this is so totally awesome (teen talk for) "I made a smart move.
A while back I bought an old thinkpad with a wi-fi card from my neighbor to use as a backup when (not if) my cable modem link went down, which it did recently. it went down on Mon. and while I was calling Time Warner and hanging on the line and eventually told to plug and unplug the modem which is about all they do at support these days. Long story short, it went out again today so I'm typing this on the old laptop with the wireless card. I'm getting the signal from one of my neighbors, and frankly there are signals (networks) flying around all over the place here, and most of them have a pretty okay signal (2 or 3 bars) and if I go out into the hallway and stand outside my neighbors door I can even get 4 bars.
I don't even know what wi-fi stands for? Wireless fidelity? Shows my age. But anyway, I can get my mail, and post to blogger etc.
Do they make antennas or boosters for this thing so that you can amplify the signal from my neighbors apt.?
But yes - this was a good idea because I am, believe it or not, running a business here and I can't really stop replying to emails or see orders when they come in for 4 days which is how long it takes Time Warner to get around to paying me a visit.
And of course I can always go out into the nearest starbucks etc. Do they charge you to tap into their wireless network? I've never done that before. The local Starbucks looks like a nice place to hang out with my ancient Thinkpad running Win 98.
8 comments:
yes, there are antennas out there - you can even make
one yourself out of a pringles can (no kidding, google
"pringles wifi").
When my internet is down, or I need to test some stuff,
I use one of the open networks on my block.
On the other hand it's amazing how many people have
their wifi's protected...
I can see about four different wifi networks from my apt. depending on where I stand where the laptop.
And some of them have funny names, like IBMEternity and LinkMeBabe.
I wonder whether people know that their wifi networks are open.
Anyway - thanks for the Pringle tip etc. I'm going to check that out (hate Pringles though).
As far as the antenna thing goes; I see that you can buy all sorts of antennas to boost the signal, or use line of sight; etc.
The wi-fi card I have doesn't have a socket for an antenna wire though.
It's not a big deal, I'm getting enough signal strength to do the bare necessities. Just for fun, I took the laptop out onto my fire escape and another 8 networks showed up (seven of which were open).
I bet that if I ran a wire from my fire-escape and wrapped it around the wi-fi card I'd get some extra boost (esp. in a lighting storm).
Couple of things to keep in mind:
If you can use other people's networks that means that they are not encrypted. So if you send your details (e.g. for a mail account) over the air everyone else in reach can basically listen in, the only thing he needs is a sniffer or similar tool.
Same goes with Starbucks (they charge around $5 or so per hour depending on the provider involved, here in the UK you can simply pay it with your phone bill). Again those networks are not encrypted. That's an interim solution but not more. For sensitive data you could anytime fall back to using a modem which is a hassle and slow but more secure.
Regards, Axel
Thanks Alex. My normal cable modem has been out for almost a week. Right now I just use this to get my email and post to blogger.
One thing I've wondered about is:
with the millions and millions of packets running around unencrypted - what are the odds of someone singling one person out to sniff. And how would they do it. I would imagine that it is an automated program looking for certain keywords and then listing them out to the black hats. But still, I wonder about the odds. Has anyone ever figured out what the chances are for an individual to have their packets picked that way?
Starbucks does charge, but you'll probably be able to find plenty of independent coffee shops that provide totally free wireless access to their customers. Check out http://www.jiwire.com/ for a directory of hotspots, searchable by zip code.
You might also want to upgrade the Win98 to something newer (a Linux distro for example, though check for wireless support before you install it). Win98 systems are very vulnerable when connected to the internet without the protection of a firewall.
It took five days but I'm back online. It turned out the cable modem went bad. I have a nice new little square RCA modem.
Jeff - I actually don't have a landline in my apartment. But that is a good backup. Right now I use the cell phone for everything.
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