Posted: January 19th, 2011 | Author: Dan Misener | Filed under: corktown, wifi | Tags: corktown | 2 Comments »Via Gabe and the wirelesstoronto discussion list, a link to Won’t You Be My Wireless Neighbor? It’s a lovely essay about sharing (some might say “stealing”) your neighbours’ wireless internet. In it, confessed WiFi-moocher Helen Rubinstein fondly remembers SSIDs gone by, and laments the loss of an open, unprotected network called Belkin_G-Plus_MIMO. She closes with this:
Perhaps the solution is a simple, old-fashioned gesture. Just knock on a neighbor’s door, and ask if she might be able to spare some wireless.
I can’t agree more. Here at Queen and Parliament, my neighbours and I have happily shared a single wireless network for years now. It’s wonderful. We simply bought a bunch of Meraki mesh repeaters (back when they were $50 apiece), and split the monthly internet bill a few different ways.
But here’s the thing: Here in Canada, many ISP user agreements prohibit you from sharing your internet connection. Here’s what Rogers’s Acceptable Use Policy says about the matter:
Without limitation, you may not use (or allow anyone else to use) our Services to [...] use the Services for anything other than your own personal purposes (such as reselling the Services, providing Internet access or any other feature of the Services to any third party) or share or transfer your Services without our express consent
And from Bell’s Service Agreement:
You may not sell, market, provision, resell, re-market, directly or indirectly transfer, distribute or in any way exploit any portion of the Service.
Here on our corner, where we happily share our wireless internet access with anyone in reach of the signal, we use Teksavvy, a company whose Customer Agreement & Internet Usage Policy doesn’t explicitly forbid sharing or redistribution. I wish Helen’s proposed solution was as simple as it sounds, but at least here in Canada, it isn’t.
Posted: January 31st, 2009 | Author: Dan Misener | Filed under: meraki, wifi | Tags: meraki, mesh network, wifi | No Comments »If someone knows the WPA2 password to your Meraki mesh network, and you want to block them, you can’t. The block function only works on the public network. Meraki’s Jeff Gould explains in an email to me:
The blocking function works only on the public network. There is no blocking capacity on the private Meraki Network. There are a variety of folks who would like to have this functionality and I believe that we will have features to address this in 2009.
Wow. So, like, sometime this year? That’s kind of vague.
Right now, it seems the only way to keep someone that knows your password off your network is to change your password.
Posted: December 8th, 2007 | Author: Dan Misener | Filed under: corktown, internet, meraki, Toronto, wifi | 4 Comments »Inspired by Peter Rukavina’s experiments with mesh networking, I ordered three Meraki Minis this week, and installed two of them this morning. One sits on a bookshelf in our living room, and the other points north out our back window.
You can see the status of the network, named Corktown, right here online. And if you’re in the neighbourhood, you’re welcome to use the connection.
I’d love to try and convince other residents and businesses to jump on the mesh networking bandwagon, but I don’t really know how to explain the benefits to them. I’m thinking of a flyer, posted to lamposts at the intersection of Queen and Parliament:
Dear [List of neighbourhood SSIDs here],
You probably pay a lot for high-speed internet. I know I do.
Want to share? Make things cheaper, faster, and better for everyone?
Let’s start a wireless mesh network.
Would you bite? I would, but I’m a geek like that.
Posted: January 7th, 2007 | Author: Dan Misener | Filed under: internet, rogers, wifi | 4 Comments »Since moving into my new apartment last August, I’ve enjoyed free WiFi courtesy of one of my neighbours. I’m not sure whether it’s altruism or ignorance, but judging by their router’s SSID (“default”), my money’s on the latter. Anyway, for the past few months, it’s been great — a nice, strong, reliable signal. For free!
But the day I got back from New Year’s in Windsor, I realized something had changed. My old friend “default?” Encrypted! What was I to do?
- Hack the WEP encryption with Kismac?
- Hook up a complicated system of routers in my closet to borrow and redistribute another neighbour’s open signal?
- Go without the internet for a while and see what better things I can find to do with my time?
After some thought, I decided it might just be best to actually pay for my own internet access. Go figure. Now, as far as I know, there are only two companies that offer high-speed in Toronto: Bell and Rogers. I hate them both, but of the two, I hate Rogers the least. So, from Jenna’s laptop, I surfed on over to the Rogers site to see what the damage would be. I clicked on “Internet Services,” then “Promotions.” I typed in my postal code so the site could “provide [me] with the right products and services.”
This took me to a page with a list of specials. One of them looked pretty good:
Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet EXPRESS
- Save $3 per month for 12 months!
- Receive $10 rebate with your online order
- Free Basic Installation
- No term commitment required
Free installation? A discount for ordering online? No contract? “Hey,” I thought, “maybe paying for legit Internet won’t be so bad. Sign me up!” So I clicked “Order Now.” It took me to a page that asked for my name and address. Hurriedly, I typed them in, and clicked “Continue.” Then, this:
Yes, that’s right. I couldn’t order Rogers high-speed because they were “currently experiencing system problems.”
Wow, Rogers. You’re really inspiring confidence in your internet service product with that one.
Yeesh.