6/2     I've been to many places and almost every place I go to have
        802.11b/g. However, almost all of them have protected access,
        which I presume they use because they don't want people stealing
        their bandwidth. So here is one idea I think will really
        revolutionize 802.11X... an option in the router that allows you to
        specify the percentage of unprotected bandwidth you are willing to
        share, while allowing maximum bandwidth for yourself. For example,
        I may allow 1-5% of my bandwidth to be shared by any random bozo
        while keeping 95% to myself. By doing so I hope others would do the
        same so that everyone can use 802.11X anywhere. I think this
        Socialist model benefits a lot more people than the current
        selfish model. What do you guys think?
        \_ I've wondered about that myself, but the liability issues
           might be a problem? (e.g. hacker uses that 5% to launch attacks
           anonymously?)
           \_ I treat wireless as "insecure" and have completely different
              rules for that link.  My server has three IP addresses, BTW.
              One can always limit the ports that wireless client can access.
              Limiting it to SSH port, for example, would be fairly safe.
        \_ It's not necessarily to stop bandwidth hosing.  For a long time
           (and probably still) spammers would hunt for WAPs to hijack.
           It's a liability to run an open WAP.
           \_ Holy crap!  Do you mean that by having an open WAP and monitoring
              the traffic I might actually be able to physically catch a
              spammer?  I like this idea <reaches for nunchucks>.
              \_ Indeed!  <reaches for M1911A1>.
        \_ The FREE MARKET sets the price of wireless access at zero in
           most of the coffee shops where I live.
           \_ you live in coffee shops?
        \_ I think it is not very hard to find open, free WAPs.
        \_ Actually, this is already supported by some of the enhanced WRTG54
           firmware out there.  If you wanted to revolutionize 802.11x, write
           a tool which allows people running consumer OSes (i.e. Windows and
           OS X) to perform the following with a single click:
           1) wepcrack closed network
           2) Connect to freshly opened network
           3) Act as a second level gateway for others in the vicinity.
           -dans
           \_ So is there any new wireless routers with customizable firmwares
              other than WRTG54?  I've been thinking of scrapping my Celeron
              firewall box and replace it with a small device.  But I'd like
              to have some features like logging(probably to a syslog server),
              QoS, etc.  I'm not against WRTG54, nor do I know anything about
              it.  I just want to know if there are any newer products that
              I should research as well.  Also, any good pointers on WRTG54
              websites?
              websites? - !op #13
              \_ Yes.  I keep posting this--M0n0wall running on a WRAP board.
                 M0n0 (http://m0n0.ch/wall is free, and the WRAPs (from
                 http://pcengines.ch are cheap and incredibly robust and
                 flexible.  Drop a mini PCI card in there to turn the firewall
                 into a wireless router.  Quite a few people (including some
                 very top-end security guys I know) actually do what you are
                 suggesting--open x% of wifi bandwidth to unauthenticated
                 clients.  Generally this is done with a VPN to the wifi
                 router, though.  What most people don't realize is that it's
                 not _that_ simple to crack WEP/WPA keys, although it can be
                 done with time and the right tools.  Have a look at the
                 Auditor collection (http://www.remote-exploit.org for some
                 more info on this.  -John
                 \_ So I picked up a WRT54GS last night.  I haven't played with
                    it much, but it doesn't look like sveasoft adds a whole
                    lot.  Definitely not "equivalent of products costing
                    hundreds or thousands of dollars."  Looks all the firewall
                    stuff is still done by iptables.  Since my discovery of
                    PF, I'd actually prefer M0n0, but the WRAP board you
                    mentioned doesn't seem to be a whole lot more advantageous
                    hardware-wise to the WRT54G.  I don't know how a 486 200MHz
                    compares to the MIPS based 200MHz processor in the WRT54G.
                    Thanks for the pointer though.  I still have 29 days to
                    play with other firmwares before I can return the device
                    if I don't like it. - !op #13
                    \_ Like I said elsewhere, the main value I see from the
                       sveasoft firmware is letting you boost the signal to
                       full HW specs from 27mw.  The WRAP is not that special;
                       it's a nice, robust, cheaper, faster soekris.  By
                       virtue of it basically being a PC it's extremely
                       flexible, though.  If you like pf, wait for M0n0 to
                       go back to 5.x FreeBSD-based--he had to go back to
                       4.10 due to some driver probs.  -John
              \_ Apologies, the model number is actually WRT54G.  The reason
                 folks hack on those is because they run Linux.  The most
                 common 3rd party firmware for the WRT54G is by a company at:
                 http://www.sveasoft.com
                 It costs money, but I'm told it's worth it.  Many wireless
                 routers are quite similar internally to the WRT54G.  Also,
                 when you talk about newer products, its important to realize
                 that the WRT54G has been getting frequent regular firmware
                 updates, which you can download and flash to get the latest
                 greatest features.  If you don't mind spending a fair amount
                 of cash and want to take the really DIY approach, check out
                 Soekris which makes small form factor glorified 486's that
                 are highly expandable/configurable. -dans
                 \_ I'm not looking for an ultimate router.  I just want to
                    replace my big box with something that's smaller, less
                    heat, and less power-consumption for my home, without
                    the router being a complete brain-dead.  Thanks for the
                    pointer.
                    pointer. - !op #13
                    \_ See above.  The Sveasoft firmware for the WAP-54G is
                       (was?) free and works a charm.  -John
                       \_ The older versions are free, but through a
                          Clintonesque interpretation of what the word
                          'distribute' means, they un-GPL'd the later versions.
                          Out of spite some people put newer versions in
                          bittorrent occasionaly.
                          \_ I recall a shitfest about the source not being
                             GPL'ed, and the Sveasoft guy basically saying,
                             "na na a boo boo, so don't use it."  The only
                             real advantage I saw for the casual user was
                             the 84 (?) mw power boost.  -John
                             \_ You can boost it up to 284 from the default
                                of 28.  But I believe there are plenty of
                                other firmwares that are completely free that
                                can do this. - !op #13
                                \_ I think my wap-54g only does 84.  Can you
                                   give me some pointers to other firmwares
                                   if you've tried any?  -John
                                   \_ I haven't tried it, but many people
                                      seem to like HyperWRT, whose focus is
                                      to boost the radio:
                                      http://www.hyperwrt.org - !op #13
        \_ Capitalist Wireless - sharing 0% of your wireless for free.
             Only those who pay can access wireless
           Socialist Wireless - sharing 10% of your wireless for free.
             EVERYONE gets something, but those who pay get 9X better access.
           Communist Wireless - sharing 100% of your wireless for free.
             Everyone gets something, but no one gets a premium access.
           Fascist Wireless - the government tracks down every single WAP.
           \_ 'Socialist Worker' Wireless - Mommy and Daddy pay for wireless.