Does anybody else allow their neighbours to use their wifi?

Jacks_xxx

macman wrote: »

Adjoining flats are still 'separate properties' in every other sense of the word, certainly legally and fiscally. A row of terraces are all 'adjoining', but are you suggesting that they are one property from the point of view of a telcom contract?

Thanks for replying

I'm not sure how they define the limitations on a telecom contract given that wifi is self limiting anyway. That's why I'm asking the questions.

If my daughter uses our WiFi in the street outside, or at our neighbours house would that be breaking the terms of our contract?

If her friends use it in our house, would that be breaking the terms of our contract?

Is the limit geographical, decided by individual dwellings like council tax, up to the bill payer, or is the number of users restricted?

People in flats each pay their share of repairs etc, why not share bills where possible?

I know pubs and hotels with many live in staff who all use the one WiFi connection - are they breaking the terms of their contract?

What about houses where people rent rooms? Do you need a contract per room?

I'm going to have to find and read our contract aren't I? :eek:

brewerdave

FORGET about your ISP's view of network sharing as per contract terms - far more important are your exposures to risk by sharing your network- in order of increasing importance:-
1. Your neighbours use all your allowed bandwidth - either you get limited d/l speeds or your ISP charges you.
2. One of your neighbours gets infected with a virus and your own firewall/AV product misses it.
or 3. One of your neighbours downloads something dodgy eg kiddie !!!!!! - results in a midnight raid by lots of men in blue uniforms and the confiscation of all your PCs - and a permanent stain on your record !!!
Just not worth it!!!!!!

kwikbreaks

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks View Post
It looks like that particular genie is already out of the bottle in the case of the OP...

Lunacy IMO but perhaps I'm just a cynical, grumpy old git. That is to say even more of a cynical grumpy old git than I already know I am

What amazes me is the general level of paranoia generally shown here about having the best AV together with firewalls and "internet security" suites yet several posters seem quite happy to allow others onto their home network.

Lunacy why? Thanks for posting.

If you seriously have to ask that question after all the reasoned objections put forward in this thread to disclosing your WiFi password to neighbours then all I can say is do just what you like and on your head be it.

juliand

If you allow others to access your WiFi Hotspot you are effectively acting as an ISP and bound by the same rules.

You should have 100% trust in your neighbours technical abilities and understanding of what is appropriate on the Internet. If they abused the service in anyway - you would be responsible.

No-one should leave the WiFi Connection open for anyone to use.

This Wifi Hotspots provider has some useful information http://www.wififoundation.org/legal/

Jacks_xxx

Thanks everybody for posting, I really appreciate all of you taking the time. I've taken them all on board I promise.

Regarding the lunacy Kwikbreaks, I just wanted a bit of clarification really.

I wasn't sure if you meant for other reasons not already mentioned at that time, since many of them are either statistically pretty unlikely or can be guarded against.

A lot of people's first reaction is that it's a crazy idea, but when they think about it they start trying to figure out the issues and some decide it's not so crazy after all.

I just want to reiterate once again, that I'm talking about allowing a couple of specific people to use our WiFi - not a free for all.

I didn't want to give specifics really but..

One is a bright teenager who is falling behind at school because of not having internet access at home. They don't write assignments on the blackboard to be copied down these days, and hand in handwritten pages. The kids look up their homework on the school website, write it in Word, and email it in. The teacher doesn't hand out sheets to read, or reading lists - she puts them up on the school website.

The other is a family who are struggling due to redundancy. Job hunting after a long day working several low paid jobs is just easier in your own home. If they had the money for internet cafes they could afford their own connection, and the library is over subscribed, time limited, not open all the time and a bus ride away. And if they could afford bus fares... Getting stuff on freecycle isn't realistic unless they can check email at home. Getting on MSE is really useful too isn't it?

Basically, I have strong beliefs about people being disenfranchised, and disadvantaged by not having internet access and this is me thinking about putting my money where my mouth is. (on a very tiny scale.)

I have one really small question left.

Internet cafes, public places with free WiFi and libraries must be taking all the same risks we've talked about. Why can't I just do whatever they do to protect themselves?

iwb100

I would never ever ever ever, give out a password to my router to neighbours or friends.

Even people you know well, you have absolutely no idea what they'll do with it. No control who they pass it on to, where they leave it, how they use it.

I'm not a network or computer expert, I know enough to get by, but this just seems absolute madness.
Its a nice thing to do and all, but just completely and utterly bonkers to think its a good idea.

But you seem determined to do it despite all the advice to the contrary so.........

Jacks_xxx

iwb100 wrote: »

I would never ever ever ever, give out a password to my router to neighbours or friends.

Even people you know well, you have absolutely no idea what they'll do with it. No control who they pass it on to, where they leave it, how they use it.

I'm not a network or computer expert, I know enough to get by, but this just seems absolute madness.
Its a nice thing to do and all, but just completely and utterly bonkers to think its a good idea.

But you seem determined to do it despite all the advice to the contrary so.........

Well... I've got to get the idea past my inhouse techies first, and confess that one of them already has one of our laptops and has been doing this for a little while... :eek::o

juliand

Jacks_xxx wrote: »

Internet cafes, public places with free WiFi and libraries must be taking all the same risks we've talked about. Why can't I just do whatever they do to protect themselves?

You can! They use special systems that make them legally compliant.

The company I mentioned earlier, for example, sell their legally compliant WiFi Hotspots for £100 http://www.wififoundation.org/join-us/

Another cheap legally compliant system is BT Fon - http://www.btfon.com/promos/btbjend?partner=btfonjoin
They sell theirs for £29.95

BT Fon give you access to other BT Fon hotpots for free, but they sell people access to use yours.
WiFi Foundation is free for anyone, but they give you the email addresses of the people that use it.

There are others; there is a list of them on the WiFi Foundation website under "useful links"

wilykit

Never. We pay for it so why should they use it! And if they downloaded films or anything illegally then we would be responsible for it!

Jacks_xxx

juliand wrote: »

You can! They use special systems that make them legally compliant.

The company I mentioned earlier, for example, sell their legally compliant WiFi Hotspots for £100 http://www.wififoundation.org/join-us/

Another cheap legally compliant system is BT Fon - http://www.btfon.com/promos/btbjend?partner=btfonjoin
They sell theirs for £29.95

BT Fon give you access to other BT Fon hotpots for free, but they sell people access to use yours.
WiFi Foundation is free for anyone, but they give you the email addresses of the people that use it.

There are others; there is a list of them on the WiFi Foundation website under "useful links"

:jThanks ever so much! That's fantastic! :T:T:T

There's a young single mothers hostel, 3 homeless shelters and and a women's refuge locally all without internet access and I've been thinking about donating a years internet access to one of them and fundraising for the rest.

That info will be really helpful. Cheers.