Another question for techies and computer guys....

[Rocker]

I think it is possible to use the broadband to make telephone calls. I wonder if it is possible to setup/modify a mobile phone to find an internet router by wi-fi [piggyback] and use the found internet to make phone calls?

Any help you can give on this subject, including web sites, will be appreciated. I am not intending to break the law by using anothers wi-fi broadband but my concern is to prevent others from using mine. I know that passwords etc can be bypassed, there are computer programs that can work out passwords anyway so the only way to prevent access, if access is possible in the first case, is to switch off the broadband router. Which prevents legitimate wi-fi use of the internet. So hopefully you see my reasons for concern.

You can reply privately if you prefer it that way.

Thanks in advance,

Rocker

[Fran]

Yes you can easily do it. You need something like an iPhone or HTC phone. I have Skype and truphone apps on my phone. Very handy for almost free international calls. But there's no charge to the host WiFi - the bandwith used is small.

The other thing is that your WiFi signal from your router probably doesn't extend outside your house - and given you are out in the country you should be pretty safe. Someone would have to stop outside your house find the WiFi signal and get a good enough connection to use it.

[DancingPriest]

It's not that easy to break a wifi password.
I've broken WEP passwords but even that required a few hours reading and a little familiarity with Linux (Backtrack to be precise).
You just can't do it from a windows machine and even with the right linux distro you need to get the right wireless card and the right drivers and know how to get them running.

If you want to be close to 100% secure use a WPA password that contains words you won't find in a dictionary and a few numbers eg, "FRANK13G03ST0H0LLYW00D".
The only way to break WPA is to use a dictionary containing a lot of words, such a brute force attack on your network could take days. Even then, if a dictionary doesn't have the password you won't break the password!
If you want to set that up, let us know the name and model number of your router and I should be able to show you how. It'd only take a few minutes.

[Diapason]

It's not that easy to break a wifi password.

It is if the supplier is Eircom and the user in question hasn't changed the password given with the box. There's a website (which I won't link to) that generates the password merely by giving it the number you see in the eircom name eircom1234 5678 or whatever. It's worked every time I've tried it, much to my amazement. I only changed my Dad's last week in fact -- I think the entire neighbourhood had been using his.

Moral of the story: change the password Eircom give you. Immediately!

[Ivor]

It's not that easy to break a wifi password.

It is if the supplier is Eircom and the user in question hasn't changed the password given with the box. There's a website (which I won't link to) that generates the password merely by giving it the number you see in the eircom name eircom1234 5678 or whatever. It's worked every time I've tried it, much to my amazement. I only changed my Dad's last week in fact -- I think the entire neighbourhood had been using his.

Moral of the story: change the password Eircom give you. Immediately!

there's a free app for your HTC, or (I presume) iPhone that will do that too.

[DancingPriest]

It's not that easy to break a wifi password.

It is if the supplier is Eircom and the user in question hasn't changed the password given with the box. There's a website (which I won't link to) that generates the password merely by giving it the number you see in the eircom name eircom1234 5678 or whatever. It's worked every time I've tried it, much to my amazement. I only changed my Dad's last week in fact -- I think the entire neighbourhood had been using his.

Moral of the story: change the password Eircom give you. Immediately!

there's a free app for your HTC, or (I presume) iPhone that will do that too.

Oh, forgot about that one!

How they hacked it is rather relevant too!
It seems the WEP key (which is like a long gibberishy password) is generated based on Jimmy Hendrix lyrics and the network ID of the modem itself.

Source; http://www.mulley.net/2007/10/01/150000 ... com-react/

[Diapason]

[generated based on Jimmy Hendrix lyrics

Brilliant!!

[Rocker]

Ivor, a one mark question but what is a HTC?

[DancingPriest]

It's a brand of mobile phone that uses the Android] operating system.
It's a fair bit more 'open' than the iphone and a hell of a lot cheaper.
I'm not a 'phone person' but my brother who is mad about them switched from an iphone and loves the HTC.

[Ivor]

I'm not a phone phreak myself but I recently went for a HTC Legend and I love it. Like a laptop in a phone. Actually I'm typing this reply on it during tv ads! They're fantasticyokes