When we decided to move out of our old apartment, I made the decision that I would switch internet to AT&T DSL without landline plan, and cancel our cable TV so that I could once and for all be done with Charter as a company. Then, I found out that AT&T doesn’t cover DSL in this area and all of a sudden this idea went out the window entirely and I had decided that I guess since I had to get cable internet, and since they charge something like $10 a month for not having TV service that I guess I might as well just get TV still. Then, as previously noted, we found out that the clubhouse wifi reaches up to our apartment. Now I am at a moral dilemma.
On one side, the brochure clearly states that the wifi is free to use by tenants, but it is largely intended for those who journey down to their clubhouse area. So am I stealing the wifi connection by just using that connection here and foregoing a real internet service here at home? Furthermore, I am sure few other tenants in this buidling, and I’m sure no tenants in other buildings even have such access, yet I doubt I am actually paying more for my lease than anyone else. So this is not necessarily a feature of the rent.
Still, it is supposed to be for tenants… I am a tenant. And if I had decided to forego paying Charter for the internet connection, I likely would have gone down to the clubhouse regularly to get the wifi access, so if their access reaches my apartment should I be in the wrong for not taking the extra time to go down there? In addition, I am somewhat disabled so shouldn’t I get such access without leaving my home in hopes of avoiding complications with my disability?
At the end of the day, I am likely using it for purposes unintended by those who started it and in that way I am sort of stealing a connection. But still they are the ones who are offering up this connection at no additional charge and who aren’t really protecting it from people who are in their own apartment.
What makes this matter worse is the carrot of a 35mbps broadband option that is supposedly only a month or two away. I truly cannot decide whether to cut cable or not and my roommate isn’t helping. She is saying that it is ok if we just use the wifi, yet I know she would be uncomfortable doing so and I don’t want her to face that discomfort… so great….
My current decision has been to delay the decision by rescheduling my apointment that I had tomorrow morning (which was really too early in the morning anyway) to Friday evening. Allowing me to both get a feel for watching television without cable as well as using the internet with this wifi and see if it is right with me. I do feel that I won’t really use the internet in the next few weeks much to warrant the price tag of cable, so this is where I think I’m leaning to right now. But who knows where I will be tomorrow.