Comments on: Adventures in Wireless Internet Poaching

By: Photo: Yes. You Can Steal WiFi In Front Of Fenty’s House - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:43:09 +0000

[...] There’s only one thing you can get away with in front of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s Crestwood abode. If you are desperate, you can park behind the empty 4th District police cruiser and the scary unmarked Crown Vic. You can then turn on your lap top and start stealing WiFi. [...]

By: Jian

Jian — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:28:11 +0000

q hit the nail right on the head.

plus, at&t hotspots are free for at&t wireless customers. icing + cake = win!

By: Amanda Hess

Amanda Hess — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:44:12 +0000

Thanks for the TINSTAAFWN reminder, Q: There is no such thing as a free wireless network.

By: Q

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:31:57 +0000

Amanda…if Cosi, Dunkin Doughnuts, McDonald’s, OpenPark, etc.’s free Wi-Fi is too costly for you, please think about other risks. For one, don’t think that just because you’ve poached an unsecure network doesn’t mean people aren’t watching you. With all the software out there, more people than you’d realize KNOW that you’ve connected to their network. Worse off…to go with your conspiracy theories, there are people who will intentionally set up open Wi-Fi networks for the purposes of illegally connecting and stealing “poachers” data.

Remember that if you are connecting to an unsecure network, you can also be connected to unsecurely. Don’t rely on Windows OS to save you either.

The cheaper alternative is to do tethering. You got a cell phone right? Outside of Verizon, Sprint, AT&T’s expensive data plans, there is software out there to still make use of the connection sans the monthly fee.

I suggest that you use this as an alternative, as everything that seems to be free truly isn’t.

By: Paul M. Davis

Paul M. Davis — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:02:29 +0000

Thanks for the link. I recently moved, have been procrastinating on the two hour phone call with AT&T that awaits me when I move service over, and have been fortunate enough to live near an open network I can poach. You totally called the conspiracy theory thing, every time I’ve done this I’ve come up with countless spurious theories on ways to improve the connection. As far as I can tell, none of them are actually based in truth, but they’re certainly a diversion when you’re living without a persistent Internet connection.