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View Full Version : Sharing your Internet wirelessly



Seisen
November 7th, 2007, 07:21 PM
I'm just curious on how many people share their internet connection wirelessly with other people like your neighbors, people passing by, etc... and if you do how to you keep so that nobody has access to your computers on your home network?

b0ng0
November 7th, 2007, 07:45 PM
Nope, because I already share with 3 other people via wired connections so any random passer by who decides to start using p2p software would effectively cripple the bandwidth. It's totally not worth risking an open wireless connection.

To stop people accessing the wireless we used MAC Address filtering for 3 years which just allows people who you have on the MAC list to see the connection, to other people it just doesn't appear. Although apparently it's very easy to spoof MAC Addresses, so now I use WPA2 which I think is nigh-on impenetrable.

cyclefiend2000
November 7th, 2007, 07:54 PM
i wouldnt mind sharing, but like mentioned above too many people would abuse it.

note: when we first got our laptops, we accessed the internet through our neighbor's connection for a few months. they still dont block us.

50words
November 7th, 2007, 07:58 PM
I have considered opening my connection up. I'm sure it's probably a violation of my TOS with Comcast or something equally ridiculous. Mainly I don't because I can't imagine who would be able to use it.

Iceni
November 7th, 2007, 08:46 PM
I did when I lived countryside. We had one neightbour who kindly asked if she could use our connection, and I never bothered with a password. Now I live in the city and I use encryption.

a12ctic
November 7th, 2007, 08:56 PM
I honestly don't care, I keep it open 24/7, it rarely gets used by anyone else and if it does I can kick them off if I really feel the need.

ssam
November 7th, 2007, 09:04 PM
yes but wireless users only get port 80 access.

wired and wireless are on different subnets. wireless can ssh to wired and use as proxy (so my laptop can get email).

this is done with openwrt

need to set up openvpn at some point.

glupee
November 7th, 2007, 09:05 PM
single computer at home, connect straight to the modem, no router.
Else I'd let people use it, don't see a problem with it.

bionnaki
November 7th, 2007, 09:10 PM
I split my internet bill with the girls that live in the apartment above me. they use the wireless - it's encrypted with WPA, though. works great - cheap internet.

thx11381974
November 7th, 2007, 10:29 PM
Xbox needs all my bandwidth, But some of my neighbors share their bandwidth with me.

I think I mentioned it to them :rolleyes:

jrusso2
November 7th, 2007, 11:30 PM
I have a FON router that I was sharing until FON started offering free 15 mins trials to anyone with a fake email address.

n3tfury
November 7th, 2007, 11:51 PM
i don't share for one reason only. if some pervert were to download child porn over my network, i'd get stamped for it. say goodbye to your job and the rest of your life as a common citizen.

FG123
November 7th, 2007, 11:51 PM
No, for two reasons:

(a) In Australia, we have this little thing called "quotas", and these quotas determine how much we can download before being slowed down to dial-up speeds. I don't want other people using up my quota unless we've already reached an agreement for shared use (ie. no strangers).

(b) If some weirdo uses my connection for child porn or other nefarious persuits, I'm going to take the blame since it's MY connection. Just too dangerous.

bionnaki
November 8th, 2007, 12:37 AM
i don't share for one reason only. if some pervert were to download child porn over my network, i'd get stamped for it. say goodbye to your job and the rest of your life as a common citizen.

...the police would confiscate computers and they would discover zero child porn on yours. charges dropped.

bruce89
November 8th, 2007, 12:40 AM
...the police would confiscate computers and they would discover zero child porn on yours. charges dropped.

The problem is the bit you mention.

p_quarles
November 8th, 2007, 12:43 AM
...the police would confiscate computers and they would discover zero child porn on yours. charges dropped.
True, but in the U.S., this would be a federal investigation. Which means that the FBI would be the ones confiscating your computers. Which means that you'd get them back in three years if you're lucky, never if you're not.

The prevalence of illegal activity is exactly why I'd never share my connection with strangers. If it was someone I knew who could use some help, sure.

LookTJ
November 8th, 2007, 12:56 AM
I have an unsecured connection via the router because WEP/WPA can be cracked, so what's the point of securing it?

thx11381974
November 8th, 2007, 01:37 AM
WEP,WPA,WPA2 can be cracked easily by even a novest hacker. With a good parabolic antenna & power booster it can be done from blocks possibly even miles away. theres even a hacking wifi networks for dummy's book out. The government(US anyhow) is not going to come after you cause someone used your internet for kiddy porn. The freaks who mess with that crap know how to beak in & how to fake IP addresses. How the government goes after them is by studying the pictures and videos for clues to who the children are and who is making it. The sad truth is if they locked up anyone who downloaded that ***** the court system would probably collapse from the shear weight of cases before it. All the same if you find an unauthorized device connected to your wifi wright down their mac # and anything else you can find out about them. If the police ever did come to your door your may just get to help them solve a crime.

Phil Airtime
November 8th, 2007, 02:26 AM
...the police would confiscate computers and they would discover zero child porn on yours. charges dropped.

By which time, it's already been in the regional papers that Joe Bloggs from Inverness or wherever has been investigated for child porn, he's been suspended from work and the damage has been done.

n3tfury
November 8th, 2007, 02:45 AM
...the police would confiscate computers and they would discover zero child porn on yours. charges dropped.

lol, yes, so easy it would be.


think.

bionnaki
November 8th, 2007, 03:09 AM
By which time, it's already been in the regional papers that Joe Bloggs from Inverness or wherever has been investigated for child porn, he's been suspended from work and the damage has been done.

and once the charges have been dropped, he can file a lawsuit against his former employer and never have to work again.

n3tfury
November 8th, 2007, 03:15 AM
and once the charges have been dropped, he can file a lawsuit against his former employer and never have to work again.

yes, because $ is worth having your name dragged through the mud and your family having to go through tremendous stress.

FG123
November 8th, 2007, 03:16 AM
I have an unsecured connection via the router because WEP/WPA can be cracked, so what's the point of securing it?
Does your house have locks on any of your doors? They can still be defeated, so why bother?

/sarcasm to prove a point

jrusso2
November 8th, 2007, 03:27 AM
WEP,WPA,WPA2 can be cracked easily by even a novest hacker. With a good parabolic antenna & power booster it can be done from blocks possibly even miles away. theres even a hacking wifi networks for dummy's book out. The government(US anyhow) is not going to come after you cause someone used your internet for kiddy porn. The freaks who mess with that crap know how to beak in & how to fake IP addresses. How the government goes after them is by studying the pictures and videos for clues to who the children are and who is making it. The sad truth is if they locked up anyone who downloaded that ***** the court system would probably collapse from the shear weight of cases before it. All the same if you find an unauthorized device connected to your wifi wright down their mac # and anything else you can find out about them. If the police ever did come to your door your may just get to help them solve a crime.

WPA2 with a strong password is not easy to crack

thx11381974
November 8th, 2007, 05:16 AM
WPA2 with a strong password is not easy to crack

It's just takes longer, if you don't change your password at least once a week. A hacker just has to keep listening to data packets and they'll get in. More than that once they have the key it's possible to decrypt anything they've recorded while trying to crack your connection.Not all my hardware supports WPA2 so I use WPA. If my internet traffic was anything of a sensitive nature I wouldn't use wifi at all.

n3tfury
November 8th, 2007, 05:35 AM
It's just takes longer, if you don't change your password at least once a week. A hacker just has to keep listening to data packets and they'll get in. More than that once they have the key it's possible to decrypt anything they've recorded while trying to crack your connection.Not all my hardware supports WPA2 so I use WPA. If my internet traffic was anything of a sensitive nature I wouldn't use wifi at all.

seriously though, unless you have script kiddies for neighbors, nobody's going to put the effort into cracking your WPA/2 passwords.

thx11381974
November 8th, 2007, 06:03 AM
seriously though, unless you have script kiddies for neighbors, nobody's going to put the effort into cracking your WPA/2 passwords.

I Agree, but it is all prepacked software and easy to follow instructions. theres even a Linux distro out there just for cracking wifi. When I lived beach side one of my neighbors was a lawyers office for the first year they ran no encryption on their router. then they started using WEP, this was an attorney's office. Unless your business is a pizza place you shouldn't be using wifi at all. Can you image all the things they sent to their printer alone over that connection?

n3tfury
November 8th, 2007, 06:06 AM
I Agree, but it is all repacked software and easy to follow instructions. theres even a Linux distro out there just for cracking wifi. When I lived beach side one of my neighbors was a lawyers office for the first year they ran no encryption on their router. then they started using WEP, this was an attorney's office. Unless your business is a pizza place you shouldn't be using wifi at all. Can you image all thing they sent to their printer alone over that connection?

anybody with half a peanut in their skull will not use wifi with sensitive information unless they're encrypting their hdd's and using other means of encryption (tunneling, etc)

Seisen
November 8th, 2007, 01:42 PM
I see that many people won't share their connection because of fear. I personally have thought of sharing my wifi but closing p2p and bittorent ports so anybody that does use it wont' be able to hog my bandwidth.