This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Python Buzz
by Ben Last.
Original Post: Is There Anybody Out There?
Feed Title: The Law Of Unintended Consequences
Feed URL: http://benlast.livejournal.com/data/rss
Feed Description: The Law Of Unintended Consequences
Broadband, on the development where I live, is a slightly touchy subject, not something that one raises with the neighbours unless in the mood for a shared rant at the nature of lossy communication channels (and telecoms companies) Here, most houses are outside the BT official limit for ADSL (59 dB downstream attenuation, more often quoted as "5.5km" by the press); thus not everyone who wants to be wired up is wired up. Pity, since it's the sort of affluent work-at-home part of Cheshire which ought to be prime broadband territory. Some of us, though (if you'll allow me a moment's smug grin) are connected, due to a policy of treating visiting BT engineers like royalty and plying them with tea and biscuits at the slightest provocation. My router tells me that my line's downstream loss is 61dB with an SNR of 9dB - pretty marginal, but it works fine for a 512kbps connection. It's routed around the house on CAT5 and 802.11g wireless.
Being a security-minded sort of person (I used to run systems and networks for an ISP; it stays with you) I, naturally, VPN my way in to the house network from the wireless zone. Mostly I leave the wireless connection open, so that any stray passing person in need of bandwidth can hop on and use it. A little Python script sits on the Linux server and uses SNMP to watch for visitors.
It's never seen anyone. Ever. In six months.
Now, occasionally the malevolent forces of fate force me to travel to places like London where (according to the tales) the streets are paved with WiFi access. Whenever I'm there I have my laptop, wireless card plugged in and I keep an eye out for (a) other networks cards and (b) access points. In the metropolitan heart of the Smoke they're legion; I'm sure scarcely a packet is sent without a collision. Yet step away from the major streets or business parks, away from the International Hotels[1] and conference venues... and it all falls away, the airwaves bereft of SSID broadcasts, the NetStumbler scans revealing nothing. Sometimes I wonder if the commentators on the Wonderful Wireless World Of WiFi are like a native tribe, reporting from the middle of their forest. All around them are trees, trees in every direction they look, their houses are built from trees and the whole world must, they believe, be covered in trees. Yet beyond the borders of their land are deserts.
[1] And what the heck is an International Hotel anyway? One that straddles a major political boundary, with the bar in one nation and the restaurant in another? What an odd term.
Previous Topic
