Wi Fi

[AnnaFaraday]

I am a bit of a dimwit when it comes to techy things, so maybe one of you good people will know?

A friend of mine was showing off his new Kindle, the one with the 3G connection, and you can use it with Wi Fi if there is one in the area. (We have Wi Fi on some of the buses in our town!)

When he checked in my house to see if there was any Wi Fi in the area, it said there was one, the guy next door (it gave his name!).

We didn't click on it, but what I was wondering was, what would have happened if we had? Would he know? Would we in effect have been stealing something from him? It's not that I want to do it, I am just curious.

 

[Topaz63]

You may not be able to get onto it if he has his wifi passworded. If it's not got a password you could get onto it. You wouldn't affect his wifi in any way unless you tried to hack into his system, which someone could do and is why he should have it locked. One of my neighbours doesn't lock his.

 

[MadameLaMinx]

You wouldnt get into any trouble for it, although its not really good "netiquette" to piggy back on someone elses wireless connection, because its effectively stealing their bandwidth. Most people however would have their wireless password protected.

 

[LittleMissMo]

A lot of people leave their WiFi open deliberately so others can use it. When your device picks up the wireless signal you can see if it needs a password or not.

And yes, any tech savvy person could be watching the data if the connection isn't encrypted. Best to avoid open WiFi networks unless you're doing general surfing only. Don't use it for any site that needs a password.

 

[AnnaFaraday]

I wouldn't do it - it wouldn't feel right. I was just wondering.

He's my neighbour, and I might mention it to him to suggest he has a password on it, if he hasn't already.

thank you all for your replies