what are they doing

[whitebeard21]

With the 300 ft range of wireless what is the cable/dsl companies doing to prevent piracy? The student housing I see as I pass by the local college has at least 48 apartments within that range and almost all of them have more than one couple living in them.
I am sure they are aware of the possible loss of revenue and just wonder what they are doing to prevent it.

not really much they can do about it to be honest, they could find out customers and war drive by the houses to see if they have an open network.

but most people who have them dont even know how to set them up right.

[John Prophet]

They are using the "security by obscurity" method. Otherwise knows as "hoping no one messes with us" or "playing the odds".

But a college campus type setup....probably the absolute WORST scenario for wireless security.

[whitebeard21]

Actually it is not a problem here because the student housing (or the ghetto as my student son called it when he lived there) comes with cable and road runner. There are so many on it that it is not much better than dialup.

[The Terk]

here at texas A&M routers and wireless network is strickly "forbidden" in the dorms, and the CIS department actually checks how much bandwidth you are using from time to time, but they do provide wireless zones throughout campus if you want to bring your laptop and connect. As for security, if you have a wireless network you COULD put an encryption and password onto it if i am not mistaken