Wardriving in Bangalore

For the uninitiated you can find a link to wardriving here

Yesterday I was in my car reading a presentation on my laptop. Suddenly I had the bright idea of switching my Wireless radio on and see what would happen. As I travel via MG Road everyday, that was where I did some harmless checking. Well, I shouldn't be calling it wardriving as I just wanted to see how many WiFi networks were in Bangalore.

As I switched on my wireless radio near Trinity Circle (Ulsoor road to be precise), I caught at least 4-5 networks. Most of them didn't have a WEP lock icon next to them. I even tried getting in a couple and I would have succeeded in browsing had my car not continued to move. Some have just the usual NETGEAR and Linksys SSIDs without bothering to do anything.

Some however did have WEP and I couldn't get on some because of some problem. There was a service provider whose wireless portal I was able to access.

The Capitol hotel on Raj Bhavan road has a free for all network. If anybody needs to get some free browsing done, sip a coffee at the India Coffee House next door and I am sure you will be able to get on the internet. I didn't even try and I know I could have succeeded easily here.

Even near older areas like Malleswaram, I could find one or two networks.

I for one was glad to see that there were a lot of people gone WiFi in Bangalore. I will probably try this again in a couple of days and see what has changed. Also, I should try this in a couple of other areas of Bangalore to estimate how tech-savvy Bangalore really is.