The Day My Neighbor Borrowed Wi-Fi

Photo: Unsplash.

My neighbor knocked at 8:07 on a Saturday morning and asked to borrow the internet.

Not the password, exactly. The internet.

Her connection had stopped working, an online appointment began in ten minutes, and the provider’s support line believed hold music was a form of technical assistance. I created a guest network and wrote the password on a receipt.

The appointment ended successfully. Then her phone connected. Then her tablet. At noon she returned with a printer that refused to understand the concept of a guest network. We negotiated with it in the hallway while both apartments watched through open doors.

By evening, her own connection was back. I assumed the arrangement had ended until my router reported a device called WEATHER-CLOCK joining every morning at six. The clock sat in her kitchen and apparently required the entire internet to announce that it was humid.

I considered changing the password. Instead, I renamed the guest network BORROWED_INTERNET and set a reasonable speed limit.

The following week, a small box appeared outside my door. Inside was a cake, a handwritten thank-you note, and a laminated card containing her new Wi-Fi password.

“For emergencies,” the note said.

Her password was twenty-eight characters long and included the name of neither a pet nor a grandchild. I was impressed. I put the card in a drawer beside the spare batteries, where all neighborhood infrastructure eventually lives.