Palringo Beta Launched

[Guest conan_troutman]

I understand what your saying what I am saying I dont know if these are ilegal or not obviosly in a residential area it would be most defo, but around town where we have hotspots how do I know if I am piggy backing or using a genuine connecton, as know one has ever showed me the diff between the two or what i need to connect

there my conclusion is if its available its free

the whole house analogy doesn't fit with what i am doing.

so here is a question too you all my wifi connection at home is strong enough for me nieghbours to use next door in there own home I have no limit on my account, is it ilegal to allow the access to MY network ?

[Guest Swampie]

I personally don't know how you can tell the difference between an unsecured private (ie. set up by a dummy) network and an unsecured public network (ie. set up deliberately). It's not easy to know where the source is to even check in person. So, whilst I know (and point out) that using someone else's WiFi without permission could be illegal - I don't know how you can find out if you have permission.

The phone analogy is still valid though, if you look at it from the eyes of the WiFi owner (rather than a WiFi user). If someone has a WPA protected WiFi network, then that's similar to locking your doors and windows. Not having it protected (through mistake) is like forgetting to lock your doors or windows. Having it deliberately left unsecured for people to share, is like having a notice outside saying "Free party, please come in". If a guy ended up in court for some crime and said "Not my fault make, their window was open, so I just went in" - he's unlikely to be told "That's fine then, their fault, not yours, you can go home". It might change the severity of the crime (breaking and entering vs theft) and therefore the sentence - but it doesn't absolve them of guilt.

The answer to your question is probably Yes, it's most probably in breach of your T&C's which state you cannot share it with others. I've heard of ISPs who, when they found out a network was being shared between neighbours, have pulled their service due to breach of contract. If your neighbour would normally be spending £20 per month with the ISP, but instead decides to share yours - that ISP is losing money by you sharing your connection.

That's the problem I see with http://www.fon.com - they rely on you sharing you network with 3rd parties, which most ISPs explicitly ban.

Going back to the phone analogy - if you get free calls on your BT phone, and run a line out to the pavement right next to a BT phonebox with a notice saying "Free calls" is that allowed? I would expect not. Similarly if you ran an extension to your neighbours house - BT would lose the line rental from your neighbours.

[Guest nickcornaglia]

Maybe the "Steal or Not-to-Steal Wifi" conversation would be better made in the Lounge Forum....just to save this thread for Palringo questions and comments.

Thanks.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Agreed, I will shortly be splitting this topic.

P