Can My Neighbour and I Share an Internet Connection?
Answer: Internet sharing is not permitted on our network unless you have a valid ICASA ECN & ECNS
Licence or special permission with a permit of the internet service supplier.
From the Charter High Speed Internet AUP:
USE
The Service is designed for personal and family use within a single household...
Customer agrees that
only the Customer and co-
residents living in the same household will use the Service. The term ‘single
household’
means
the
Customer’s
home
and
includes
a
n
apartment,
condominium,
flat
or
other
residential unit that may be used as a residence in any multiple dwelling unit. Customer may not resell
or distribute the Service outside Customer’s household. The Service is being provided solely for use in
Customer
’s household and any unauthorized access by a third party to e
-mail, Internet access, or any
other
function
of
the
Service
relieves
Charter
of
any
affirmative
obligations
it
may
have,
and
is
in
violation of this Policy.
Be aware:
All
ISPs
now
consider
anyone
using
any
broadband
connection
other
than
within
the
household
subscribing to it illegal. It is backed by the courts as it is theft of service by possibly denying them a
subscription. Their terms of service are only for use within the subscribing household. That means the
person using it from outside would be held guilty and subject to up to 5 years prison PER connection.
So 5 machines = 5 connections, 5 times connecting one machine = 5 connections. They DO prosecute
and never lose a case. The person subscribing would be held guilty of conspiring to steal service, even
if the did not get prosecuted, their service could be terminated without notice, and they would be liable
for all outstanding contract payments, plus losses for the estimated additional usage of outside persons.
It
can
get
the
address
blacklisted
so
no
other
provider
will
supply
service.
If
using
it
without
the
subscribers consent and they sensibly encrypt their network to make it secure, would also carry up to
20 years prison for cracking encryption.
Furthermore, consider the following:
John asked if he and his neighbor could save money by sharing one Internet account, via Wi-Fi.
This should work, but the negatives probably outweigh the positives.
The basic concept is simple: You (or your neighbor) subscribes to an Internet service through your
phone or cable company. You set up a router with secure Wi-Fi (which you should do, anyway), make
sure
you
have
a
powerful
enough
signal
to
reach
your
neighbor's
home,
and
give
them
the Wi-Fi
password. Then the neighbor cancels their Internet service, accesses the Internet through yours, and
pays you a monthly fee.
Both of you would take a performance hit, but that will only occasionally be a serious problem--for
instance, if you're both streaming HD video at the same time. And even that can be easily fixed by
paying for greater bandwidth. Many services only charge an extra $5 a month to double your speed.
So what could go wrong? Plenty.
First of all, how well do you trust your neighbor? And their kids? They could download something illegal,
such as child pornography, and it would look to law enforcement agencies as if you're the culprit. And
since you'd be sharing your local network as well as your Internet connection, they might be able to
hack into your hard drive.
And what happens if the neighbor with the service is on vacation when a problem develops? My DSL
connection died while I was writing this post. I rebooted the modem and router and everything was fine.
What if this had happened while I was on vacation and my neighbor depended on my connection.
Finally, your ISP would almost certainly object. After all, they're losing money in this arrangement. If
you read their Terms of Service, you're bound to find something banning such behavior. If they catch
you, the consequences might be serious.
All things considered, I do not think or believe it's worth the risk.