How common is this?

Not protecting your wireless connection

[Essex_boy]

Took my TC1100 to a mates house and set it up, nearly fell off my chair when I was abel to log on to someones wireless broadband.

Asking around this appears to be a common problem, is it?

[vincevincevince]

It sounds like a good example of what John Sentamu has been advocating for Lent. Put a firewall on your PC and leave your wireless wide open as a secret gesture of kindness to those who live nearby, or strangers who are passing through.

[pageoneresults]

Asking around this appears to be a common problem, is it?

War Driving?

Very common. I'm in a corporate complex with about 400 other residential units. At any given time, I may see upwards of 20 unsecured wireless connections. I'm going to guess that many of those are "out of the box" settings. One of my neighbors who maybe just connected and hasn't figured out yet that they need to configure their wireless connection. :(

And then I understand that a few of those unsecured connections may be traps for the unsuspecting. :(

[diggle]

I've just got Netgear wireless router for my home but the trouble is, the instructions don't make it clear how to protect the network or the computer. What's the best way of doing this?

[maccas]

I have been in the UK for 16 months and have so far lived at 5 different addresses, 4 of them I have been able to connect to a neighbour.

[Essex_boy]

Well I walked out into the garden and had ago at finding the source.

No luck in finding the source but I did find a further unprotectedc wireless connetion with a stronger signal.

I really cant beleive this is happening.

They do lock their front doors dont they?