People are always looking for ways to save money, and for
the most part, saving money and cheating the system are synonymous when
it comes to things like free internet access. Practically every new
gadget is capable of connecting to the web, which means more and more
people are looking for ways around those hefty internet bills.
When
it comes to gaming on your PlayStation 3, a fast connection is key to
any meaningful online battle. Just think about how many times a crappy
internet connection ruined your gaming experience.
Image via universoguia.com As
a PS3 owner myself, finding a way to access free Wi-Fi from my
neighbors would be sweeter than a Halle Berry statue made out of
Skittles. Of course, there are some, shall we say, primitive methods of
getting free Wi-Fi from your neighbor.
Location, Location, Location
If you
live in a decent-sized city, some of your nearby neighbors might
actually be businesses—and you might be able to gain access to one of
their free Wi-Fi hotspots, likeStarbucks, McDonald's, or the public library.
Image viastarbucks.com If
for some reason you're not sure whether or not there's a Mickey D's or
Starbucks next to you, there are plenty of mobile apps out there that
help you find nearby free hotspots. Who knows? You might live right next
to one and not even know it. Here are just a few of them:
If
you're near a hotspot location that looks free and unsecured, but
actually requires login access (like an airport or hotel that charges
money for Wi-Fi accounts), then you can still get around it if you know
your way around Wireshark, which will let you spoof your MAC address. Click here for more details.
If
you think you might just be out of range, try moving it around until a
better signal appears, then setup your gaming station there. You cannot
use external USB antennas, as they don't work with PS3s. And if you have the older CECHB01 model, wireless is not supported. If you don't mind opening up your PS3, you can also try this hack, which replaces the internal antenna with a better external one for longer ranges.
If
all else fails, you can always just ask one of your neighbors for their
Wi-Fi password, right? But seriously, if there are no openly free or
unprotected Wi-Fi networks around you (as in they're all locked down),
here are some other methods you can try out...
Let 4sqwifi Do Your Dirty Work
Unlike other apps that help you locate nearby free Wi-Fi hotspots, 44sqwifi
actually provides you with the passwords for your neighbor's wireless
internet, too. It works by culminating a bunch of user-generated data
and provides the app holder with that information.
Images via mzstatic.com So,
when someone goes into a free Wi-Fi location and uses the
establishment's password (most change passwords on a daily basis), they
then upload it to the database, allowing others previously locked out,
access to the network. This obviously works better for businesses, but
you never know—some asshole might have leaked your neighbor's password
to the app, too.
Right now, it's free and only available for iOS devices. If you have an Android device, you should consider using this hack that lets you capture nearby passwords in monitor mode.
Image via wonderhowto.com Your neighbors don't stand a chance.
Hacking Passwords on Your Friend's Machine Directly
A
lot of us let our friends and family members use our computers and vice
versa. Depending on your morality index, finding out their passwords
isn't that difficult. Most people use the same password for a lot of
their securable information, from email accounts to wireless network
passwords.
So, if you happen to live next to selfish family
members or have friends as neighbors, next time you're in their place,
ask to use their computer for Google or something and take their Wi-Fi
password instead.
By using a little JavaScript hack, you can
reveal previously used passwords in your friend's browser by
copy/pasting the code found in this Null Byte article.
If
your friend uses Chrome or Firefox, finding out their passwords may be
even easier. All you need to do is look at their saved passwords in the
browser, unless they have the option disabled. Using this method could
yield a bunch of useful passwords—hopefully one of them works for their
wireless router. Click here for more information.
If
one of those passwords doesn't work for their Wi-Fi, then if it's a Mac
computer, you can try using one of the passwords to access their
Keychain. After opening up Keychain Access (found in the Utilities
folder in Applications), you can view all of their saved items, but to
actually see the passwords, you'll need the administrator password,
which could be one of the saved website ones found in their browser.
Hacking a Wi-Fi Network Remotely
If
you think you've got some hacker skills, then you might want to try the
more advanced route to crack your neighbor's wireless password.
You can easily crack WEP and WPA passwords with Aircrack-ng. And you can also hack the password by cracking the WPS PIN.
You could also try KisMAC,
a Mac program that scans Mac supported networks for weakness and
reveals logged in clients and network coverage. KisMAC is 100 percent
free, but it does require an internet connection to run the program.
Once you gain access to someone else's internet, you can go ahead and
cancel your own. Money in the bank.
Last Resort Methods
If you don't mind
shedding a few dollars (but not as much as TWC or some other internet
provider will cost you), the following methods might suit you well.
Tethering
Paying for the
tethering/mobile hotspot option through your cell phone provider is a
last ditch effort. If you need to play you PS3 this bad, then you might
have a problem. The prices for exceeding the data limit and gaming over
the cellular network are ridiculous.
Image via reviewunit.com Even
Sprint, who offers "unlimited data" still asks for an extra 20 dollars
to enable tethering and then caps your tethering to 2GB of data... not
really unlimited then.
Verizon
and AT&T don't even have unlimited data anymore (unless you're
grandfathered in), so it will be more expensive to use more data. Even
with jailbroken or rooted phones using a tethering app, you may not have
to pay the cell phone provider for the service, but you still have to
pay for the amount of data you are sucking up.
Free Wi-Fi (Sort of) with FreedomPop
You could also try to get in on FreedomPop's new beta service, which offers up a fully refundable $49 USB stick and $89 modem hotspot, which lets you get 3G and 4G speeds for free.
For people that don't
feel like going through the hassle of using the techniques mentioned
above, then this might be just the thing you're looking for. It's
basically a noob-friendly hacker kit.
Wi-Fi Pineapple's standard kit, the Mark IV,
will cost you 99 dollars. What WiFi Pineapple does is steal whatever
credentials/authentications it can find from the list of available Wi-Fi
networks that users have accessed in the past. When these users log
into their wireless networks they are really logging into a Wi-FI
Pineapple created access point. Once logged in, the Wi-Fi Pineapple
owner has access to their internet connection as well as their browsing
activities.
All of these methods help you gain access to a
wireless network. Once that access is gained, your PS3 will
automatically detect the available networks and from there is only
gaming bliss. But this article should also serve as a reminder to make
your passwords hackproof, because it's obviously easier than you think.Images by Wired, Cnet, kennymatic, VentureBeat
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