Can You Explain This Bizarre Hotspot Experience?

[Amie]

Hello, fellow (and fellow-ette) Mac users! I'm hoping that someone might be able to offer some insight into my very bizarre experience the other night--maybe you can provide a theoretical explanation as to what happened. ...

I was logged onto a Wi-Fi Hotspot using my wireless ISP, which is secured and protected using the latest, updated 802.1x protocol. Plus, I always have my firewall turned on and file sharing turned off. While I was at the Hotspot, there were two Hispanic women there with a laptop trying to get hooked up to a Hotspot ISP. They saw me using my laptop and asked me for help on getting started. I pulled up the Web page for them and helped them, then resumed my own work. I finished my Internet session, closed my laptop and went home. When I got home, I opened my laptop and woke it and was doing some writing when I noticed that my Aiport signal was a tiny bit lit up. And I *never* have an airport signal while inside of my house! So, I clicked on my Airport icon in the menu bar to see what the heck server was there and it was the name MariaEduardo where my usual Hotspot server shows up (when I'm outside my home at a Hotspot). Well, I don't know any Maria Eduardo. The only thing I could think of was that maybe one of the Hispanic women was Maria Eduardo and she was trying to tap into my computer?...

What's your take on this? Anyone?...

 

[scruffy]

More likely you've got a neighbour you don't know, and her wifi connection just happened to show up...

What other information could you get on this connection?

 

[symphonix]

Not too likely. More likely there is an unsecured network named MariaEduardo somewhere within a few hundred metres of your home, and your Airport just picked it up as the best available access point.

 

[Amie]

More likely you've got a neighbour you don't know, and her wifi connection just happened to show up...

What other information could you get on this connection?

No other information. That's the thing--I don't know *how* to get other information on this network. I tried the "whois" feature but produced no results. Also, it said that the network has a "self-assigned IP," whatever that means. Also, when I clicked on it and tried to open my Internet browser, it wouldn't work, anyway. I think the signal was too weak.