When I recently moved to a new town, I was in bad need of an internet connection when I arrived. I tried four different providers, but the fastest I could get a cable modem installed was two months.

A sampling of the networks I can see from my apartment.

If you've ever relocated to a new town, you know how crucial having internet access is. Whether you're printing maps, looking up phone numbers, or looking for jobs, you can't go a day without it.

The thing is, my computer could 'see' nine different WiFi networks around me. Nine networks! But they were all encrypted, and there was no easy way for me to figure out who they belonged to. If I could have, at least I could approach them about 'renting' their WiFi until mine was installed.

In my frustration, I began to wonder: Why isn't there a service to match up people who have WiFi networks with the people willing to trade something in order to use them?

Countless people already do this, but it's usually because they are close neighbors. My neighborhood is so dense, however, that finding which network belongs to whom is almost impossible.

Q: Is it illegal to share my WiFi connection, or use someone else's?

No. Simply sharing your WiFi connection is not illegal as defined by any state or federal law.

Now, accessing someone else's network without their knowledge or permission is definately illegal - that's covered by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Sharemywifi.com's whole purpose, though, is to connect people who are explictly giving their permission to share their WiFi access with their neighbors and others. It's a huge difference than if you were just taking their access without asking.

Be advised that your provider's Terms of Service (TOS), however, may be another matter. The TOS is your 'contract' with your ISP - and some internet providers explicitly prohibit buying internet from them and then sharing it with your neighbors, so you'll have to check with yours to make sure.

Other, more forward-thinking providers like Speakeasy, for example - will sell you internet access and help you share it with your neighbors. They'll even knock some money off of your bill. They don't care what you do with it as long as you're buying the line. Again, you should check with your provider.

See also:

TechDirt: Are You Liable If Someone Does Something Illegal On Your WiFi?

Wi-Fi mooching and the law (enteredge.com)

Share the Word ... And the DSL Connection (washingtonpost.com)

Why don't you just let us type in our address?

a) Doing so would be a little too invasive. Having the ability to map an AP to a specific address, and then to a person, is just a little too creepy in my book.

b) Doing address-to-map lookups would require hooking geocoding into the maps, and I don't want to sign up and pay for the service. I'd prefer to keep this a $0 out-of-pocket site :)

That depends. Most users just want to surf the web, get their email, and maybe download a few files - and that doesn't require a whole heck of a lot of bandwidth. Your standard cable connection (4m down, 512k up) is really kind of overkill for a single household anyway. Unless you're a power user, adding a few neighbors onto your WiFi shouldn't going to result in any noticeable slowness.

Of course, it is up to the person listing their WiFi to work out terms for sharing their line that are to their satisfaction. We're just here to help people who need WiFi hook up with those who have it - we leave the details to you.

Yes. After registering your first AP, you'll get a notification email and a password. You can then login and edit your existing AP's, contact information, and add new listings.