right in the middle of the exam period here at my uni the internet in my halls decided to cop-out, my halls are the only one where it decided to break and because there are only ~40 of us in the hall, computer services here at Queen Mary decided we aren't in their words "a high priority"...

anyways, the main jist of the story is that after being without internet in my room for approx a week and a half now and after being fed up with using the college computers that run ME on P2/P3 processors I've decided that I have had enough and I'm now using my mobile to give me internet access for my desktop. (working quite well btw)

K, it'll cost me, but I'm strictly using it for looking up answers to gaps I have in my notes (plus tiny bit of general browsing) so it shouldn't be too much...plus with my Mum working for Orange, I'm on staff discount

So....what lenghts have you guys gone to get internet access on your computer?

Using other people's open wireless access. I've toyed with the idea of locking them out of their own control panel, but that's such a mean thing to do (plus, they'd know I was there) that I decide never to do it.

only way you could lock them out is if you knew their router/modem password and set up security. but reseting the router would fix it...

I don't know, as I've never been in much of a position where Internet was hard to access. When I've been on vacations, I usually manage fine enough, but as soon as I find something with Internet, I'm usually wanting to jump on it. I'm not sure if I'd ever hijack someone else's wireless router or use a mobile source like James Bond, mostly because my laziness is pretty strong.

They run default SSID and default admin login & password. A brief Google search easily yields that information. The fact that they're running default means they don't know where the reset button is.

Back in my day, I had to crawl two miles over broken glass, in a snowstorm, uphill both ways, just to plug in the phone cord for my 2400 baud modem so I could look at text-only BBSes on my monochrome screen.

not untill they call their ISP saying their 'internets aren't working'.. i know because.. Im that guy they call

I mail my packets via USPS. I win.

Whenever my internet is out for extended periods of time, I suddenly spend a lot more time at the grandparents house

I was sitting in my house one day with a laptop, enjoying coffee, when I spotted a naked man outside my window, roaming around my front yard. First I was worried, but then I just looked away thinking that it was just another homeless man trying to be a dirty attention whore. Suddenly, this man took one of my lawn's plastic Billy Crystal gnomes and threw it violently into my window. Glass flew everywhere, and I was stunned and quite confused. The man jumped through the broken window carelessly, for the hair on his body protected him from any shards of glass that he passed. Suddenly, he charged toward me and put his greasy, misshapen hands on my laptop.

"Ha HA!" yelled the naked man, "I am an INTERNET PREDATOR. I have CAPTURED your internet!!!"

"**** NO!" I screamed as I spilled coffee on my lap, "GET your HANDS OFF my INTERNET!" I tried and tried to get my internet back, but I was blinded by the sheer magnitude of his hairy nudity.

As I slowly began to lose grip on my internet, I reached for one of my two grenades in my pants. I always carry two. After yanking out the safety pin, I put the explosive into his mouth. There was a massive explosion. On the fine living table, there were now bloody portions of his head and 1/3 of what I thought was an eyeball. Fighting over the internet can be a hairy ordeal.

lmfao

I once had to run 10m of UTP through a garden in the dark, through a window into a hub, connected to a pentium, connected by 8m of UTP to a RJ45/DB25 connector, to 2m of serial cable, to a RJ11/DB25 connector to 2m of phone line into a wall socket.

All that to play Quake I think it was...

Paying 70$ (CAN) a month for internet is enough for me. ****ing videotron and their limitless high speed crap.

haha "Videotron"

Nothing really.

I even went to New York and had 5 full days without using a computer at all. It surely felt odd to return home and put the computer on again.

Pfffffffft, I've been using the internet since like 1991. I've had time to learn that it sucks.

I don't think I would do anything.

sympatico's not bad with limitless high speed at around 45$ a month

I'd go a library on campus, one of the ones that was never very busy.