Money Moral Dilemma: Is it cheeky to ask to 'rent' my neighbour's Wi-Fi?

evans_wayne

Change your network Wifi name to 'rent me' and include your mobile number. job done

worried_jim

evans_wayne wrote: »

Change your network Wifi name to 'rent me' and include your mobile number. job done

I'll have to change mine from "foxtrot Oscar buy your own".

takman

One thing that people are not considering is what else the neighbors have connected to their home network. If I gave someone access to my network they wouldn't just have access to the Internet they would also have access to all the files on my shared drive!. Plus they would have some access to other devices i have connected.

So if someone said no it probably isn't just a case of them being unfair!.

ellie666

as most routers - even domestic ones now allow you to setup a guest network, which will have no access to any other devices on your network, then I don't see it being an issue.
I set Guest networks up all the time for companies so that visitors have internet but no access to things they shouldn't have.

of course you/they are almost definitely breaking their isp's t's & c's

drmouse

It's a tough one, actually.

On the surface, it seems reasonable to ask: If you don't ask, you don't get. It's unlikely to have a negative impact on the neighbour, and many would just say "go ahead" for a short while while you move in.

However, remember that most people are not tech savvy enough to understand the risks. Being on their wifi, in many cases, will put you on their network. If you chose to abuse it, you could probably access private data or do other malicious things. In addition, any "bad stuff" you did online would be traced back to their house. If they are unaware of these risks, then you are taking advantage (IMHO).

On top of this, you need to think about your own safety. Again, you will be on their network, and without adequate security measures they could, potentially, have the same access to your personal data as you have to theirs. Also, if someone in their house did "bad stuff", they could point out that they were allowing you to use their Wifi so it could be you.

There are other concerns, but I won't go into them. Overall, though, I would suggest that it's not a good idea unless the neighbour is technically literate and sets the Wifi up for sharing correctly, AND you are technically literate enough to protect your own gear.

Sweetpea69

I've just moved house and had to wait for my WiFi to be up and running. I paid for five days of BT WiFi and used that - the signal in this village is rubbish so wasn't very good, but it was enough to do what I needed until mine was connected. I wouldn't want to connect to the neighbour's WiFi for the reasons stated by others above.

teddysmum

I wouldn't share mine, especially with someone I didn't know. Even in the case of a 'friend' (we've had one deserving of the ' ' ), there could be someone you don't know (eg visitor or babysitter) who would also have access.


People have mentioned going into houses and drilling holes in walls, to share internet, but in these days of wifi all you have to do is give the person your router details.

Andylynne

Brilliant excuse for meeting your neighbours. I think sharing is a wonderful idea. I like the idea of helping each other. We may not have extra money so go back to old fashioned barter.

takman

Sweetpea69 wrote: »

I've just moved house and had to wait for my WiFi to be up and running. I paid for five days of BT WiFi and used that - the signal in this village is rubbish so wasn't very good, but it was enough to do what I needed until mine was connected. I wouldn't want to connect to the neighbour's WiFi for the reasons stated by others above.

Do you mean BT Fon? because that is usijg someone else's wifi. As a default each BT router has it activated which allows other people to access their wifi for a fee (or free if your a BT customer).

So this is a good option if the neighbor has a BT router.

thedon

You should only share internet access with someone you absolutely trust. If they are tech savvy enough they can capture and see all of your internet traffic, and also anything shared on that wifi network.

Online banking and other secure (green padlock in browser address bar) should be pretty secure, but even websites with 2 factor authentication can be "hacked" with a "man in the middle" attack by someone with access to your network and freely available tools.

Some of the older encryptions used by secure websites have now been broken and shouldn't be trusted any more (SSL and TLS 1.0)

a simple example case is someone hacks your email then starts working though your online shopping accounts to reset the passwords, collect the new password from your email account, and starts spending.

Or perhaps you keep a list of passwords in an excel spreadsheet on your nas drive etc.

The other person would have to be tech savvy and malicious to do this, but as you don't know them, do you want to take a chance?