Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 01-05-2012, 20:16   #16
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Brisbane Australia
Boat: Islander 36
Posts: 19
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Quote:
Originally Posted by sww914 View Post
I'm not worried about that. I have way bigger problems and I break better laws than that every day. I jaywalked several times yesterday and I also smoked closer than 20 feet from a store doorway. I let the dog run off of her leash for a few minutes as well. I am a bad person. An outlaw. A hooligan.
Anyway, I can only find evidence of 2 people having been prosecuted for stealing wifi on the first 2 pages of google results so it must be fact.

I'm with you, nowdays if its free grab it while u can all our couriers have special places all over brisbane where they sit and have access to free internet via wifi, could be classed as theft I suppose, if you see $10.00 laying in the street do you hand it into the local police?? yeah right course you do
wayina is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2012, 20:55   #17
Senior Cruiser
 
atoll's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: gettin naughty on the beach in cornwall
Boat: 63 custom alloy sloop,macwester26,prout snowgoose 37 elite catamaran!
Posts: 10,594
Images: 75
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

there was a thread last year about some cruisers in a remote part of mexico or guatamala,posted by the irate owner of the wifi.

apparently the cruisers were able to log on and use the system that was hooked up to his sattelite phone system,costing about $2 a minute to run!

not a happy bunny,he had a very low opinion of cruisers after he got a bill for a few thousand dollars..........................

i think if i remember correctly it was a wildlife charity in guatamala that had the system set up so visiting biologists could report in from the field!
it was also used for tracking animals,hence the unsecured nature of the system.
atoll is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2012, 21:33   #18
Senior Cruiser
 
bstreep's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Antonio, TX/Bocas del Toro, Panama
Boat: 1990 Macintosh 47, "Merlin"
Posts: 2,844
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

I agree with the "if it's not protected, it's free" position.

That's how I operate. I often have an open wifi on the boat - and I pay for the marina access in my slip fee. But, if the provider (marina, hotel, etc.) have an unprotected wifi, I have no problem repeating it.

So, it comes down to this: If you are PAYING for data by the kb/mb/gb, PROTECT IT.
__________________
Bill Streep
San Antonio, TX (but cruising)
www.janandbill.com
bstreep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2012, 21:55   #19
Registered User

Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 23
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Quote:
Originally Posted by bstreep View Post
I agree with the "if it's not protected, it's free" position.

That's how I operate. I often have an open wifi on the boat - and I pay for the marina access in my slip fee. But, if the provider (marina, hotel, etc.) have an unprotected wifi, I have no problem repeating it.

So, it comes down to this: If you are PAYING for data by the kb/mb/gb, PROTECT IT.
Pretty nice of you to offer out the marina's bandwidth for free. So if the marina presents you a bill for $5k because you used 12 gigs over their 1gig cap, that's ok? Can't pay it, lose your boat. Not everyone knows how to secure their wifi, and mistakes happen. Just like I should have locked my car door but I forgot. That means there's no recourse since it was their fault? Pay the bill and stfu?
netplus1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2012, 22:06   #20
Senior Cruiser
 
bstreep's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Antonio, TX/Bocas del Toro, Panama
Boat: 1990 Macintosh 47, "Merlin"
Posts: 2,844
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Quote:
Originally Posted by netplus1 View Post
Pretty nice of you to offer out the marina's bandwidth for free. So if the marina presents you a bill for $5k because you used 12 gigs over their 1gig cap, that's ok? Can't pay it, lose your boat. Not everyone knows how to secure their wifi, and mistakes happen. Just like I should have locked my car door but I forgot. That means there's no recourse since it was their fault? Pay the bill and stfu?
SERIOUSLY? I mean, our wifi is available to about 3 boats, each direction from us. It's not like I'm broadcasting it at 50,000 watts! THEY ALL GET THE MARINA WIFI FREE WITH THEIR SLIP RENTAL - it's part of the deal. It's just that they can't pick it up well with their built-in wifi antenna. I can pick it up just fine, and repeat it to them.

That's all - I'm not robbing something and then giving it away - we've all paid for it in our slip rentals along with our "free wifi".

But, to answer the other question: If you don't secure your wifi and someone steals it, it IS just like leaving your car unlocked: The cops will tell you "what were you thinking". It's not right, but what did you really expect?
__________________
Bill Streep
San Antonio, TX (but cruising)
www.janandbill.com
bstreep is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2012, 11:28   #21
Registered User
 
SV Demeter's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Cruising Eastern Caribbean
Boat: Taswell 49
Posts: 1,199
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Seriously guys? Here was a nice thread about how wonderful the Island Time WIFI kit is and how great the support from Bob is that has been twisted into some paranoid rant on stealing WIFI signals?

Man take that nonsense to Sailing Anarchy or someplace more appropriat, or at least start a new thread and take the rediculous posts with it.

Bob at Island Time PC has got to be one of the most stand up guys out there. I bought a WIFI kit much like what Bob sells from Sailors Solutions. Got it at the boat show last fall. Got around to installing it this spring and had all sorts of problems getting it to work. The folks at Sailors Solutions were nice enough but clearly were in over their heads and have since stopped selling the kit because of all sorts of support issues. I found Bob here and he worked with me over the phone on weekends and evenings helping me try to get my kit to work even though I had not even purchased it from him. When it became apparent that the kit I had was not going to work Bob sent me a Ubiquity Bullet without charging me. He was happy to help me get my system working and then just bill me for the parts. After all the support online and over the phone and sending me patch cables and a new POE he ended up invoicing me for just the Bullet and the POE. This sort of customer service is simply unheard of these days.

I am so thankful for his support that I have made a point of referring his name and website to every one I can. The guy is truely a gentleman.
SV Demeter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-05-2012, 12:54   #22
Registered User
 
sww914's Avatar

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Punta De Mita
Boat: Vagabond 39 Hull # 1
Posts: 1,842
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

If I catch anyone stealing wifi I'll pull out my gun and shoot them with a Rocna anchor right in the catamaran from my monohull now endorsed by the Bumfuzzles!
Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha, you bunch of Democratic Republicans!
__________________
Steve
https://www.landfallvoyages.com
sww914 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2012, 12:44   #23
Registered User
 
RickD's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Colorado Springs
Boat: Transworld Formosa 41
Posts: 233
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

If I leave my wifi open (which I do, as I'm a ham radio operator and when I'm using it for amateur stuff it can't be encrypted) and someone uses it.... so what? I'm paying for it. If I see someone abuse it, I'll shut it off.

If they do something that puts them out over a radio system other than the wifi - well, if I'm not watching then it's MY problem, not theirs (with the FCC).

If there is a wifi hotspot at the coffee shop and you're sitting there drinking coffee and they didn't ask you to use a password to log in, is that stealing too?

If you're in the bookstore next door shopping and use their wifi, is that stealing?

If I purposely use a long range system to use an inordinate amount of bandwidth downloading porn or hacking into someone's systems to steal money - then maybe there ought to be consequences. But otherwise, if the wifi hotspots are open already then using them is not "illegal" in most places. In fact, it's expected.

Lastly, while I was visiting the Bahama's recently one of the marinas (I won't name them right now) were kind enough to let my wife and I use the wifi for free while in the area. They didn't make us pay. When I offered they refused saying we should be able to get email in and out without having to bother with all that stuff.

I know they don't ALWAYS do that and DO charge normally (but it was right at the beginning of the season). No strings attached, and nothing was required of us. We will use the marina again when we pass through the area too and PAY them for a slip and wifi.

For the record, two of the pubs we visited there had wifi available for customers and others outside used it and they were well aware of this.
__________________
Rick Donaldson, CET, NØNJY

If you survive today, tomorrow will be better.
RickD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2012, 12:45   #24
Registered User
 
RickD's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Colorado Springs
Boat: Transworld Formosa 41
Posts: 233
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Very well said.

Bob has answered several questions to me over the internet and I don't even own one of his systems (yet).



Quote:
Originally Posted by SV Demeter View Post
Seriously guys? Here was a nice thread about how wonderful the Island Time WIFI kit is and how great the support from Bob is that has been twisted into some paranoid rant on stealing WIFI signals?

Man take that nonsense to Sailing Anarchy or someplace more appropriat, or at least start a new thread and take the rediculous posts with it.

Bob at Island Time PC has got to be one of the most stand up guys out there. I bought a WIFI kit much like what Bob sells from Sailors Solutions. Got it at the boat show last fall. Got around to installing it this spring and had all sorts of problems getting it to work. The folks at Sailors Solutions were nice enough but clearly were in over their heads and have since stopped selling the kit because of all sorts of support issues. I found Bob here and he worked with me over the phone on weekends and evenings helping me try to get my kit to work even though I had not even purchased it from him. When it became apparent that the kit I had was not going to work Bob sent me a Ubiquity Bullet without charging me. He was happy to help me get my system working and then just bill me for the parts. After all the support online and over the phone and sending me patch cables and a new POE he ended up invoicing me for just the Bullet and the POE. This sort of customer service is simply unheard of these days.

I am so thankful for his support that I have made a point of referring his name and website to every one I can. The guy is truely a gentleman.
__________________
Rick Donaldson, CET, NØNJY

If you survive today, tomorrow will be better.
RickD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2012, 14:49   #25
Registered User
 
tbodine88's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Austin TX
Boat: Nimble Artic 26
Posts: 948
Images: 5
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Just an observation. I was in a local computer store in Kansas city trying to get a demo of a new computer. They couldn't demo the network, because some one outside was hijacking their signal to download movies or something that took a lot of bandwidth.
tbodine88 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-08-2012, 15:05   #26
Registered User
 
sww914's Avatar

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Punta De Mita
Boat: Vagabond 39 Hull # 1
Posts: 1,842
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

It's been 4 months now and still, nothing but praise for this. At high tide we can receive the signal from another marina that's a little more than 2 miles away.
__________________
Steve
https://www.landfallvoyages.com
sww914 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2012, 16:57   #27
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 44
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

I'm curious what steps those of you who have open wifi systems are doing to protect your systems? That would be my biggest concern. It's not something I would ever do, but if your wifi is open and your computer is on, it wouldn't be too hard for someone in wifi range to get access to your computer, including files and things like website passwords from your internet history.
bgriffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2012, 17:22   #28
Registered User
 
Therapy's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: W Florida
Boat: Still have the 33yo Jon boat. But now a CATAMARAN. Nice little 18' Bay Cat.
Posts: 7,086
Images: 4
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Quote:
Originally Posted by bgriffin View Post
I'm curious what steps those of you who have open wifi systems are doing to protect your systems? That would be my biggest concern. It's not something I would ever do, but if your wifi is open and your computer is on, it wouldn't be too hard for someone in wifi range to get access to your computer, including files and things like website passwords from your internet history.

I will help with the continued thread drift.

I type all my passwords in every time.

Can someone still get them from me?

PS Having read the entire 5 mile wifi thread I am so totally confuse about POEs, CAT this, cat that, cable, dongle (always liked that one ), etc etc. If another boat comes to me my intent is to just pay the man at Island Time , have him help me (retard ) and move to something I know about.
__________________
Who knows what is next.
Therapy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2012, 17:25   #29
Registered User
 
Gene :^)'s Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2008
Boat: 1914 Fantail M.Y. "Strathbelle"
Posts: 229
My Island Time wifi (inline system) from Bob works great and Bob answers emails really fast, great support.

-----

Gene :^)
http://www.Strathbelle.com/
__________________
Gene :^)

1914 Fantail Motor Yacht of Riveted Iron & Steel
https://www.Strathbelle.com
Gene :^) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2012, 18:21   #30
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 44
Re: I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

Quote:
Originally Posted by Therapy View Post
I will help with the continued thread drift.

I type all my passwords in every time.

Can someone still get them from me?
That's like asking how much it costs to liveaboard

The answer could be yes, maybe, or no.

If they happen to be connected to your wifi at that time, and they happen to be pretty well "armed" technically, they can snatch it out of thin air. Chances of that happening? Very slim. Possible? Most definitely. However we're talking fairly sophisticated programs and somebody that probably has the ability to make way more money doing other things besides trying to wipe out cruisers' bank accounts.

Otherwise, if they just randomly connect and you have locked down your PC, no. But you'd have to be pretty locked down.

If they randomly connect and you have NOT locked down your PC? Maybe. And that depends on a lot of things.

I've worked in corporate IT, I'm probably a bit more paranoid than most, but there's no way I would have an unsecured network. Even if I wanted to be nice to my neighbors I would still have it secured and give them the password.
bgriffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
antenna

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 23:08.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.