i have connected to my next doors wireless

happenstance

Rex_Mundi wrote:

There are a lot of ISPs now with strict download limits. If you go over your limit, you pay for extra GBs. Some of the limits are extremely low (IMHO). Look at Madasafish and their 5GB deal. As soon as you go over this limit in a month, you are charged for each extra GB. Even Zen now don't offer unlimited deals to new customers. Depending on the deal you take, you have either a 20GB, or 50GB limit (downloads only, not counting uploads). As soon as you go over these limits, they charge you for each extra GB. There are even some ISPs with deals limited to as low as 1GB to 2GB a month before you pay extra for more downloads.

So using a neighbours wireless network could very much cost them extra money each month depending on their ISP, and the deal they are on.

Really? Sounds like i need to brush up on my ISP knowledge, haven’t even heard of the two you mention there, piggybacking off others networks? Guess that’s the trade off with reducing broadband prices. So much for the advance of iptv.

Rex_Mundi

happenstance wrote:

Really? Sounds like i need to brush up on my ISP knowledge, haven’t even heard of the two you mention there, piggybacking off others networks? Guess that’s the trade off with reducing broadband prices. So much for the advance of iptv.

Certainly not a VISP in the case of Zen. They are a premium price, top quality ISP with their own BT centrals (with many awards to attest to the service they offer). They are probably one of the top quality ISPs in the UK.

Zen were one of the last true unlimited suppliers (no limits, no throttling, no bandwidth shaping). They shocked a lot of people when they announced that they would not offer unlimited anymore. I am still on my unlimited 2Mb connection with them. I've been offered a free upgrade to 8Mb with the limits, but have chosen to stay unlimited (with no restrictions at all).

A big part of the reason for limits/shaping on networks is the way that BTW charge ISPs. Not only does an ISP have to pay BT each month for each connection on their network, they pay extra for the bandwidth used. As you can see, this could make it very difficult to offer unlimited anymore, as this could cost an ISP too much money to stay profitable.

arriva

dickibobboy wrote: »

well i sat in the room today and my wireless would not connect so had a look and it said it is because there is one or more networks in the area, so i clickd on the other one and i connected i can use the internet. its only connected at 11mbps, do you think i should go round and tell them to secure it? that would be better to?

log into their router 192.168.x.x., set a password then give it to them.

mttylad

They may well have done - 4+ years ago!

Hammyman

dickibobboy wrote: »

i thought that it may come in handy, is my ip is down or anything, i may just leave it, his fault if i connect to it

You're committing an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. People have been prosecuted for connecting to unsecured wifi without the owners consent.

http://www.silicon.com/management/cio-insights/2005/07/22/wireless-network-hijacker-found-guilty-39150672/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/6565079.stm
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/10/31/lincolnshire-boy-arrested-over-wifi-theft/1
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/21/wi_fi_squatting_arrests/