[mythtv-users] Wireless Bridges and "Thinking it's wired"

[Brian Wood]

On Thursday 04 February 2010 09:15:20 pm Iain Buchanan wrote:
> On Thu, 2010-02-04 at 08:04 -0700, Brian Wood wrote:
> > WiFi is becoming a real mess, especially in crowded areas. The
> > overlapping channels and mass-marketing is making things almost unusable
> > in some places. My local cable company is now offering to set up WiFi for
> > customers, touting it as an "alternative" to wired connections, which it
> > really isn't.
> >
> > The plus side is that almost anywhere I go I can find an open system that
> > I can connect to.
> 
> slightly illegal here, but that is quite common.  A major Australian
> telco who shall remain nameless used to give you their standard aDSL
> modem with wireless enabled, unprotected.  A friend spoke to his
> neighbour about securing his wireless, and the response was "what
> wireless"?

That's somewhat extreme, but wireless routers used to work out of the box, 
with well-known default passwords for access to the router itself. I see 3 
networks in my neighborhood with SSIDs of "Linksys" for example.

I think the router makers didn't want to answer all the phone calls asking 
"how do I make this work", so they just shipped them in an open condition. 
They seem to be getting better about that, and several stores are offering (ie: 
selling) setup services.

I'm not sure about the legal status of connecting to an open system, some of 
them are intentionally open and public, how are you to know the difference 
between such a system and a setup error? There are a couple of open systems 
available in a City park near me, I tried connecting just as a "proof of 
concept" exercise, I still have no idea who operates them.

Fort Collins, just south of here, provides free WiFi to all of the downtown 
area, but I'm sure using that is not illegal, since they publicize the fact.