Comments on: Going Wireless

By: Puu

Puu — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:44:13 +0000

A little behind on my feeds… sorry! In Germany, it is required to protect wireless networks. As The Rover mentioned, if someone uses your connection to commit illegal activities (watch out RIAA!), you are responsible. Oh, it is also illegal not to lock your car. If someone steals it, you are s.o.l…

Just my belated 2 cents. :P

By: josh

josh — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:29:47 +0000

Thanks, pal! Someone else sent me that link, too. Definitely something to think about.

By: The Rover

The Rover — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:51:47 +0000

http://lifehacker.com/5086890/share-your-wireless-network-with-the-neighborhood

By: josh

josh — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:13:38 +0000

Thanks for all the advice and tips! The router (Netgear WGR614L) arrived yesterday, and I set it up last night. For the moment, I’ve got it locked (WPA), although I not really all that worried about people nicking our wireless that much. We live on a side street in the ‘burbs, and there are 2 or 3 unlocked signals in the neighborhood already. But I’m leaving it locked for now. I may change that later, though.

By: The Rover

The Rover — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:58:28 +0000

I will second Tomato firmware. If you want more info, gizmodo.com and lifehacker.com both have great reviews with comments about it.

By: Jason Griffey

Jason Griffey — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:41:23 +0000

Well, my wifi is open and broadcasting the SSID. I decided to use Quality of Service settings to make all my MAC addresses the highest priority for bandwidth, while leaving anyone connecting from ouside getting really, really slow speeds. Fine for email checking, death for bittorrent or p2p. It also lets me do things like prioritize my VOIP higher than Tivo downloads on the fly, and the router adjusts automagically when you pick up the phone. Is awesome.

I’m using a Linksys WRTG54L, with the Tomato firmware on it. Lets you do all sorts of fun things you can’t do out of the box.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:32:36 +0000

If you do leave the wireless open (I don’t know your beliefs, but I suspect I probably agree with you) just make sure that any computers in your house are not “sharing” on the network. Your iTunes libraries, for example, might be set to share over the network. But you prob’ly already knew that. :-)

By: Greg Schwartz

Greg Schwartz — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:32:39 +0000

We use MAC filtering, which is definitely on the closed end of the spectrum.

By: The Rover

The Rover — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:44:29 +0000

I love the idea of free wireless. That being said, if your neighbor uses it for illegal activity, you are the one who will be held responsible. You might want to contact your cable provider and see if they have provisions for people who leave their network unencrypted, like coffee shops and such.

By: DaddyMan

DaddyMan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:39:57 +0000

We do what John does. That was it doesn’t matter what’s trying to connect to it, it makes it easier not having to set up security features. And if you want on the network, we’ve got to tell you the SSID.