> -----Original Message-----
> From: Leo J Mauler
> 
> ... I'm also thinking back to the Cringeley column where he put passive
> repeaters in *trees* to bounce a 802.11b signal around a mountain. 
> Technically he was already paying for the signal, but he 
> could have been
> stealing Internet access from just about anyone with an 
> unsecured WAP on
> the other side of the mountain.
> 
> The ethical and philosophical problems aside, the technology 
> exists for
> everyone in the city without Internet access to share with just about
> anyone else in the city with Internet access and an unsecured 
> WAP.  With
> wireless NICs down to $29, both PCI and PCMCIA, "free" 
> Internet access is
> just $29 away, and with a little work and a little more money you can
> bounce signals in from unsecured WAPs which are miles away from your
> home.  If someone is deliberately making their WAP unsecured 
> to share it ...
There's an entire city in CA doing exactly this. They hired a company to put
in hotspots. Everyone in the city is entitled to free internet. It's something
whose time is coming (only I suspect it won't be free forever and for everyone,
probably become part of the city fees to all residents or something). I wonder
if it's feasible to put together such a network, and use some kind of handshake
to allow registered users in and keep others out. A group of people could team
up for the cost of a business class landline access, and throw a bunch of
repeaters in the area to serve the members. Might not be a bad idea as a
business model. There now I've gone and done it. This idea is protected under
the GPL. So there now I've protected it. ;)

Brian