If someone around you has a wireless router can my laptop connect to it?

Question

like if one of my neighbors has one?

Answer 1

Yes...but if they have it blocked with a password then you can't!

You can drive around town with your laptop and probably get 50 different connections and could probably get 1/2 of them not blocked. Some are business's or hotels that have free wireless!

Just go into your wireless connections and check your list!

It will tell you if it is protected with a password or not!

Good Luck!

Answer 2

if it's not password protected, yes.

Answer 3

only if the wep is turned off this is the security  

Answer 4

Yes, under certain conditions.

If you have a 802.11b card with your laptop and they have 802.11g router, then no. If you have a g-card and they have a b-router, maybe, depending on your card. If they have the g-router set up as g/b mode, then yes....

IF...

They have not enabled encryption (password) on their router, or used a MAC address filter (to allow only specific machines to connect).

It's not exactly legal to hop on to your neighbor's wifi. It IS legal to use it somewhere that provides it for free, like a library, Starbucks, etc... Some businesses may want you to be a paying customer before you use it for free, though.

Answer 5

Yes, However, it depends on if it's secure or an open router. Typically routers are set up with encryption and password.

Ethically it's probably best to ask if you can tap into someone else's router b/c your using up their bandwidth.  

Answer 6

Yes but if she puts a password and WPA2 encryption you can't.

Answer 7

yes, but if it is password protected, you will need the password to connect to it.

Answer 8

Are we talking "possible", Legally, or morally?

If it's not encrypted it's possible.

If it's not encrypted, legality is iff-y... depends on if the name etc indicates tha it's not for public use.  (how are you to know it's not a public access point??????)

If it's encrypted, it means they don't want you using it, and it's black-white illegal, even though if it's WEP encrypted, it can be hacked in minutes.

Answer 9

Sad/scary, frightening, illegal I think, but I'm awfully sure that it works that way.  There is also a small tower, Like a very tall but small round receiver can track cell phones, computer access, but things I don't want to think about.  

Answer 10

If they haven't set it up with a password, yes.

Even so, depending on distance, you will likely get a slow, unreliable connection.

Answer 11

yes

but sometimes you need to know the password to log on to it