Verified answer

Hi There,

It is possible the visitors were able to "hack into" your neighbors' internet connection using a "password finder" application.

However it is not legal. The neighbors paid for their internet connection and if you hack into it it is stealing (unless they authorize it by giving your Aunt the password).

Here is the right thing to do:

Look in the phone book for "Internet Providers" and give them a call to find out their rates. You can ask your neighbors for a recommendation too. the link below may help.

After finding out the rates of a couple (or more) internet service providers (and getting references from neighbors).

Choose one.

Their service tech will come over and install a router and connect it to your Aunt's computer.

You should have a choice of a wired or wireless connection (probably both nowadays).

The tech will enter a password that's acceptable to your Aunt and she will be online.

The cost will be $ 20- to $30- per month depending upon the speed and if it's dial up, DSL or cable internet.

If your Aunt chooses any "high speed" (not dial-up) she can then use VOIP (voice over internet phone) service to make telephone calls at a very low rate. Yahoo call out costs approx 1 cent/min for calls within the USA. Magic Jack does work very well (i use both of these) and the initial cost is $ 40- for the first year and $20- / per year after that.

Plus it is very handy to find repair parts, maps, events, etc over the internet.

Hope this helps,

Al

Some people claim that WiFi is a play on the term "Hi-Fi". In the 1970's and 1980's, stereos and televisions started using the term "high fidelity" (or HiFi) to indicate that their equipment was capable of a high-quality reproduction of sound or images. When wireless technology first came out, it was pretty much just called "wireless". But as they improved the signal quality and the speed of wireless networks using a set of standards from the IEEE organization, the term WiFi was coined and trademarked. It is obviously designed to sound similar to "Wireless Fidelity", but was more for marketing than any real maning. Essentially, WiFi is used to mean any wireless network that follows the IEEE 802.11 standards. Within those standards, they have made even more improvements to how fast the data can travel across the wireless network, and so there are "versions" of 802.11 now. The common ones used for home computer networks are: 802.11b This had a typical throughput of 5 megabits per second. (Mbit/s). It is a bit outdated now, but some people (including me) are still using it on an old home router. 802.11g This allowed about 22 megabits per second, and is the speed you will find being used by most routers and PC laptop wireless network cards nowadays. 802.11n This is the latest technology and makes even more improvements to the speed of your wireless network. The equipment may still be a bit expensive, but gives you expected speeds of about 144 megabits per second. So if you are looking at getting a laptop or buying a router so you can get a wireless signal at your house, you probably want to look at the 802.11g or 802.11n in the specifications when buying. You will also want to look for wireless security features, so no one in the apartment or neighborhood starts using your WiFi network as their way to get free Internet service. Make sure what you buy has support for WPA and/or WPA2 security protocols (WiFi Protected Access). The older standard called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is really not that private and not hard to crack. Both DLINK and LINKSYS websites offer some great sections about learning network terms, wireless requirements, and how to hook things up properly. You may want to check them out.

It is possible that they were online and the neighbor that had the signal heard about it and now has it locked because someone else was using there signal.

All she has to do is subscribe to a internet service and get a wireless modem that will send out the wifi signal and she will be able to use it all over her property.

There are plenty of places that do have free wifi such as hotels and coffee shops even McDonald's has wifi most of the time.

1) i am not sure how those other people connected to the wifi, but it is illegal to use someone elses wifi if it is password secured

2) to get her on wifi you need to pay to have internet in her house. then you need to get a wireless router to broadcast the wireless from.

3) maybe your aunt could talk to one of her neighbors whose signal she picks up. they might be willing to let her use there connection (and will give her the password) if she offers to pay part of the internet bill (like $10/mo or something)

1. No. if a network using a password then you have to know the password to get in.

2. Ask the owner of the network about the password. You don't need to buy anything because laptop these days usually has its own wifi adapter on it.

The Wi-Fi Networks you are picking up are other people who have wireless internet in your area, however using there connections with out permission is a crime, theft of internet signals can be classed as intruding on others privacy, to be able to use Wi-Fi you will need to be on the internet with a ISP (Internet sevice provider) i.e AOL or BT you will need to sign up to a internet package and if you chose BT you will get a BT Home HUB or ruiter, then in the setup guide will tell you how to set up Wi-Fi (WanLan) wireless aria network. hope this helps you.