JEDDAH: Internet surfers across the city are picking up insecure wireless networks thanks to the widespread availability of a new and affordable signal-boosting WIFI adapter.

The adapter, which is in extremely high demand, hunts for Internet signals around a 500-meter circumference, making it fairly easy for leech-users to pick up signals in their vicinities.

Internet freeloaders used to previously carry their laptops and roam a neighborhood looking for Internet signals from a wireless home adapter, which has a narrow range. Now, thanks to this new device, freeloaders can pick up wireless signals in their neighborhood while sitting in the comfort of their homes and shops.

Ahmad Khalil, a computer shop worker at Khaled ibn Waleed Street, said the device, which costs around SR200, is in high demand. “The main purpose of the device is to increase the limit of the wireless Internet network, but many people use it to leech over unsecured signals in their localities,” he said.

The problem with many legal Internet subscribers is that they do not know how to secure their network, which leaves their signals vulnerable. “If people would simply read the manual that comes with their wireless modem, they could make it very hard for hackers to share their Internet connection,” he said.

Ihsan Ahman, a computer shop operator, said that hacking private unsecured Internet signals weakens the speed of one’s Internet. “Subscribers then complain to their Internet service providers. Users should know that a slow Internet speed could be due to other people using one’s connection,” he said.

Many people can be seen across the city with the gray adapter that has a small black antenna. A Yemeni shisha shop owner had the adapter inside his shop.

He told Arab News that he seeks signals to chat with his family in Yemen. “I bought a cheap second-hand laptop and the adapter to keep me connected to the Internet to chat with my family. This is much cheaper than using a phone,” he said.

Hussien Munzer, a resident of the Al-Thagr District in south Jeddah, said that when he uses the adapter he gets at least 30 Internet signals in his neighborhood. “At least 70 percent of those signals are not secure,” he said.