how to identify/approach a discovered wlan (i want to pay)

i powered up my laptop in this social circle i've joined, and to my
pleasant surprise i was able to connect to the i'net via a unsecured wlan

now i anticipate that sooner or later, somebody somewhere will set a key,
and before they do so, i want to make the owner of that wlan a
proposition: pay for internet minutes, whatever works ..

so: how can i find the network admin for this wlan, based on the data i
gather from my laptop?

running winxp, sp2, i get this data:

Physical Address: 00-02-44-93-44-C8
IP Address: 192.168.2.14
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server: 192.168.2.1
Lease Obtained: 04-27-2006 15:43:22
Lease Expires: 01-19-2038 05:14:07
DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
WINS Server: [blank]

wlan
ssid: belkin54g
configured for open access

other data
how to retrieve?

thanks in advance

stefaan dot meeuws at gmail dot com

In article <Xns97B2A3D121AD6stefaanmeeuwstelenet@207.46.248.1 6>, Stefaan Meeuws <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>i powered up my laptop in this social circle i've joined, and to my
>pleasant surprise i was able to connect to the i'net via a unsecured wlan
>
Alas, those 192.168... addresses are typically the preferred (automatic) IP
addresses for the wireless router and its clients. You're .14; probably the
owner is connected as .15.

This is insufficient for you to ascertain the actual source of the network.

Ya' gotta be grateful for those folks; when I accidentally severed my cable a
couple weeks ago with the weedwacker, and was cut off for two days, my
anonymous neighbor with the unsecured network was a boon.

Art

you can try checking the network neighborhood, under all networks and see if
there is a workgroup and computer in there, maybe the name of it would match
up with a neighbor. or take your laptop for a walk and see where the signal
is the strongest, the range on those things isn't all that great, especially
if its inside a building. or you can try the 'net send' command to send a
broadcast to the lan and see if they respond... open a dos prompt and try
'net send * hello, i would like to use your wlan, please call me at....'
smart people have this blocked with a firewall, so it may not work, but if
they have left the wlan unsecured who knows what else they may not have
done.

"Stefaan Meeuws" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns97B2A3D121AD6stefaanmeeuwstelenet@207.46.2 48.16...
>i powered up my laptop in this social circle i've joined, and to my
> pleasant surprise i was able to connect to the i'net via a unsecured wlan
>
> now i anticipate that sooner or later, somebody somewhere will set a key,
> and before they do so, i want to make the owner of that wlan a
> proposition: pay for internet minutes, whatever works ..
>
> so: how can i find the network admin for this wlan, based on the data i
> gather from my laptop?
>
> running winxp, sp2, i get this data:
>
> Physical Address: 00-02-44-93-44-C8
> IP Address: 192.168.2.14
> Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
> Default Gateway: 192.168.2.1
> DHCP Server: 192.168.2.1
> Lease Obtained: 04-27-2006 15:43:22
> Lease Expires: 01-19-2038 05:14:07
> DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
> WINS Server: [blank]
>
> wlan
> ssid: belkin54g
> configured for open access
>
> other data
> how to retrieve?
>
> thanks in advance
>
> stefaan dot meeuws at gmail dot com

if found a wlan 'detector' tool that accepts input from a GPS hardware
widget

www.stumbler.net

thats nice for mapping nets as you drive around, but if you are getting it
strong enough to use you are likely within 100' of it and the gps won't get
you any closer than if you just walk around and find the strongest signal.

"Stefaan Meeuws" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns97B3CAE8C29EEstefaanmeeuwstelenet@207.46.2 48.16...
>
> if found a wlan 'detector' tool that accepts input from a GPS hardware
> widget
>
> www.stumbler.net