In article <kXmge.917$aM4.821@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com>, BillW50 says...
> 
> ...
> There are some things to think about if anybody wants to do this. One,
> if they know what they are doing, they could be running a packet sniffer
> and can see everything you are doing on the Internet. Your passwords and
> everything! So while free Internet might sound nice, but if they are
> capturing your passwords, credit card numbers, etc. Then it isn't really
> a good deal, now is it?
> 
> And since nobody is admitting it that it isn't their system, the very
> same in my case as well. I suspect this is exactly what they are up to.
> As I believe they are running open systems on purpose so they can
> capture information they can later use. Just something to think about.
> ... 

Yeah, thanks for the reminder and making it public; everyone should know 
these kinds of things. Both the computer and the router are broadcasting 
(and listening) in a spherical range, not in a straight line to each 
other. Which means any laptop that this sending private data, as you 
mentioned above, is also send that same data to everyone in earshot (or 
radioshot, to coin a phrase). Secured access, identity validation and 
keyed encryption is the ONLY way to go WiFi...

Frisco