RichardS
N/A
Where we're concerned, that chance would be a 100% guaranteed certainty. :encouragement:
Richard
Free wifi
- Thread starter sailaboutvic
- Start date
Where we're concerned, that chance would be a 100% guaranteed certainty. :encouragement:
Richard
dgadee
Well-Known Member
It is illegal in the UK, see e.g. www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/25/uk_war_driver_fined/
In other countries it is not. Not sure about EU but think not.
In other countries it is not. Not sure about EU but think not.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
That was someone using a private individual's wifi permission. It could be very difficult to prove lack of permission in the case of a business offering free wifi to its customers. "I had a drink there and got the code then".
dgadee
Well-Known Member
Maybe that's why few cases ever appear in the literature. But it's still theft, in my view.
I used to do it myself when I was at my mother's and had no internet access, to be honest. Or not be honest.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Isn't this rather like going into a cafe (or especially a Wetherspoons) to use the lavatory without buying anything?
If it becomes a problem for the proprietor, he will do something to stop it.
If it becomes a problem for the proprietor, he will do something to stop it.
dgadee
Well-Known Member
Isn't this rather like going into a cafe (or especially a Wetherspoons) to use the lavatory without buying anything?
If it becomes a problem for the proprietor, he will do something to stop it.
No, there's a criminal law against unauthorised computer access. No [edit: criminal] law, to my knowledge, against unauthorised toilet access.
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laika
Well-Known Member
uk computer law is hardly fit for purpose and section 125 of the communications act is typically wooly. No-one can be seriously saying that anyone's ever going to be hauled before the beak for piggybacking on a bar's wifi using a password not provided by the proprietor or someone authorised to supply it.
The OP however takes great offence at the suggestion that piggybacking is illegal, that in any case sitting on your boat and using wifi from a nearby bar is practically impossible:
And that he only uses this app for the reviews of the wifi not the passwords.
dgadee
Well-Known Member
No he doesn't. He gets the passwords from the App. That's the whole point of it.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
I wasn't thinking of the legality of it but of the discourtesy of using something not intended for my use. But if I got taken short, I'd use the bog and perhaps buy something if it was a small cafe but I would have no hesitation in using Wetherspoons or a department stores facilities.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
All you need is a high gain USB antenna and it's amazing how good a signal you can get at ... oops, sorry, forgot what I was going to say.
laika
Well-Known Member
The OP was quite offended at the suggestion that he uses passwords without first obtaining permission and buying something:
laika
Well-Known Member
This thread seems to have caused some upset so can we just end it with a summary like Is it legal? Probably not in a lot of places. Will you get into trouble doing it? No. Does anyone even care if you do it? No. Does anyone believe people buy Playboy for the stories? Well if they say they do we can but give them the benefit of the doubt....
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Of course I would not dream of using one of these but, purely for the sake of interest, is there one you can recommend?
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Of course I would not dream of using one of these but, purely for the sake of interest, is there one you can recommend?
If I were to recommend one, based on rumour, hearsay and not personal experience - heaven forfend - it would be the Alfa Tube-U Wifi dongle (available for thirty quid from Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/TUBE-U-150Mbp-2-4GHz-Outdoor-Connector/dp/B00OZQT9EI) plus the Alfa AOA-2409TF antenna, which is another twenty quid or so (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Antenna-AOA-2409TF-2-4GHz-Outdoor-Female/dp/B00MFKXSQG).
Word on the street is that from a mooring in the bay at Port Bannatyne it picks up over thirty domestic and business wifi networks when a laptop can see none, and it turns the visitors' wifi at Crinan Boats from a nominal thing to something which actually works well on their visitor moorings. And that, so I hear, is with it dangling from the boom. Goodness knows what it would do if hoisted to the spreaders.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I shan't say you told me. Mum's the word.
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
Well said JD But bewhere there are some who will still try and find something in your posting to make an argument out of .
dgadee
Well-Known Member
I was doing this in NY only a couple of weeks ago (into Starbucks without buying their horrible products) but in Europe why would you bother? I have unlimited data on my phone throughout Europe for £25 a month. I probably don't really use that much data anyway, so you could get away with less costly packages.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
I find that in most places where I can get mobile broadband and wifi, mobile broadband wins hands down. If I had a high-gain wifi dongle, it would spend almost all its time down the side of a quarter berth while a cheap mifi-thingy with external aerial did almost all the work.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Owners of pubs MUST allow public use of their toilets, I understand.
dgadee
Well-Known Member
https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk...t-non-paying-customers-use-your-pub-s-toilets
Not according to the 'legal expert' at the bottom of this link.
