What the Heck Is This

[Steve R Jones]

Guess I don't know as much about computers as I thought I did.

Friend picked up a used Dell lappy without a hard drive. Gets a new drive installed with win98se on it.

PC has a Sierra Wirless AirCard pcmcia card in it. I'm typing on it now, 50 miles from downtown Dallas, out in the country in the middle of nowhere.

WHY does it connect to the internet??????? He's got an AOL account, but we aren't using that???? We're getting an IP address of 166.xx.xx.xx which I guess I should trace.

Have I lived a sheltered life?

[nothing]

That's magic

I don't know the answer to that question but it sure is interesting.

[BipolarBill]

You must be close to some sort of public WAP. Here's your host:

Official Name: mes132078077.airdata.net

I bet some rancher went haywire with a wireless network.

I want one!

[Steve R Jones]

OK, whats a WAP?

He had the work done 200 miles north of here in OK City. It worked up there too in this pc and another. It's slow as a big dog but sure seems to be free service.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

OK, whats a WAP?

Wireless Application Protocol

--Jakk

[BipolarBill]

Wireless Access Point, actually.

[rangeral]

Where's the Pringles can?

http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Wireless Access Point, actually.

Every day's a school day

--Jakk

[Dracas]

Who knows, maybe you just picked up free-o-charge on the newly-revived Richochet network out here in the Southwest somehow.

Free internet sure is a nice feature for an old laptop

Aside that, I have no idea unless an account with Username/Pass was already set up somehow, though...don't ask me how

Edit:

On second thought, Tx has a pretty good population of wireless home users, you may be direct-connecting to an unsecured WAP via DHCP. Basically, you're using some schmucks bandwidth without them knowing (maybe?)

Its just a guess is all

[dajogejr]

Rangeral...I'm a bit confused.
Do you get to eat the Pringles, or do they stay in the can as some type of conductor/transformer?

Yep, it sounds like you're hitting farmer Johnson's WAP...
Most people don't take the time to learn about, understand or setup security...I think it's called WEP, correct me if I'm wrong (it's been almost 6 months since I set up a bunch for a school district)

And since most WAPs and WI-FI cards are so compatible...most of the time, it's a matter of setting up the WAP via an Internet based setup program...and presto...done.

Wireless cards detect the WAP's ID, I forgot what it's called, but it's like their electronic serial number, usally alpha-numeric, about 5 to 8 digits long. Once they identify the WAP, it will connect to the Internet unless WEP has been enabled on the WAP. I bet if you were to dig into your connections a bit, you'd see the WAP identification....

[Greg Harper]

Now let's get this straight. If you can connect to a wap with a wep can you also connect to where the sheep slept.
Old farm joke I know but the open possibilities on finding a wireless with that range in the middle of nowhere is intriguing.
You could have an endless net connection for free and they'd probably never know you were there.
By the way , the pringles are for snacking.

[dmoltrup]

There is a very easy method for determining whose network you are on.

First off, if it isn't already installed, download and install the Kazaa program.
In your shared folder, place several hundred copyrighted songs. You can easily get these by ripping them from CDs.
Watch the RIAA's hit list. The next addition that you see is the network that you are using.

[Dracas]

Pfft, I'll WAP your WEP.

WEP means 'Wired Equivelant Privacy' for reference.

Now, about WAP range. Lately, theres been a large use of 802.11g "Turbo" Wireless Routers, (the ones that sport about 64 Mbps to 100+ MBps such as this one, compliments of US Robotics).

These 'turbo' Wireless Access Points have quite a range, and because of their upped speed, a lot of home and commercial users alike will use them. Even with standard 802.11b/g Wireless networks, you can 'war drive' a network from almost a mile away - even if the speed is a bit crappy.

"War Drive" btw, is the act of grabbing a laptop and driving around town trying to crack into non-WEP protected wireless networks and see whats available.

I don't do it personally, but several friends of mine do it almost weekly apparently

Hope this has been edutational

[Greg Harper]

Same thing as driving around and tapping into cordless phones to try to listen to private conversations around here. I don't do it but I know some who have.

[dajogejr]

RIAA hitlist..
Good one Rmol...I about fell out of my chair on that one...