WiFi

Free your Wifi!

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief March 3, 2007 · 1 min read

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I’ve been talking to several people, especially bloggers about the possibility of this “open source” project. I’d ask them if they have wifi at home and if they freely share that with their neighbors. Most of those I asked tells me they have some sort of encryption and password protection and do not freely share their bandwidth.

While I agree that the network security is an important issue, I still believe in the idea of “pay it forward”. If enough people who have their internet on 24/7 at their homes and establishments and network it wirelessly, everyone else will benefit from this “open source” scheme. If this idea grows and more and more people will share their wireless internet free, life could be easier. :D

Yup, again, I know the repercussions of un-secured networks and all that but I think that ultimately the benefits will outweigh the disadvantages.

So, what do you think?

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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35 Comments

e52 · 16 years ago

Would you lend your car to others? Perhaps your house key laid freely outside your gate? For me I will not share it.It is simply a matter of security and you know how people tend to abuse the things given to them for free.

piCo · 19 years ago

i share mine… i have a ewrt running on my linksys routerAP… all that my neighbors have to do is agree to an “acceptable use policy” and tada… free wifi… i’m almost never home during the day, so what i waste of bandwidth i keep telling myself.

i’m part of http://www.personaltelco.net and so i have that as my SSID too.

sexy mom · 19 years ago

oh, i do share with my neighbor. he asked one of my sons, and we gave him the password. it doesn’t hurt, even if 5 computers are working at the same time. really, i do not mind.

Miguel · 19 years ago

I would love to share in principle, but I think the security concerns are too great.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 19 years ago

It goes both ways.

So, if you go to a cafe and found two Wifi APs — one is free from the next door neighbor and the other one is paid provided by the cafe, would you go and buy prepaid wifi credits instead of using the other one which is free?

This follows the same as logic as the one in #11, that you as a user do not deserve the free wifi and should pay for your own.

Derrick · 19 years ago

I know, im selfish. Who wouldn’t dream about having able to access anywhere for free? But in this country, it will be a very long time till it will be, i think.

Like vance said, how could i possibly share my low bandwidth pool without self-sacrificing? The problem here in this country is that we have costly internet connection plus crappy service which equals to dissatisfaction.

Derrick · 19 years ago

Im not that selfish but nothing in this world is free. So sharing my connection will be a bad idea. I pay for that service, then how could you expect that someone want to share it to others for no charge? I absolutely won’t. If they want Wifi, they should pay their get their own, and importantly, pay their own.

Jaypee · 19 years ago

Joining FON is free but you have to buy the FONERA router worth almost $40. GigaOM was giving away 1,500 of those for free a couple months ago. I was supposed to sign up to get one but changed my mind. Now I regret it. Hehe. :P

Anyways, I checked the FON maps and one is in Shang Tower in Makati.

vance · 19 years ago

I can’t share my wireless network since i’m only using 384 KBps package if i share it pa with my neighbors, I’ll end up with a dial up speed. Ok lang if i have a 5 mbps conection but since I don’t, sorry nalang hehe.

hip2b2 · 19 years ago

let us just say people are naturally shy and don’t want to bother calling. i have a few recommendation in my blog post about this.

jangelo · 19 years ago

I use a WPA key. But my APN is “Contact XXX-XXX-XXXX for access”. So far no one has texted me for access. I doubt my neighbors are tech-savvy enough to “borrow” a wireless signal.

Hamilton Chua · 19 years ago

Mr. GPS has some valid points. Some of which I didn’t even realize until I read his comment.

Carlo · 19 years ago

My WiFi here is unsecured :) but nobody has connected since I opened it freely hehehe.

JP Loh · 19 years ago

Fon requires a firmware flash or a “pre”-flashed WRT from Fon though.

How about those with PLDT WeRoam or Globe Visibility share their connection via Ad-Hoc?

Mr GPS · 19 years ago

Here’s a couple thoughts of knowledgeable sharing or not sharing … each person needs to make their own decision, of course.

First of all, is it within the terms of service of your Internet Service Provider? If it is, fine, if it’s not within the terms of service to offer up your bandwidth to others … for pay or for free, then it’s stealing, plain and simple. Integrity is doing the right thing even if you feel you won’t get caught.

Second, one of the biggest problems with the Internet today, sadly after all these years of smart people making new inventions and refining the service is illegal content, especially child pornography. A major child porn ring gets caught every few months and sadly the disgusting practice doesn’t seem any less common today than it did 10 or 12 years ago … it’s just, perhaps, a little better hidden, Now if you want to bust up such a ring the smart way is to find the original source where the objectionable material got uploaded … had to start somewhere … and for law enforcement that’s a trivial task. If I wanted to upload something illegal, in today’s world it’s easy. Just find an open WiFi c0onnection and press the upload button. If law enforcement tracks it to the source … the source will be the unknowing person who provided the open connectivity. “But officer, that didn’t come from my computer”, “Yeah, right, put your hands behind your back and let me slip those cuffs on, you can tell it to the judge.”

I would love to be able to safely share my WiFi … the slowness in my SmartBro service is not in the link between my laptop, my WiFi hub and my Smart wireless link … but I don’t think that I’m on very safe legal ground if I do share it … I become a “provider”, paid or unpaid, and as Abe well knows, especially in the Philippines, there is no such thing as an innocent provider if someone decides to come after you … you’ll be guilty until you can (expensively) prove yourself innocent, diba?

wyzemoro · 19 years ago

i have my own wireless network at my boardinghouse but i have a WPA Key. i setup a wireless router for the sole purpose for my laptop use.

It’s not shared. Im not sure if i will turn it 24/7 and free for my neighborhood. maybe in the near future if i have big and more bandwidth. i use Smart Bro 999 package.

Its hard for me to share if my neighbor eat lots of bandwidth .. freeloader enjoy and me as the payer will suffer connectivity. if i have 2mbps i will probably share my bandwidth but i dont have budget for expensive DSL connection.