Who's using our broadband?

alexiadexia

Hi guys,

Hope someone can help me. I'm a complete technophobe so please nobody leave sarcastic remarks ! I really need some advice...

I am using Eircom Broadband at the mo & seem to be waaaaay above my download allownce. No fault of my own I might add. There are 4 of us living in the house at present. Anyway the other evening I decided to have a look at who's online at the moment & I saw pc names I didn't recognise. I asked everyone in the house to check theirs & as far as I can tell there's definitely 1 strange name.:mad: How can I track this person down?? I will knock on neighbours doors if I have to. I will of course change the password eventually but if I could find the bad mofo first I'd be happy sending them a bill or 3!!

Alexia X

Gonzovision

You will need to change your password in your router, and make sure its set to wpa-pk mode. To do this open your internet browser and type in http//:192.168.1.254 into the address bar and go to the security tab and where it probably says wep change it to wpa-pk and configure your password.

Now to stop your wireless signal being broadcast disable SSID broadcast in the wireless tab.


Hope this helps. I would also ring eircom to inform them of the issue.

alexiadexia

Thanks so much , I still don't have a clue what it meand but will try it later. Is it true that the password you're given initially is the same for everyone (even if it's long with lots of characters). Any way I can find out who the perpetrator is?

Gonzovision

The password is usually a wep key. Im not sure if they are all set the same initially but it is not a very secure form of security. Wpa-pk is far more secure.

There are ways you can find out the IP address. You could use a packet sniffer and check the logs in your router and on windows as you will find any connections made. Check the other users Ip on your network using ipconfig in command prompt which will leave you with the ip address of who ever is using your connection. I would ring eircom about it, they could be doing anything on your connection.

chrismon

alexiadexia wrote: »

Thanks so much , I still don't have a clue what it meand but will try it later. Is it true that the password you're given initially is the same for everyone (even if it's long with lots of characters). Any way I can find out who the perpetrator is?

Theres not really much point in my oppinion. There's no way to prove someone is stealing your internet. Id just change the password and change the name of the network from "eircom *** ****" to something completly different. the *'s i put in after eircom is your router serial code, the default password is linked to this code and there's wep generators that will find your password with these numbers.
Hope ya get it sorted :cool:

Gonzovision

chrismon wrote: »

Theres not really much point in my oppinion. There's no way to prove someone is stealing your internet. Id just change the password and change the name of the network from "eircom *** ****" to something completly different. the *'s i put in after eircom is your router serial code, the default password is linked to this code and there's wep generators that will find your password with these numbers.
Hope ya get it sorted :cool:

There certainly is apoint in upgrading to wpa-pk from wep.

rmacm

alexiadexia wrote: »

How can I track this person down?? I will knock on neighbours doors if I have to. I will of course change the password eventually but if I could find the bad mofo first I'd be happy sending them a bill or 3!!

Alexia X

Hi Alexia

There isn't really any way to track this person down it could be anyone that can pick up the signal from your router e.g. where I'm living I can pick up several access points from the apartments around mine. If someone is logged into your access point and using your connection they probably won't admit it if you decide to knock on peoples doors.

gonzovision wrote: »

You will need to change your password in your router, and make sure its set to wpa-pk mode. To do this open your internet browser and type in http//:192.168.1.254 into the address bar and go to the security tab and where it probably says wep change it to wpa-pk and configure your password.

Now to stop your wireless signal being broadcast disable SSID broadcast in the wireless tab.


Hope this helps. I would also ring eircom to inform them of the issue.

Change the encryption to WPA-PSK as has been said, with a good password i.e. a mixture of upper and lower case characters along with numbers and special characters e.g. $

If you're a technophobe (your words not mine :P) I wouldn't bother disabling the SSID. This might stop your average opportunist punter but if someone is really determined they'll be able to find it

chrismon wrote: »

Theres not really much point in my oppinion. There's no way to prove someone is stealing your internet. Id just change the password and change the name of the network from "eircom *** ****" to something completly different. the *'s i put in after eircom is your router serial code, the default password is linked to this code and there's wep generators that will find your password with these numbers.
Hope ya get it sorted :cool:

Not much point in calling Eircom about this, they were the ones that shipped these routers in the first place with a WEP key linked to the SSID. Just change the type of encryption to WPA-PSK and use a decent pass phrase and make sure your routers admin web page is secured with a password too.

Post up again if you need anymore advice and let us know how you get on.

alexiadexia

Thanks so much, I was worried that I'd get lots of sarcastic answers & abuse. Will try fix it this evening & report back.