Advice on a Problem

[Lye]

Ok, I've got a predicament. We needed to cut costs at home and thus the internet was cancelled. I can, however, use the internet at the local library for an hour tops. So the advice I need is how do I still stay active and post yet have limited/no connectivity to the net? My solo is easy because I can type posts at home and upload it, but what if I want to join a thread? So far I've been making twice a week visits to the library. Any suggestions? I'd be glad to hear them.

[Karuka]

If you join threads with one other person, then it would be easy...copy/paste the responses, then type up the responses and upload them...but in threads with more than one other, it would be more difficult, if people ran into problems or writer's block and couldn't post.

[Cyrus the virus]

I went to the library a few times a week for a good year because of this place, and I was arguably more active then :p Ha. So I can kind of identify.

Anyway, when I had my time on the internet I would read and write rather quickly, no fooling around. In a way, I think it did well to teach me some discipline when it comes to approaching writing. So maybe, for now, it isn't a totally bad thing for you.

My advice: Get a lame job and pay for the internet :p

[Lye]

I got a lame job but electricity, water, waste, and insurance kills the income.

[Nein]

Get another equally-lame job?

[Göth]

Be active as active can be.

[Maia]

Assuming you can, try to abuse the USB key thing as much as you can. If needed, you can also write out posts in longhand too, so that way you can type them up pretty easily as well. Then post at the libary after you've finished them.

[Feed The Machine]

Don't know where you live but if you invest in a laptop that has wireless internet, hopefully you can hop on someone else's internet connection. That's what I do.

[Yamihara]

What Goth said. He's pretty knowledgable on the subject. :)

As for FTM's advice, you'll need a good amount of money and an equally good amount of knowledge on where Free Internet Bubbles exist in your area. Or just do what he does and steal someone else's Wireless. :p

[Feed The Machine]

Yamihara, I don't steal other people's wireless, I hop on it!:)

[Lye]

lol, amusing. Never thought of LAN hopping before. Course my laptop is a '95 so the piece 'o junk doesn't have a reliable power source and I haven't been able to find a car jack for it. Maybe I'll just camp out on their front steps and use their electricity too! =D

[Rigor Mortis]

upgrade your laptop then. My laptop is the sweetest piece of metal ever, and it can "hop" on any internet connection within 100 miles! /lie

It's still pretty good....

[Max Dirks]

Not quite a lawyer yet, but I did look this one up. As of yet, there are no incidences where a person has been prosecuted for connecting to an unencrypted wireless network. The claim would be ridiculous. It would be like getting sued for picking up a network TV broadcast with an antenna. Now, if you were to somehow get access to an encrypted wireless network and proceed to use it without the permission of the owner, then you could be in trouble. I'm guessing the case would be similar to a cable theft case (since all cable signals are encrypted).

So don't call it stealing. You're just being clever.

[Sighter Tnailog]

It really depends on where you live, but tons of businesses these days are getting wise to consumer desires for wireless internet access. And wireless internet cards are getting cheaper and cheaper.

I would suggest finding out if there's a local coffeeshop near you -- and I've even heard of some 24 hour joints like Denny's, Waffle House, and so forth setting up wireless hotspots. In addition, truck stops often are starting to have wireless hotspots because more and more truckers have laptops they connect to the internet while resting between legs of a trip. You should be able to find wireless near you, though, so just give it a shot. If anything, keep your eyes open on the way to work and you should see signs advertising the connections.

Or you could write a letter to your local library and suggest that they look into going wireless there too. It can be fairly inexpensive for a library to do so, and depending on where you live libraries can be fairly responsive to the needs of those who use them. And if you can't work it out on your own, get all your friends and organize a letter-writing campaign to obtain wireless at the library! Viva!

[Amaril Torrun]

Yeah, as long as I lie in my bed, in the exact position I'm in, I'm able to tap into a neighbors internet connection at a whopping 5.5 Mbps. If I move at all though, I lose my connection. If my cat jumps onto my bed to get an ear scratched, I lose my connection. But its free :D

Now buying a laptop in order to get free internet, that might be a problem seeing as how laptops cost more than internet anyways.

[Lye]

Starbucks is cheap. I work there but you need a T-Mobile account to use internet. It's like 34 a month. On the other hand, a joint called coffee rush about 15 miles from me has FREE internet. Hence, Starbucks is ghey.

The end. :D

[Rigor Mortis]

.... *is shamed*

Laptops might not be the best idea anymore. My internet is all of the sudden fucking up for no reason, and its been confirmed its not the router's fault.

Damn you, internal problems.