Something has changed in the high speed Internet access world, and there are bound to be repercussions in the future. The change is that people may perceive that they are getting free high speed Internet access. How did this come about?
Most of us know that wireless networking is very popular today. Computer networks (in other words, the ability to connect computers together to share files, printers, and other things) used to require that actual wires be strung between the computers. These wires are called CAT5 cables and they have connectors called RJ-45 plugs on them. You also need a central box called a switch or hub and a network card to be plugged into each PC.
But wiring costs money to install, and also its not very easy to move your notebook PC around your home or business trailing a wire! So, wireless networking was born. This was called 802.11b or Wi-Fi, and later higher speed versions are 802.11g or sometimes 54g. To implement wireless, you would replace the network switch with a new box called a router, and change the card in your PC from a wired card to a wireless one. It is actually fairly simple to do.
As far as the distance (or range) of the wireless network, it was variable - based on many factors such as wall construction, interference, etc. But it could be a fairly broad distance. Which brings us to the problem.
Recently, Intel has come out with a new chipset called Centrino. First of all - what is a chipset? A chipset is merely a set of computer chips (integrated circuits) that are designed to work together to provide a number of related functions. Since a chipset integrates many functions, it is much cheaper for manufacturers to build products using them. For example: back in the old days, most PCs required separate video cards and sound cards. But when it became apparent that just about every PC needed these functions, the chip manufacturers combined them into chipsets and now just about all PC motherboards provide these functions without any plug-in cards. Ditto for networking - you can't buy a PC today without an RJ-45 network jack on the back.
But the Centrino chipset adds wireless capability. Since Centrino was designed primarily for notebook computers, this means in effect that almost any notebook computer you can buy today has built-in wireless. That was the first step.
The second step has to do with Microsoft and Windows XP software. In the beginning, it was somewhat difficult to configure a wireless network. Microsoft came to the "rescue" in Windows XP by providing much easier, almost automatic, wireless network configuration. Step two.
So, now you have notebook computers that have wireless built in, and the software that automatically finds and configures wireless networks.
What happens now is this: Let's say that you are still using a dial up Internet connection (and do not have a wireless router), but just went out and bought home a new notebook computer. As soon as you open it up and turn it on, it looks for wireless networks and configures to use them.
The problem is that there is nothing to prevent your new notebook PC from detecting AND USING the wireless networks of your neighbors! I have had calls from clients in this situation - they are amazed that there new notebook includes high speed Internet access!
The problem here occurs because the neighbors in question have not made their network private. To the techies out there, that means changing the SSID, turning off SSID broadcast, and enabling WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol). Such a network would be protected and would not allow other, unknown users to access it. But, setting up these parameters requires some skill, and most people just don't bother.
So the bottom line is: if you are using somebody else's network, you shouldn't. If you have a wireless network, learn how to protect it.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail him at bsc@bobseidel.com).