Yesterday I set up a wireless network for a neighbour across the street.

I mention this because of the reasons behind his move. He had two laptops (no desktop) and wanted to work free of the wires, not that I can say I blame him. It’s a small area really, imagine an old 17th/18th century market town with the buildings on top of one another and you have the area.

I said to him that security on his wireless network was essential otherwise people would be piggybacking on his connection. He knew nothing about this, and seemed genuinely surprised that that could even happen. On his wireless router, security was NOT on by default (AOL). So does this indicate that the vast majority of people using AOL Broadband, and AOL’s wireless routers, aren’t secure?

What made me write this was the fact that this is a normal person who by his own admission is not a techie, who is moving onto and utilising an advanced bit of technological equipment. But the crux of the matter is, he’s doing it because it makes his life easier - not because of some one-better-than-the-jones’ attitude.

This is all in the context, incidentally, of a small market town in a rural area. By most accounts we are near the bottom of the technologically advanced counties in the UK. But I think that that view is wrong, nearly everyone I talk to has flat screen TV’s, HDTV, Sky satellite TV, broadband, 3G phones etc., A wireless network is just another way that (in this case it is very true) technology can make our lives easier.