letterman@invalid.com wrote:
> I just got my first laptop w/wifi card. I have successfully connected
> while on a trip. Mostly at motels, by just parking in their parking
> lot. I also picked up a signal at McDonalds but they wanted me to
> pay, which was not possible because they were closed (after hours).
>
> I mostly want to do this when I am on the road travelling, but because
> I live in a rural area and can only get dialup internet at home, I'd
> like to find a nearby free connection so I can download large files.
> For example, at home on dialup it takes well over an hour to download
> a 15meg file, where using the WIFI only takes a few minutes. I could
> even watch Youtube videos on this laptop, which at home I can only
> watch them after I download them to my own harddrive.

I disagree with this usurpation of the bandwidth of others. You are
saying that you want to make heavy usage of the bandwidth of others who
have chosen to configure their network insecurely. They didn't configure
insecurely with the intention of you taking their bandwidth away from them
and interfering with the best usage of something to which they are
entitled. They configured insecurely either out of ignorance or out of a
wish to provide a convenience to their clients to not require a WPA or WEP
configurational disadvantage.

Your usage of someone else's bandwidth is not 'casual'. It is a heavy
intentional usage which will impact on others, which heavy intentional
usage you are making for downloading large files, which with the attitude
of someone who takes something from others which doesn't belong to them,
is likely to be copyrighted content.

What exactly is keeping you from subscribing to better bandwidth than
dialup at home?




--
Mike Easter