There are many commercial wireless networks....why not use one of them? You'll have to dig in your pocket - or you'll have to find someone who did not secure their network.
If you were smart enough to search before complaining, you'd have found this: http://www.englishforum.ch/tv-intern...onnection.html
And this is not a complaint. Next thing we'll be complaining about neighbours locking their cars rather than leave the keys in it...
Or more nicely:
I pay cablecom for my internet connection.
I don't want some thieving cheapskate pervert surfing porn all day using my bandwidth... which would happen if opened my wireless network....
Personally, I disagree that private people should open their networks to strangers. I wouldn't do it & I don't think others should either.
That doesn't mean I'm not hospitable; I'm just choosy!
Better planning will keep you out of the cold.
We see lots of threads containing a geneneric " Swiss are close-minded about : insert issue here "
The issue of sharing wireless lan has nothing to do with this perceived Swiss close-mindedness. It is most definitely not unique to Switzerland. It has to do with people paying for their own internet connections, and wanting them to keep their own service for themselves. This can be for whatever reasons they want or wish.
Why wait the 6 months? Put your hand in your pocket and cough up for your own connection
I hope that people are still reading this thread because I could really use some advice. I am new here (both to Switzerland and to the forum). I arrived in Zurich about a week ago and am here for two months. I also have the problem of wandering around in the cold looking for an internet connection. Before you say all of the mean things to me that you have said to Tweener, let me explain my situation and if anyone has any actual constructive suggestions I would love to hear them. I am perfectly happy to pay for my own internet access, but I do not think that it is possible (at least without paying several hundred dollars for a wireless modem from swisscom or sunrise etc.. that I am not even sure I could get)
1. As I said, am here for two months which, as far as I can tell is not long enough to do much of anything here. I cannot get a phone line which means that I cannot get my own (and pay for) internet connection.
2. I live near the Balgrist tram stop, so I am pretty far removed from the city center and I cannot see any wireless hotspots or unsecured wireless connections from my room.
3. I have looked at all available hotspot websites as well as wandering aimlessly with my laptop open and jwire running. I have found one or two that I can sometimes see and can use if it is not raining, but nothing where I can actually see a network inside. I can see one or two secured networks and have thought about randomly knocking on doors to find where they are coming from and offering to pay for the password, but that seems like a bad idea, especially since I don't even know which building they are coming from.
4. According to the cablecom website their network has "sadly not yet been upgraded in your area," even if it had been, I think that I would still run into the only here for two month issue.
I do not think that people should be obliged to open their wireless networks as a matter of hospitality, but it would make my life much easier. Currently in order to talk to my husband back in the United States I have to use prepaid phone cards and the pay phone in the lobby of my building. I would be happy to have a phone even so that people had some way of contacting me when I am not at work. I am a graduate student, visiting another lab so I am not even really employed in zurich (I am employed in the us, and that's where my salary comes from) and as such, I think that it will be difficult for me to even get a prepaid cellphone. Please Help!
15 min: 1.50 CHF
30 min: 3 CHF
1 hour: 6 CHF
2 hours: 10 CHF
If you buy a certain number of minutes, and you need to stay connected for a shorter period, you can then use the remaining minutes later, up until 3 months from the date of purchase.
It seems that there are very few Internet cafès in Zurich (here in Baden there's NOONE ), maybe the Swiss think that, since they all have Internet at home, there's no need to worry about foreigners or people with special situations who don't have it...
To all the people that have criticized me: That's exactly the kind of situation that I refer to when I talk about sharing your wi-fi connection...I'm not talking about letting youngsters download porn movies or pirated software, I'm talking about letting foreigners and newcomers contact home...
Read this: http://www.fon.com
and this: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive...wireles_1.html
So, I guess that in your opinion, guys, we Foneros (I'm one of them, I share my ADSL connection back in Italy) are all wrong, and so is Bruce Schneier (one of the most famous Computer Security researchers in the world). And so is Google, who invested large sums of money in FON...
In any case, the FON access point lets you mantain 2 separate wireless networks, one private and protected for you, and the other open to all other Foneros, where every access is logged; so, in case someone does something illegal with your connection, or downloads large files, you are able to know who he/she was, when he/she connected, etc...
It doesn't surprise me that Switzerland is not at the forefront of IT innovation, with such a mentality (give me the name of a big IT company who was born here). Today IT is more about opening, sharing, collaborating (let me tell you some words: open-source, YouTube, Web 2.0...), than locking-down everything.
After my work assignment will end, I'll go away, with no intention of coming back sooner or later, unless there's a radical change in the attitude in this country toward the 'outside'.
My next country? UK or (better) Ireland. Why?
- English speaking countries
- Part of the EU
- Lots of low cost flights to and from anywhere in Europe
- At the forefront of IT innovation
As far as I like piggybacking someone else's WIFI connection as anybody else, the owner of the contract is still responsible for the use of it, so it's a matter of never knowing who will do what with your connection. I guess that's the reason why not so many wireless networks are open.
Plus, here Wifi is not that widespread as in the states. I guess that over there you have 20 open networks because there are at least 100 networks available, here maybe you find 1 every 20.
Logitech, Odyssey, Temenos (but I doubt you heard about these).
Well, if you're happy to share your work for free on youtube/ facebook / glocals / insert whichever web 2.0 hocus pocus here for others to make money of it, you're more than welcome...
I am guessing if you are on short contract staying near Balgrist tram stop you are probably staying in the PUK. Walk around outside, you will be surprised what you will pick up. I know some rooms in there are able to piggyback on open networks but not all.
Apart from people like Stallman or Linus Torvalds...Tell this to the CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz, who has opened the code of many of Sun's products (Solaris, Java...), in the name of what he calls 'The age of participation'. I don't think he's an idealist, he runs a multi-national company, and through this new strategy, he has been able to save Sun from death...
But maybe you are more an 'M$' guy...