new to wireless

hi all - just got a fancy new media centre, took it home and set it up, was just about to connect the cable for my old 56k dial-up connection when I realized I was actually connected to the net. The properties on the tray icon says that the wireless network is unsecured and is configured for open access. Connection speed varies between 1Mbps to 11.00Mbps (and it says that's low!), however, it doesn't really seem much faster than my modem. So to the questions:

1. Is it really free?
2. How safe is it?
3. Can I make it go any faster?

I'm not knocking it, free internet is free internet, but for the speed side of things, I'm tempted to go broadband. If it makes any difference, I'm in Wellington (Newtown, sorta in the middle of the Wakefield and Wellington hospitals).

Thanks for any feedback
:roll:

It's not really free, someone somewhere will be paying for it

It sounds like you're connecting to your next door neighbours network or something

and prob not that safe

1. Is it free?
-Most likely it isn't free, as the person will have a dial up connection or a DSL connection. When you use it you will be sucking up their bandwidth and maybe their data cap, which will incur an extra fee if they exceed it.

2. How safe is it?
-If you have access rules to your machine set properly they will know you are on their network but will not be able to connect to you. I suggest you use’s NTFS for proper security administration.
-Internet wise if they are connected to the net through a router with hardware firewall then you have a little bit of security. BUT by the connections speeds you are getting I would say they are using and early version of WIFI hardware (Most likely WIFI .

3. Can I make it go any faster?
(All tho I do discourage you from using this person’s bandwidth without their consent this will help.)
-Yes you can, by repositioning your antenna on your WIFI device. Use a program like netstumbler to find the best signal reception area.
-Run command consol and type “tracert www.google.com”. You should receive a list of IP addresses that your ping packet has passed through and asked for a response. Depending on how the other persons network is set up you will get a response like the following.
IF the first number in the list is 192.168.0.1 or ends in a 1, then that is the default gateway that you are using to access the internet meaning that you are most likely connecting to a WIFI router with a DSL connection.
ELSE IF you receive an IP number that doesn’t end in 1 then you are connecting to their machine, if this is the case netsend their machine and inform them of the situation.
ELSE there are other ways that may increase the signal but are illegal so I will not mention them.