Just a couple of wifi questions....

Ok kids,
This may be a weird thread,
But i live in rual michigan,
and the only available internet is dial up,
but you know how sometimes you just HAVE to download a program, then you come to figure that its really huge.
Well,
If i bought a wifi usb adapter,
and put it in my iMac g3, and i dragged my iMac, mouse, and keyboard out to my car,
and plugged my iMac in,
and drove to a big city,
(or to my local mcdonalds 20 minutes away.)
Could I possibly connect to something?
I could connect in the mcdonalds parking lot right?
thats what all the fancies do with their coffee and laptops these days isnt it?
But mybe i could find a nice guy who would be willing to, share his connection.....ok my main question is,
With a wifi adapter,
could i easily connect to any network as long as it isnt protected?
Sorry if i sound stupid,
but besides someone letting me use their laptop with wifi,
ive NEVER even surfed the internet with high speed............
and i'm not getting high speed in my area any time soon ((the only option is some complicated internet i forgot the name of which is over $100 a month))
although sbc says they will maybe have dsl in my area around 2010.......wow...how depressing.
Thanks,
Tanner.

Technically, yes, you can connect to any unprotected wireless network and use the connection. HOWEVER, you should note that this is illegal as it is on par with stealing (unless you have express permission to do so).

Since talking of illegal activities is not permitted here, we should refrain from talking about it any further. Now, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask as we'll be more than glad to help you out

Surely you guys must have cable broadband other there, assuming you have cable TV in your area that is? Failing that, surely you have Satellite broadband over there?

Failing that, why not drive to an Internet cafe or public library, and ask to download the file and have them burn it to disk, okay it'll cost a couple of bucks but surely that's a lot less effort and expense than buying a wi-fi adapator and lugging an iMac about???

I frequent Barnes and Noble and several other places that offer hotspots... do a google search for hotspots... I'm sure there's a place around you that offers it (probably at a reasonable price).

Look up places that offer Wifi in your area or sign-up for T-Moile hotspots.

As for connecting to someone's unprotected WiFi without their permission, that's unethical (and potentially illegal) and will not be discussed here.

it is illegal to connect to anyones wifi without them knowing. or getting permission from them

Eh, the legality of glomming on to someone's open Wifi connection depends on which country in which you reside. In the US this really hasn't been addressed as such. As far as I know it isn't illegal to simply connect and use it to surf websites or get email.

Now as to what you use it for, on the other hand might be a different matter. Downloading movies or illegal pornography would be an example of using it illegally, though one could easily do that with a paid-for "legal" connection with an ISP.

As for ease of use with a Mac it's quite easy to get on an unsecured wireless network. I do it all the time. My employer, for example, has an unsecured wireless network that if you are within proximity you get full broadband at whatever their T3 speed offers. When I'm in the office I have full service from the web wirelessly when I take my Macbook to the office. I happen to be an employee so my access is 'sanctioned' so to speak, but my Macbook isn't an 'official' computer. In order to get to the stuff within their network (servers I maintain, internal email etc.) I have to use the VPN client to authenticate to get there, but everything else the internet has to offer (save bittorrent or such things) I can use as if I was just some guy who parked in their lot with a laptop.

Similarly my wife spent a couple of months in the hospital in the city. While she was there she was within Macbook Airport Extreme range of someone's wifi network, which her Macbook helpfully connected to. During that time I was able to chat with her both over text iChat and even video iChat when I wasn't physically there. When I was there my Macbook did the same thing and I was able to do some work-like things much like I would at home with my (secured) wireless network.

We have a local grocery store which offers free wireless for their cafe so you can surf while having a coffee or a danish, and the convention center downtown has it as well. You have to agree to their terms, but once you do it's like you would at home assuming you have a wireless network at home.

So the 'legality' of latching on to someone's wireless connection is kind of up in the air. I have, let's see...dashboard Macwireless monitor widget...about a dozen wireless networks in range (including my own) of which at least two are unsecured. I have to explicitly choose mine otherwise the Mac offers to connect to the other ones. I've connected to unsecured wireless networks while I've been numerous places. The wireless police haven't come to take me away as yet.

In the UK, however, it might be different but then I understand there are already two-way telescreens that talk back to you to make sure you aren't doing anything doubleplusungood :flower: or engaging in thoughtcrime. I shudder the thought of becoming an unperson by orders of the Ministry. :black:

I'll put in my two cents and say that I uesd to leave my network open so that people could leech off me and they did. The only reason i changed it to protected was because my neighbor started playing my itunes library really loud and it got a little creepy.

Cable internet................no.
Cable tv.............no.
satellite broadband..........very expensive.
Sorry for the thread,
I didnt mean that i was going to go around connecting to some joe schmos wifi.

wow... you must be in the middle of nowhere...