Wi-Fi across property boundaries illegal?

As far as I know, there is nothing illegal about sharing a wifi link over property boundaries. It may be against the ISP's terms and conditions to share a connection with your neighbor, so that should be your main concern.

Just for interests sake: I think I read a few years ago that a wifi signal may not cross a public area without the necessary licenses and permissions from ICASA. So technically if your neighbor was on the other side of a public road, they may not have connected to your wifi. But this was a long time ago and I'm pretty sure that even if I recall it correctly (which is doubtful), the legislation has probably been rectified in the meantime.

Edit: How far are you and the neighbor located from each other? If your link doesn't need to be boosted to the point where it interferes with any existing signals, I say just go for it. If anybody complains, you can just take it down again.
 
Last edited:
Mister 44 said:
Edit: How far are you and the neighbor located from each other? If your link doesn't need to be boosted to the point where it interferes with any existing signals, I say just go for it. If anybody complains, you can just take it down again.
Click to expand...

In terms of boundaries, probably 100M, but we're another 200-300M into the complex.
 
ICASA will detect your illegal signal and will confiscate your equipment during a raid. Then you will be banned from ever using Wi-Fi again.
 
oober said:
ICASA will detect your illegal signal and will confiscate your equipment during a raid. Then you will be banned from ever using Wi-Fi again.
Click to expand...

Banned from using a feature every device has... LOL, they can confiscate but they will never really know ;)
 
cybershark said:
In terms of boundaries, probably 100M, but we're another 200-300M into the complex.
Click to expand...

You are probably aware of it already but you won't be able to establish a reliable link with your typical wifi access points and routers over that distance. I think you'll need some sort of directional antennas at both ends, sort of a scaled down version of what the guys use for WUGs. Unfortunately I don't have much experience with those type of set-ups, sorry. It is probably a good idea to read up on the WUGs for legal implications as well since it will be essentially what you will be doing on small scale.
Here's Jo'burg WUGs website http://www.jawug.org.za/ to give you starting point.

koeksGHT said:
Banned from using a feature every device has... LOL, they can confiscate but they will never really know ;)
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if they even confiscate equipment without first issuing a warning. And I think the warning itself would only happen if the equipment interferes with the signal of a license holder.
 
With line of sight, quite easy. Without line of sight, very difficult to near impossible. If there are lots of AP's in the area this could also reduce the quality or range of the connection. High gain antennas are a must then.

Set this up myself years ago. Needed to use exactly the same routers and exactly the same firmware. And not all security options worked. Each of us makes our own PPPOE connection to our own ISPs so there are no issues with who is using how much data. But of course if one person runs multi-threaded downloads 24/7 then it slows the line down for the others.

Also had an issue where one guy's wifi connection (signal) was iffy and the multiple retries/packet fails brought the whole network down to a near halt. After improving his SNR by a few dB's everything was back to normal again.
 
We've had signal transmitters in a few of our offices but it always was line of site.
I don't think it is illegal but the ISP might have issues but they would probably never know.
You'll need decent equipment though or it'll be a fruitless excersize.
 
I have been doing it with 2 of my neighbours for several years. Had to get a decent antenna to make the signal go the distance, but it works 100%

Saves big time on the ISP costs. They don't use it much - maybe 2Gb a month
 
AFAIK: The boundaries law refers to municipal boundaries. So you can tap across all the houses along your side of the road, but not the one directly across the street.
 
Voicy said:
AFAIK: The boundaries law refers to municipal boundaries. So you can tap across all the houses along your side of the road, but not the one directly across the street.
Click to expand...

How can that possibly be proven or enforced? "Halt, Mr Wi-Fi Signal, you may not pass this mark..."
 
Voicy said:
AFAIK: The boundaries law refers to municipal boundaries. So you can tap across all the houses along your side of the road, but not the one directly across the street.
Click to expand...

This is incorrect, does not matter if you neighbor is across the street or right next to you, it is still counted as a boundary.

We get a lot of questions regarding this, generally it is accepted that if you are selling the service you require a
Class ECNS and ECS license.

If you are using the link for personal use you need to apply to ICASA for a license exception.
 
eddief1 said:
This is incorrect, does not matter if you neighbor is across the street or right next to you, it is still counted as a boundary.

We get a lot of questions regarding this, generally it is accepted that if you are selling the service you require a
Class ECNS and ECS license.

If you are using the link for personal use you need to apply to ICASA for a license exception.
Click to expand...

BS - he is paying his neighbour for the internet.How can they prosecute a paying member?How are they gonna enforce this lmao, ICASA what a joke.
 
Even if illegal the question is whether it's enforceable...which it is not.
 
Batista said:
BS - he is paying his neighbour for the internet.How can they prosecute a paying member?How are they gonna enforce this lmao, ICASA what a joke.
Click to expand...

The law doesn't care whether what the link is for: you may not provide telecommunication services crossing boundaries without a valid ECNS/ECS license. Reselling of an ISP's service is an unrelated matter.

As for how enforceable this is: I agree, it is not. The only way that the regulator will become aware is if someone complains.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X