Do you have home WiFi?

[toysoldier]

Juxtapose two things:
---Internet providers advertising "total coverage" of every spot in your house.
---Law enforcement SWAT teams targeting the house from which threatening calls have been placed, only to eventually discover that it was someone tapping into the wifi.

It seems to me that increased wifi coverage means it would be easier for an outsider to access it, especially with the poor security most people utilize. If you live out in the country, with no neighbors or traffic, it probably isn't as much of an issue, but those living in town should take extra care with password access.

My computers are hard-wired.

 

[coach]

Passwords, firewalls, encryption and all that stuff is needed. Once was able to get on someone’s WiFi that was completely unsecured. The closest house was at least 200 yards away. I don’t know what they had but wish I did as I have trouble getting my WiFi at one end of my not large house. Smartphones, tablets and laptops all rely on WiFi to get the most out of them.

 

[wiz1997]

My WiFi has always been password protected.

I did have a neighbor that was an electronics wiz.

He had a device he would walk around the neighborhood with and locate unsecured WiFi signals.

He never had an Internet provider for his computer, he would just ride unsecured signals.

So... if you notice your WiFi connection slowing down, it may be someone else riding your signal.

 

[redhawker]

Yeah, got to have a password. A few years ago a friend of mine hit a rough patch and lost his job and couldn't afford internet service as he had to cut out almost everything to keep his house. I set up a wifi antenna for him using a wifi USB plug in wired into, of all things, a wok strainer, I made a stand for to set up like a radar dish. It actually worked pretty well. Depending on the time of day and the weather conditions he was usually able to get on the internet via a couple of neighbors that had unsecured wifi. The wifi was instrumental in helping him get a job and back on his feet.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Do I have home WiFi? Sure do. My password is over sixteen characters
long, alpha, numeric and "special" characters included. I use it primarily
for cell phone access while I'm at home. Main computer is hard wired.

I occasionally use open WiFi locations, but ONLY for data retrievals from
open web sites. I . . . never . . . use an open WiFi for personal data/info.
I hope all of you are doing the same.

Do keep in mind that an open WiFi is very similar to running your computer
with winderz and no firewall. A WW-II term for it is Kamikaze. :shock:

YMMV

 

[protoolman]

My son the IT pro says the best passwords to use are long and contain a lot of characters so they are relatively unbreakable. He suggests a password phrase so you can remember it and change it occasionally too. An example might be something like: I bought a PO8 Luger for $57.95. As you can see it has numbers, letters, capitalization and symbols. Of course it wouldn't have the spaces. Or, I have a 4440 John Deere~. I love that tilda it's the little wavy character. No one will ever guess your password if you throw that one in somewhere!

 

[Fox Mike]

I have Wi-Fi and without the password all anyone would be able to know was there was one nearby. My wife's laptop isn't set up on the house Wi-Fi. It is set to the one at our house on the Cape. She will not be able to get much here in MD unless we add the one here to the settings.
As far as passwords, the home modem has a unique password on it. Great numerical passwords can be obtained using the square root of a birthday with added letters and symbols.

 

[Mus408]

Ahhh... the days when you had just hi-fi stereo and didn't care if the neighbors heard it!

 

[Mobuck]

I do. There's not another house within sight and anyone lurking within the working range of my modem is in serious doo-doo.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Great numerical passwords can be obtained using the square root
of a birthday with added letters and symbols.

Great idea! Take the name of someone that you know, spell it backward,
alternate numbers between the characters of the name. Love it.

You don't have to remember it, because you can regenerate it. 8)

 

[powder smoke]

old school I got Hi Fi

 

[GunnyGene]

Any of y'all old dogs remember this? :lol:

29 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

 

[mohavesam]

Home WiFi or hard wire, remember every keystroke over the interweb (including these forums) goes through government systems at Eugene and Langley, and now thanks to the HWP, China and Russia.

Sleep well.

 

[GunnyGene]

Home WiFi or hard wire, remember every keystroke over the interweb (including these forums) goes through government systems at Eugene and Langley, and now thanks to the HWP, China and Russia.

Sleep well.

Mr. Universe: "Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere." You can't stop the signal.

 

[gramps]

Any of y'all old dogs remember this? :lol:

29 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

And you thought I wanted to hear it again WHY? :shock:
gramps

 

[gramps]

I do. There's not another house within sight and anyone lurking within the working range of my modem is in serious doo-doo.

#METOO :mrgreen:
gramps

 

[GunnyGene]

Any of y'all old dogs remember this? :lol:

29 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

And you thought I wanted to hear it again WHY? :shock:
gramps

I play it back to robocalls occasionally. Probably doesn't do any good, but it makes me feel better. :lol:

 

[Pat-inCO]

LOVE IT!

I would really like to get a copy in mp3 (or such) format so I can put it on
my answering machine. It has three messages, so this could be one that
plays the full thing and then hangs up. 8)

 

[GunnyGene]

LOVE IT!

I would really like to get a copy in mp3 (or such) format so I can put it on
my answering machine. It has three messages, so this could be one that
plays the full thing and then hangs up. 8)

Goggle "dial up sound". I'm sure there's a mp3 out there somewhere.

 

[Pyromike]

Have WiFi with 2 channels. Password protected. I named them 'FBI Security Van #1' & 'FBI Security Van #2'. Let the neighbors figure it out. They won't break the password.