I Love Our Island Time PC WIFI Antenna

[sww914]

This thing just works wonders. I have 4 signals on my laptop antenna, 7 on my Alfa with the rubber duckie stuck inside of a window, and 57 (57!) signals on the Island Time antenna. The signal that I'm currently using is downloading at 3 times the speed that I had when I had DSL in our house. Installation was quite straightforward and because it uses a cat5e cable instead of USB it works perfectly with the router that we already had so our whole boat is a hotspot.
Money well spent!
I wrote a funny story about the installation on our blog, read the post entitled Stop Banging Janelle at Landfall Voyages

[netplus1]

Originally Posted by sww914

This thing just works wonders. I have 4 signals on my laptop antenna, 7 on my Alfa with the rubber duckie stuck inside of a window, and 57 (57!) signals on the Island Time antenna. The signal that I'm currently using is downloading at 3 times the speed that I had when I had DSL in our house. Installation was quite straightforward and because it uses a cat5e cable instead of USB it works perfectly with the router that we already had so our whole boat is a hotspot.
Money well spent!
I wrote a funny story about the installation on our blog, read the post entitled Stop Banging Janelle at Landfall Voyages

Not to start anything, but can't you be prosecuted for using someone else's wireless? I'm pretty sure you can in some areas and many people don't realize that. You can't say well they should have put on a password because that's like saying well you should have locked your door. It's one thing to connect to a purposefully open wifi network, but a different matter connecting to a private one.

[sww914]

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.

[bstreep]

We also LOVE our Island Time PC Wifi. Bob's support is just plain fantastic.

[netplus1]

Originally Posted by sww914

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.

That's one way to look at it, although if prosecuted similar to hacking or unauthorized access, it could be considered a felony. Smidge above jaywalking. : )
Another is that you tap into a neighbor's wifi who is on a 4g mobile broadband plan and fire up Netflix. Any idea how much you would cost that person in a short period of time?

So I was just curious what other people's take was on this. It seems to be more and more accepted as ok, even though in reality it could stick someone else with the bill for bandwidth charges.

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by netplus1

Not to start anything, but can't you be prosecuted for using someone else's wireless? I'm pretty sure you can in some areas and many people don't realize that. You can't say well they should have put on a password because that's like saying well you should have locked your door. It's one thing to connect to a purposefully open wifi network, but a different matter connecting to a private one.

if the signal is unlocked how are you to know it is not purposely unlocked? How are you to know that it is not from a local cafe? Many free wifi locales dont have a name that coordinates with their business?

i believe all mobiles and mobile dongles are secured as well? So that would not be a normally occuring issue?

[netplus1]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

if the signal is unlocked how are you to know it is not purposely unlocked? How are you to know that it is not from a local cafe? Many free wifi locales dont have a name that coordinates with their business?

i believe all mobiles and mobile dongles are secured as well? So that would not be a normally occuring issue?

Not saying you would know. Just curious what other's thoughts were about this. Open mobile access may not be the norm but definitely possible. All depends on what the user who set it up was doing or attempting to do. Is it "shame on him/her" because of not knowing what they were doing? Also, a lot of places charge by usage. Even Comcast has a 250mb cap.

There was a guy prosecuted in 2007 for sitting outside a cafe checking his email. Have read about others saying that it's fine if you are sitting inside the cafe but not outside. Probably be why they would have signs up saying wireless for customers only.
This whole topic will probably one day follow the likes of guns on boats, best anchor, and if Hunter's are "blue water" boats.

[s/vPainkiller]

My thinking has always been if the internet signal is not PW protected, then they don't care who is using it. Maybe that is self-serving, but it helps me sleep at night. If it's a business's wifi signal, we often patronize them to "pay" for our usage since that is why they have it. However, hacking into a secure system is another matter entirely, and would be considered unethical and even criminal by most standards.

FWIW, most of the wifi signals we've been able to glom off of while cruising don't have enough bandwidth for streaming video. I probably wouldn't do that anyway from someone else's signal.

Scott

[sww914]

FYI, the signal that I'm on is one belonging to a very very expensive hotel that has 5 routers and it's mid-week so they're not exactly full right now, I doubt that it's bothering anyone. I'm not willing to download entire seasons of HDTV shows on networks named jones family or something like that, that would suck for them.

[Galdarol]

Originally Posted by netplus1

Not to start anything, but can't you be prosecuted for using someone else's wireless? I'm pretty sure you can in some areas and many people don't realize that. You can't say well they should have put on a password because that's like saying well you should have locked your door. It's one thing to connect to a purposefully open wifi network, but a different matter connecting to a private one.

You could be. It's extremely unlikely. The polite pirate does not hog bandwidth, nor kick someone off their own wifi.
There are also ways to track down those who use such things.

I actually harden my individual computers, but allow the router to be used by others--until they become obnoxious.

[netplus1]

Originally Posted by Galdarol

You could be. It's extremely unlikely. The polite pirate does not hog bandwidth, nor kick someone off their own wifi.
There are also ways to track down those who use such things.

I actually harden my individual computers, but allow the router to be used by others--until they become obnoxious.

Not being a bandwidth pig seems to be the general way it's thought about. I'm not leaning one way or the other and have not been "out there" yet, but it's something I have been wondering about when I do and being able to sleep at night. : ) I've been in I.T a long time and seen a lot of mistakes. We had a rep run up a $4000 bill with Vzw by being on a cruise and not realizing he was roaming as well as broadcasting an open network from his laptop. It happens.

[sww914]

I should add that there is a public wifi network that I could pay for here, it's $20.00 a day or $99.00 a month. Too rich for my no income blood and I think THAT'S piracy anyway.

[denverd0n]

Technically speaking, yes, you could be prosecuted for using someone else's private wifi, even if they do not have it protected in any way. It's called theft of services. And, yes, the legal principle is the same as walking into someone's house and then trying to claim that you aren't guilty of any crime because they didn't lock the front door. The prosecutor would argue that you knew, or should have known, that it was not open to the public. (This is, of course, assuming they don't set their SSID to something like "free to the public" or "welcome to my network", in which case, how could you know?)

So then the question becomes, if you aren't hurting anyone by being a bandwidth hog, is it really such a bad thing to do? Or is it more like driving a couple of miles per hour over the speed limit, rolling through a stop sign when you can clearly see that there is no conflicting traffic, or even just jaywalking?

In many ways, the question is one that comes up here often. Is there really any harm in U.S. citizens sailing to Cuba? What's wrong with making a little money in a foreign country, even if you don't have the proper visas and permits? And so on. In the end, only you can decide what your conscience will allow you to do. The one comment I would make is, no fair whining about it if you get caught and have to pay the piper. If you're not willing to man-up to the consequences, then don't take the chance.

[Blissopia]

Originally Posted by sww914

This thing just works wonders. I have 4 signals on my laptop antenna, 7 on my Alfa with the rubber duckie stuck inside of a window, and 57 (57!) signals on the Island Time antenna. The signal that I'm currently using is downloading at 3 times the speed that I had when I had DSL in our house. Installation was quite straightforward and because it uses a cat5e cable instead of USB it works perfectly with the router that we already had so our whole boat is a hotspot.
Money well spent!
I wrote a funny story about the installation on our blog, read the post entitled Stop Banging Janelle at Landfall Voyages

Thanks for your post. This is perfect timing. We just moved our boat to its new home and last night we realized that we are just out of normal wifi range. I will give Island Time a call today.

[netplus1]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Technically speaking, yes, you could be prosecuted for using someone else's private wifi, even if they do not have it protected in any way. It's called theft of services. And, yes, the legal principle is the same as walking into someone's house and then trying to claim that you aren't guilty of any crime because they didn't lock the front door. The prosecutor would argue that you knew, or should have known, that it was not open to the public. (This is, of course, assuming they don't set their SSID to something like "free to the public" or "welcome to my network", in which case, how could you know?)

I realized after starting the conversation that this wasn't the place and should have been in it's own thread. Then again, maybe people that don't realize that there could possibly be repercussions will know. It wouldn't be in your best interest to connect and leave it connected for an extended period of time. It also wouldn't be a good idea to have your pc named svmyboat, you know? Hi look at me!!?? : ) That one is probably not the best idea period, even if connecting to a public network. Hello, yes I do have a pc on board?

I guess word would travel fast, but I would be more concerned about a government that decides hey, we can make some money here because people are doing this..... Stranger things have happened.

Honestly, the people selling them should have some sort of disclaimer if they do not already, just so people know. I'm guessing many have no clue and wouldn't unless they were in the industry or read a lot.