XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11   
   From: this@ddress.is.invalid   
      
   In alt.comp.os.windows-10 J. P. Gilliver  wrote:   
   > On 2025/11/28 19:5:12, Frank Slootweg wrote:   
   >   
   > []   
   >   
   > >   Yes, there used to be some open networks, but not so much these days.   
   > >   
   > >   I just checked the networks I can see. There are 23 networks (we live   
   > > in an appartment building). All but 2 are closed. One 'open' one is a   
   > > nearby hotel, but that gives 'Can't connect to the network'. The other   
   > > open one says 'Hidden network', so no visible SSID. I don't want to try   
   > > to connect to that network.   
   > >   
   > >   So yes, there possibly is an open network, but the large majority are   
   > > closed.   
   >   
   > There's a third wrinkle, in UK and other countries: networks that appear   
   > to be open, but only show you one page, which is a login one. (At least   
   > I think that's what they show - I haven't tried one for years.) These   
   > are where the router belongs to a customer of one of those providers who   
   > claim millions of hotspots, by making all their routers have an open   
   > connection, but further authentication is required further down the line   
   > for anyone who does connect to them. (I presume they limit such   
   > connections to some fraction of the available speed/capacity, so the   
   > "owner" isn't inconvenienced if someone uses them.) The first such   
   > network I heard of was FON, which I think originated in Spain.   
      
     Yes, we (in The Netherlands) used to have such ISP WiFi hotspots,   
   including my ISP. But these days most of them have gone, because there   
   are many more 'normal' WiFi hotspots and 'everyone' has a smartphone.   
      
     For the ISP WiFi hotspots, bandwidth taken from it's 'owner' was not a   
   problem, because the modems provided a seperate hotspot with its own   
   channel for the public hotspot function.   
      
     I think for FON, the public hotspot did (does?) use some of the   
   owner's bandwidth.   
      
   [...]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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