Router sharing

[Kumabjorn]

This might initially not seem to be directly related to eBooks, but please bear with me.

Like most of you I have a WiFi router, at most I think I have 16 devices connected to it. That still leaves a lot of open connections just sitting there, completely useless. For obvious reasons I don't want anyone to gain access to what I have on my network, but I actually wouldn't mind sharing some of my resources.

I would love to open up something like ten connections. Perhaps set up a total of Internet bandwidth to 1 or 2 Mb for public use.

I don't think that is a possibility with my D-Link DIR-655, but are there other routers that will support such a setup, in essence providing a few IPs for public usage?

This would be a boon to those with eReaders without 3G support. They could stop up while within my range, download a book and be on their way. If this was a possibility I think a lot of people would be happy to provide some ten IPs or so, if they can limit it to 10 - 15% of their bandwidth.

[taming]

Your D-Lin DIR-655 has a Guest Zone According to the article below you can limit bandwidth for it in traffic management. I have the same router.

http://www.rarst.net/hardware/guest-zone/

[Conor]

Will there be any demand for it though? I doubt that many people roam the streets looking for free WiFi to download books. So urgently that they can't wait to get home? If I'm away from home I make sure I have enough books loaded.

[MikeB1972]

It's also wide open to abuse if people want to do illegal stuff using your internet connection.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

It's also wide open to abuse if people want to do illegal stuff using your internet connection.

And if you lived in France you would be in BIG TROUBLE.
Apache

[Kumabjorn]

I don't think people are roaming the streets to download books, but I think it would be nice if people began sharing their bandwidth if they can. It's not like it will cost me anything. If someone wants to stand outside in the cold (we are talking about Sweden, remember) in order to use my account to make mischief they must be desperate for free WiFi. But if they want to send and receive e-mail, take home a book, check when the train or bus leaves, why not?

[John F]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I don't think people are roaming the streets to download books, but I think it would be nice if people began sharing their bandwidth if they can. It's not like it will cost me anything. If someone wants to stand outside in the cold (we are talking about Sweden, remember) in order to use my account to make mischief they must be desperate for free WiFi. But if they want to send and receive e-mail, take home a book, check when the train or bus leaves, why not?

Sounds nice, but I'm guessing your internet provider doesn't agree.

I'm guessing there is something in most people's service agreement that discourages this behavior.

[usuallee]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

It's also wide open to abuse if people want to do illegal stuff using your internet connection.

This. It's a nice thought, but if I were you I wouldn't do it. The expression "no good deed goes unpunished" comes to mind.

[Kumabjorn]

Nope. Nor am I liable in case someone use it to download illegally or hack something.
Guess we are more casual about it in Sweden.
I have no limits as to data volumes.

[DDHarriman]

Hello Kumabjorn

You can achieve what you are looking for by going with Fon (http://corp.fon.com/en/), one possibility is to get a Fon server like the Fonera Simpl and you can share your router.

What you get:

1 - share your broadband to all other Fon users for free;
2 - if you decide, you can sell your broadband too to non Fon users;
3 - wherever you go and there is a Fon server like yours, you get wireless connection for free too… and they say there are millions of them all over the world.

In Portugal (my country), all clients with fiber optics access from the biggest cable provider ZON (http://www.zon.pt) have their modem/router’s with this possibility, so I’m now writing you this on my beach house in Algarve using somebody’s else Fon wifi access for free.

Best regards,

[Kumabjorn]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I already have a router. That is the one I would like to share, gett ing access to others would be a nice bonus though.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by taming

Your D-Lin DIR-655 has a Guest Zone According to the article below you can limit bandwidth for it in traffic management. I have the same router.

http://www.rarst.net/hardware/guest-zone/

I have now had the time to make the change.
However, in my setup all I can do is create a Guest Zone. I have no settings for how many IP addresses I allow, nor for how much bandwidth I'm willing to allocate. The only thing I think I can fiddle with are some time limitations, like on between 6am and 5pm every weekday.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I don't think people are roaming the streets to download books,

Likely true. However, there are people - literally - roaming the streets looking for open WiFi through which to download porn, and even better (and rather more common) send out spam through (in massive amounts). If you don't know what you're doing, the latter is pretty likely. The former, not so much, but in some countries, you can go to prison for providing access to child porn collectors.

Be very, very careful.

[Kumabjorn]

Thanks for the warning.
That just seems sad. But that is one reason I want to set a limitation on the bandwidth, those kind of files are huge, so downloaders would have to stand around for ever. Perhaps a security camera or two will discourage such behavior?

[Belfaborac]

When you're all set up, please PM me your address. There are still a few Swedish Erotica movies I've not had time to download....

On a (slightly) more serious note I think it's a great idea, if fraught with concerns as already noted by others.