Unsecured networks.

[SideWinder]

What are the 'downsides' besides people being able to connect to them without needing a password?

Could i see who is accessing my wireless router if my network was unsecured?

 

[Jayster]

What are the 'downsides' besides people being able to connect to them without needing a password?

Could i see who is accessing my wireless router if my network was unsecured?

You would probably be able to find out a limited amount of information from your pc but dd-wrt gives you a lot of info about the clients connected.
And for downsides is all the things people could be doing which could end up getting you in trouble.

 

[benftl]

Most routers will show the MAC addresses of connected wireless clients.

Downsides: Any kind of illegal data could be downloaded / uploaded on your connection, and you'd be the one getting in trouble for it. If your PC's have network sharing enabled, anyone connecting could access your folders etc.

 

[stockhausen]

I suspect that if you deliberately left your Wireless network unsecured you could be considered to be giving all and sundry tacit permission to use it. This could result in your breaching the fair usage policy agreement with your ISP. Furthermore if someone used your network to make pirated software, videos, music etc. available via your connection, you might be liable to prosecution.

Why on earth would you WANT to leave your wireless network unsecured

Surely it isn't all that much of a challenge to enter a passkey?

 

[tntcoder]

You would also lose all privacy/confidentiality (unless your using SSL/TLS etc).

Anyone could sniff what you're doing, log things like IM conversations, websites you vist, usernames/passwords/emails etc. Could also modify data your receive.

Also they could Denial of Service you, effectively making the connection appear dead.

And then there's the more dangerous stuff, you could be framed for something. For example, someone could drive outside your house log on and do something malicious (fraud/terrorism etc) and next thing you know...