What is the benefit of switching off the password protection? All the wifi devices I have remember the password. I don't have to keep re entering it each time I want to connect.

In reply to a post by ponyman:

but what is the risk?

Also consider that everything communicated over wifi is sent without encryption so anyone within range could easily access everything you do. No wifi protection means your wired network is totally accessible also.

This is not an issue for everyone though if all you are doing is internet browsing and streaming TV.

For the minimal effort of adding a password though that had to be entered once on each device, is it worth the risk?

I'm not sure you could be held accountable for what someone else has done if they access your 'free' wifi. As far as I know, nobody has ever been prosecuted for this.

You are not required to keep logs and it would be required to prove guilt rather than you innocence.
Not a lawyer though so treat as such

In reply to a post by smouty:

Also consider that everything communicated over wifi is sent without encryption so anyone within range could easily access everything you do. No wifi protection means your wired network is totally accessible also.

It is possible to segregate but not with the free ISP routers. Also WiFi can be picked up at surprisingly long range, even without a pringles can antenna.

If nothing else, what you'll find now is that most modern devices will complain about connecting to networks without passwords etc. For that reason alone I would configure something so that everything won't keep showing "unsecured network" etc etc.

how do I make my own post i can only ever see option to reply?

On the individual forms where you look at the list of posts towards the top right is a button "post".