kc7gr wrote:
WiFi is indeed well on its way to becoming omnipresent in many areas.
However, my big question is still 'How many of those free connections allow a VPN connection to go through?' This is important to me because of my self-hosted setup (as in I can't get to E-mail without going through VPN back to my LAN). A WiFi system that does not permit VPN traffic is nearly useless to me.
So far, I've actually found few systems that will allow it. Of those, some allow IPSec, others allow PPTP. There are a (very) few that will allow both, and there seems to be no consistency even within an organization. The King County Library System's setup is a great example.
The Renton library's system, for reasons that remain unknown to me, does not allow any form of VPN connection to complete.
Keep the peace(es).
Most people that fail to secure their wireless router also fail to change the IP/password of the setup menu... You can then edit the DMZ/port passthrough to enable VPN... I don't know the legality of all that, I known unauthorized computer access has to come in SOMEWHERE, but I would assume that it would be OK to use the signal, but somewhat questionable to reconfigure the router.... I know it's possible, but I don't mess with other people's stuff...