi site that is not encrypted, that does not mean that you are "free" to use it any more than the fact that you find an unlocked house means that you are free to enter and watch their TV.

Just accessing a wifi site which is not intended for public use can and has been considered criminal. Charges such as theft of services, interception of communications, misuse of computing resources and other federal violations.

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/1827

In a recent well publiczed case Paul Timminns plead guilty to a federal misdomenor charge for "wardriving". Although his co-defendants used the Lowes open wifi site to steal information off of the Lowes computers, all Timmins did was use an apparently open and unsecure wifi access point to check his email. He did nothing else, but was charged and pled guilty to a federal offense.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/06/michigan_wardrivers_guilty/

[treffmeister]

By "Unlimited broadband account", I imply 1) There is no limit to the data used 2) The account is high speed.

[jjesusfreak01]

Okay, lets not get into another internet stealing debate. We already had one about a month ago on the forums.

[treffmeister]

That's right. *Cough*Hypocrite*Cough*
Please do not question my motives in the future. No hard feelings.

[jjesusfreak01]

That's right. *Cough*Hypocrite*Cough*
Please do not question my motives in the future. No hard feelings.
Of course no hard feelings, never ever. You just made it sound an awful lot you were messing with someones hardware without permission. I just wanted to remind everyone that there is a thread on the issue. Its quite long, and discusses every aspect of the issue. If I knew how to get to it, id post a link.

Anyway, without all of the information, just your somewhat misleading, "moral issues aside" quote, along with your avatar, its hard not to infer what it seemed you were implying.

[treffmeister]

Um....... the avatar is actually meant to be humourous. (And yes, that is spelt correctly).