So, my upstairs neighbor just left a note on my door...

[merwin]

"Hi, I live upstairs and receive a wireless Internet signal of 'merwin'. If this is your signal and are interested, I would like to pay a monthly portion of your bill for the password."

That's the LAST thing I was expecting on my door :-) However, I do live in Redmond, WA (home of Microsoft... largest per capita population of computer geeks in the world i think).

I dunno... I guess I can just lock down my computers a bit more and let 'em in :-) I could use the extra money.

[TrogL]

1. What's the range on one of those things?

My wife lives across the alley and the kids just lost their internet AGAIN because she didn't pay the bill.

I've got line of sight from one bedroom window to another.

[Renew Deal]

3. Technically about 300 feet.

But that's without obstructions. They can usually cover a normal size house completely.

[the_spectator]

19. Hmm.

"My wife lives across the alley... I've got line of sight from one bedroom window to another." :wtf:

How did you end up living so close after the divorce? That's a bad situation. That particular "line of sight" can only cause a world of hurt for both of you. :scared: Move, man!

The REST of this thread I don't understand at all... :crazy:

[Renew Deal]

2. Change the password on your router before you give him access.

Most people don't chnage their default password. :evilgrin:

[LastKnight]

4. i wouldnt do that.

if hes into anything freaky/illegal... it will be traced to YOUR internet account, and while it would probably be sorted out but it would be alot of confusion and frustration and has the possibility to land you in a bit of trouble.

[Corey_Baker08]

6. I was thinking the exact same thing...Also

Credit, Debit or other cards numbers may be stolen. or even things as simple as your email may easily be viewed or your social security number stolen....


Just way to risky and invasion of your privacy

[LastKnight]

8. i hadnt thought about the ID theft thing.

thats a very real possibility.

[merwin]

10. Everything we do that is even remotely sensitive is done either over

https or ssh. So that's not a problem. Besides, they're nice people :-)

[BeTheChange]

11. How's he gonna steal your credit card numbers?

He'd have to put a packet sniffer outside of his access point. You could probably steal his tho :) (JK of course)

[BikeWriter]

16. I will second or third this. Too risky.

[burrowowl]

5. Well!

Hey, he'll pay a portion of your bill, nice guy.
Do change password and don't give password, fix it so he is only a user with no Admin privileges and hope he is not into downloading child porn or something.

[merwin]

12. He won't need privileges for anything... he's just getting on my wireless

internet. Just needs the password to the SSID. They definately don't seem like the child porn type to me though :-)

[obxhead]

7. better think about that.

you should at least make them a seperate user name. Remember it's YOUR name on the account.

[BeTheChange]

9. Restrict him by mac address

you wouldnt have to provide him any password. I mean, you could do a wep key.. but whatever, those are worthless. If you have a home network, I would disable it or password protect it.. if not, just make sure file and print sharing is off and lock down requests coming from the router assigned ip address.

[merwin]

15. a MAC address can be spoofed relatively easy though.

[BeTheChange]

18. And I can sit outside of your house and pull your SSID out with several..

progs.. Then when I connect to your network, with enough futzing around, if you dont have a good firewall.. I can get access to your systems.. (I say I anonymously.. I do not endorse hacking)

Nothing is perfect when it comes to wireless, but even though macs can be spoofed, if the user spoofs their mac from inside the network, they will never be able to get out. And it would take weeks if not longer for someone to figure out which address to spoof from outside.

Do whatcha want.. obviously. That's just been my experience as to the best solution with the current technology available to most end users.

[merwin]

21. What do you think about WPA as opposed to WEP?

[BeTheChange]

23. Is there a Radius anywhere in this hypothesis?

And does the firmware for your Accesspoint support AES and TKIP?

I mean, I guess, bottom line the Michael algorithim used with WPA as well as TKIP is more secure then WEP if all your hardware supports it. However, all these new bells and whistles can effect thoroughput.

Not you, but people in general seem scared that some big boogeyman is going to come attack your wireless system. The best advice in that scenario is to become friends with firewall software.

I dunno if you have secret CIA information on your system, or what.. but for the average user you dont really have to worry about miscellaneous hackers skulking around in the dead of night with their handy dandy laptops ready to steal all your kids photos and those recipes you have saved for potato casserole for the 4th of july picnic. WEP is probably fine. Im just a security snob.

But, lets be real here.. this guy isnt Linus Torvald.. or else he would have already hacked into your connection. You wouldn't have a note on your door. Im kind of of the mind that if the guy lives upstairs from you and wants to split the cost.. what the hey? If he downloads illegal music and Lars busts in with the RIAA then you dont have it on your machine. He lives right upstairs so, its not like he isnt trackable. Its all about how much trust you want to extend to someone to use the connection responsibly.

[merwin]

24. That's how I feel as well :)

[cprise]

13. Make sure you have a good firewall/router

...on the outside connection so the ISP can't tell there's several computers.

[BeTheChange]

14. If he/she uses a Wireless acess point router

with Nat it shouldnt be a problem. Besides, if one is worried about getting in trouble for possible illegal activity online, it would actually be good that the isp could see the mac of the system preforming the actions.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. Could the person distribute spam with your bandwith? Download or

distribute porn with your bandwith? Could they use it to do illegal filesharing that could result in you being sued?

[BeTheChange]

20. Not if they locked down the right ports..

I mean, there are a couple things that can get by with 80.

[Skittles]

22. I think the guy is probably on the up and up

but I still would not do it

[Xithras]

25. Check your AUP. If caught you could lose your broadband.

Most broadband providers have clauses in their use policies that specifically prohibit reselling their services. If things don't work out between you two and the guy wants to be a prick, he could cost you your connection.

Also remember that anything he does online will be traced back to you. If the guy's into kiddy porn and the police start tracing transactions, it's going to be your word against his about who really did it, and the police are going to place the responsibility on you since the connection is yours.

Finally, keep in mind that sharing a connection can really suck, depending on the speed. If the guy decides to grab a DVD quallity torrent of some new movie, your connection could slow to a crawl for hours while his files download.

That said, I do have to applaud the guy for asking. My 1.5Mb DSL connection is fast enough for just about everything I do, but I have to admit that I occasionally switch over to my neighbors unsecured wireless LAN to take advantage of his 10Mbit cable when I'm downloading something really big. He has no idea that I do it :)

[merwin]

26. I would put it more like:

He's paying for the use of my wireless router :-) The internet just comes with it. heh.