Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

This thread also seems relevant to your inquiry.

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

It's has much better wi-fi than my laptop as well.

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

I am just wondering but how do you guys know if the spots you are getting are free or not?.. I am thinking of getting one but would not want to get in trouble for stealing or what not ...

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

Free public hotspots are usually include a "HotSpot" in it's label.

Other than that, most wifi routers of individuals are password protected using WEP, WPA, etc. so unless you actively use a hacking tool on the NIT, you won't be able to access them.

Any private wifi routers that are not protected could be considered fair game IMO. Either the owner wants to share the signal or doesn't know how to implement basic security.

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

AFAIK there's no way to tell, nless the WiFi provider puts up a banner page that says it's free (I don't and yet, my WiFi cloud is free). The whole legislation around this issue is totally f*cked up, with people coming up with bogus analogies of "unlocked front doors" ilk.

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

The hotspot's name (SSID) is a good place to start. If it's named something like "Anytown Public Library", it's a good bet it's free. If not, you'll know as soon as you connect because it'll ask you to log in. If the network name is something like "SpongeBob Square Pants" (to use an example of someone's network in my apartment complex), it's probably a private network. It may be unsecured, but the legality of using it without permission is ambiguous at best.

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

Actually trespassing on private property might be a better analogy (obviously it's not equivalent to "breaking and entering" if there's nothing to break). If you needed to step onto someone's private property for a trivial purpose such as retrieving a ball, or just stopping to tie your shoelace, that might technically be trespassing, but obviously not a major concern unless it was repeated abuse. Perhaps unprotected WiFi access could be considered in a similar way. If you access a unprotected WiFi link momentarily to check your email without knowing exactly where it's coming from, that's a trivial trespass that isn't doing any harm to anyone. If you did it all day every day using your neighbour's WiFi instead of getting your own internet access, that might be worth getting annoyed about. If you were using it download massive amounts of warez and porn, that would certainly be criminal trespass.

Re: Need a "NEWBIE" question answered!
 

I'd rather compare it to the right of passage. If you don't want people to trample over your grounds, put up a fence. OTOH, fair use is presumed (and sanctioned! at least where I live): You can't go hiking through a farmer's wheat crops days before the harvest.

I'd like to see this kind of common sense applied to WiFi: If you don't have an unlimited access plan, close up your network; otherwise, let people walk through it. But they, in their turn, aren't allowed to use someone else's free WiFi cloud to P2P 50 terabytes of German Scheisse-pr0n.