Neighbour Stealing My UPC Broadband & TV

DigiCol

Not sure if this is the right location for this post but the mods can move it if necessary.

My TV & Bradband service has been dodgy for a while with my TV signal breaking up and My broadband going off line and taking hours to re-connect. I contacted UPC and they said that the signal getting to my house was weak and needed to send an engineer out to have a look which they did. The engineer came and lifted the manhole outside my house to test the main connection to see what the problem was. He discovered that a neighbour had lifted the manhole and tapped the connection for his/her house into mine and there fore recieving all my Digital TV services and Broadband that I pay €257 every 2 months to have. The engineer was unable (meaning he knew but couldn't) tell me who it was. This is not the first time it has happened as a few years back My TV & Broadband signal dissappeared for over a week and the engineer of that time told me the same thing only this time they had just disconnected mine and connected theirs. He attached a Physical locking mechanism to the outside connection to stop people disconnecting mine in future. But it appaers that this time round they used a plyers to break the lock and tap my signal rather than disconnect me entirely. It is obviously the same person doing this as they must know what they are doing and have a certain knowledge about how to do it as they would have to do this in the middle of the night, lift the man hole and connect up their house to my feed. I mean how long have they had use of my TV and Broadband service. Using up my bandwidth and slowing down my connection and also leaving me with a **** TV signal ?? What if they were downloading illeagal Software, Music, Movies or even worse Child Porn. could that be tracked back to me as it was coming from my IP address. I've contacted UPC and they have said that they are going to follow it up and rectify the situation but still will not tell me who it is. What are my legal rights??? can I take leagal action for theft??? Do I have a right to know who they are??? Should UPC reimburse me for loss of service ??? Should UPC chase them for theft ??? If anyone else has been in a similar situation i would like to hear what their outcome was. Thanks

Irishpimpdude

I find it hard to believe they are receiving all your digital tv services or even your broadband seeing as you need a digital tv receiver from upc and a nagravision 3 card, i find it hard to believe there connecting directly into your services seeing as most of the people were you live would have a upc connection and they could easily just hook it up without touching your connection.

DigiCol

You may find it hard to believe but it happened (twice). The engineer told me so himself as did the engineer the first time around. As I said this is somebody who knows what they are doing. Why else would they go to the hassle of having to lift a Large manhole in the dead of night and tapping my signal for no reason. Why would they just connect to any connection when UPC could detect that a signal is being recieved into a house where no bill is being sent. By tapping mine UPC would be totally unaware. Maybe they have a Cracked Digi Box. Who knows ?? but they still did it !!! I'm not interested in why they did it I want to know what I can do about it ??

paulm17781

Most likely they are only getting analogue tv for free. I doubt very much they're getting your digital TV or broadband. As bad as your signal was, theirs was probably worse.

DigiCol

paulm17781 wrote: »

Most likely they are only getting analogue tv for free. I doubt very much they're getting your digital TV or broadband. As bad as your signal was, theirs was probably worse.

I hope so ??

yoyo

They would also need your modems mac addy to get your broadband, and some knowledge how to hack cable modems? to use it. Your broadband package is detected by the mac of the connecting modem, not the cable coming into the address. Also as pointed out your TV subscription preferances (digital) are contained in your encryption card in the receiver box, so the neighbour couldnt really gain much by tapping in (bar use standard analogue tv channels, no bb (unless they use your or someone elses mac & have modified their cable modem somehow to use the different mac))

Nick

jay93

wow that is crazy ..i wonder who would go through so much effort just to get a BB and tv signal would they not just get there own the robbing Fuks ?? regarding your ip adress and if they where doing something illegal it would be tracked to your router and you could get in some serious Sh1t over it..however since UPC are aware that you connection has been hacked they would cover for you so i dont think you would worry about that..im just thinking of how they could hi jack the fibre wire and connect it to there own home would this not mean they would need some fibre wire themselves ??its a very odd thing to be honest have UPC disconnected the wires going the the robbers house yet or are they still stealing your BB ??:mad:

paulm17781

jay93 wrote: »

wow that is crazy ..i wonder who would go through so much effort just to get a BB and tv signal would they not just get there own the robbing Fuks ?? regarding your ip adress and if they where doing something illegal it would be tracked to your router and you could get in some serious Sh1t over it..however since UPC are aware that you connection has been hacked they would cover for you so i dont think you would worry about that..im just thinking of how they could hi jack the fibre wire and connect it to there own home would this not mean they would need some fibre wire themselves ??its a very odd thing to be honest have UPC disconnected the wires going the the robbers house yet or are they still stealing your BB ??:mad:

This is why we say it's not what's happening. To hijack the co-ax would be easy enough but unlikely they could get BB from this. Even if they were, they'd have a different IP from the OP. Analogue TV is all they were getting.

jay93

paulm17781 wrote: »

This is why we say it's not what's happening. To hijack the co-ax would be easy enough but unlikely they could get BB from this. Even if they were, they'd have a different IP from the OP. Analogue TV is all they were getting.

Yeah a differant ip would be on the op router than the hijacked one..im also sure aswell that if they where getting BB that the mac address would fail to register with the UPC systems..they where probably even lucky to get the tv also!!this is the first i have heard of tv been robbed from another persons connection lol

Mister Gooey

If they know what they are doing, they will be able to get broadband and digital tv. However, seeing as they did a poor connection job to your cable (they don't know what they are doing!), I doubt they got more than analogue tv. UPC could tell you what broadband activity came from "your" connection if you are worried.

Sponge Bob

Get a can of that expandable filler stuff, cut their cable right back, and put a quick squirt up their underground pipe ( they will never know it was not UPC did it ).

Only a small squirt , it expands like crazy and could come back down to you unless you plug the end of the pipe to stop it doing so....a cork would do!

hightower1

There is no way that they are getting bb service from the coax cable, they need a UPC issued modem as the mac address will not get any service if its not pre provisioned from UPC .... its impossible get bb service from a mac that upc didnt authorize.


On how to stop it happening? Well disconnecting the cable from yours and attach a nice large electrical current would travel down their line to all the co ax outlets through out the house frying anything attached.... "maybe" a tad over kill though. :D:D

Mister Gooey

hightower1 wrote: »

There is no way that they are getting bb service from the coax cable, they need a UPC issued modem as the mac address will not get any service if its not pre provisioned from UPC .... its impossible get bb service from a mac that upc didnt authorize.


On how to stop it happening? Well disconnecting the cable from yours and attach a nice large electrical current would travel down their line to all the co ax outlets through out the house frying anything attached.... "maybe" a tad over kill though. :D:D

Hi Hightower - you can get broadband with a non-issued UPC modem. It is completely illegal. I don't want to encourage this activity so I will not expand. The world would be a better and cheaper place if everyone payed there way!!

jor el

Since the cable in the ground is UPC's property, no one should interfere with it, regardless of what the thief deserves.

However, what the OP was told about the neighbour stealing their broadband and digital TV is just wrong. In both cases, you need a modem or digital receiver, to get broadband and digital TV, and having those won't effect some one else. The only time it could effect you is if the modem is cloned off of yours, which means you wouldn't be able to connect, or if they disconnect your cable you would lose everything. Illegal digital TV receivers have been around for quite a while, but don't effect any other user.

The neighbour would also have no need to tap into the OP's cable, as each house will have it's own cable going into the junction box, which can simply be connected. The only thing they would get for free would be analogue TV, and this would only effect UPC's revenue and not anyone else.

Cabaal

jor el wrote: »

The neighbour would also have no need to tap into the OP's cable, as each house will have it's own cable going into the junction box, which can simply be connected. The only thing they would get for free would be analogue TV, and this would only effect UPC's revenue and not anyone else.

True, however given what the UPC eng stated it would appear he's using his cable line to receive this signal and has gone about it in a arsed about way which has affected the OP's service to his premises.

By right the OP should persue this with UPC as its the second time its happened,

Mister Gooey

Cabaal wrote: »

True, however given what the UPC eng stated it would appear he's using his cable line to receive this signal and has gone about it in a arsed about way which has affected the OP's service to his premises.

By right the OP should persue this with UPC as its the second time its happened,

The neighbour should be pursued as it is stealing. And also interfering with some other parties property. It should have been pursued after the first incident.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

tazzzZ

this comes under the theft act, "obtaining services by deception". can contact the gardai if u wish but i would just bring it up with upc that ur service is being compramised by a third party.

Cabaal

tazzzZ wrote: »

this comes under the theft act, "obtaining services by deception". can contact the gardai if u wish but i would just bring it up with upc that ur service is being compramised by a third party.

I wouldn't waste me time or the gardai's time by contacting them, the matter is for UPC to pursue not the Gardai.

UPC should be pursuing it as its theft of their service, damage to their equipment and it affected one of their customers.

mickeyboymel

UPC have a fraud department who deal with all these sort of matters.

DigiCol

Thanks for all the feedback folks. The more I read the more I realise that they were probably only getting the Analogue TV signal into their house. At most they may of had one of the Dodgy Digital TV Boxes to decode the signal and get Digital TV but as far as I know most them are useless these days as UPC have copped on and encrypted most of the channels on them. Still it's annoying to think they had the brass neck to do it in the first place. As it turns out I have just bought a new house in Carlow and should be moving out of Dublin (Tallaght) in the next 4-5 weeks and taking my services with me. For now my solution is simple to stop it happening in the meantime. I've started parking my car over the manhole where the signal junction box is with the Wheel placed firmly on the manhole cover

Karmafaerie

Have you checked with UPC to see if service is available in the new address?

DigiCol

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Have you checked with UPC to see if service is available in the new address?

Yeah all sorted. They have everything I need. It was one of the main factors I considered when buying the house. I'm a photographer/videographer/sound engineer and work from home and 30mb is vital to my work and I find UPC to be the best BB. I've spoken to them and all I have to do is give them two weeks notice and the date I'll be moving into the new house. they'll have an engineer there to hook me up and they then transfer my existing service over to the new diggs, hence shutting down service to the old address

Mister Gooey

DigiCol wrote: »

Yeah all sorted. They have everything I need. It was one of the main factors I considered when buying the house. I'm a photographer/videographer/sound engineer and work from home and 30mb is vital to my work and I find UPC to be the best BB. I've spoken to them and all I have to do is give them two weeks notice and the date I'll be moving into the new house. they'll have an engineer there to hook me up and they then transfer my existing service over to the new diggs, hence shutting down service to the old address

What will your poor neighbours do then:rolleyes:????

okidoki987

Take the service off the new owner who probably doesn't read boards

DjAloldskool

DigiCol wrote: »

You may find it hard to believe but it happened (twice). The engineer told me so himself as did the engineer the first time around. As I said this is somebody who knows what they are doing. Why else would they go to the hassle of having to lift a Large manhole in the dead of night and tapping my signal for no reason. Why would they just connect to any connection when UPC could detect that a signal is being recieved into a house where no bill is being sent. By tapping mine UPC would be totally unaware. Maybe they have a Cracked Digi Box. Who knows ?? but they still did it !!! I'm not interested in why they did it I want to know what I can do about it ??

Most UPC Engineer's don't have a clue what there doing , take it from me I know.;)

Dardania

DjAloldskool wrote: »

DigiCol wrote: »

You may find it hard to believe but it happened (twice). The engineer told me so himself as did the engineer the first time around. As I said this is somebody who knows what they are doing. Why else would they go to the hassle of having to lift a Large manhole in the dead of night and tapping my signal for no reason. Why would they just connect to any connection when UPC could detect that a signal is being recieved into a house where no bill is being sent. By tapping mine UPC would be totally unaware. Maybe they have a Cracked Digi Box. Who knows ?? but they still did it !!! I'm not interested in why they did it I want to know what I can do about it ??

Most UPC Engineer's don't have a clue what there doing , take it from me I know.;)

Are they engineers, or in fact technicians?

DjAloldskool

DigiCol wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right location for this post but the mods can move it if necessary.

My TV & Bradband service has been dodgy for a while with my TV signal breaking up and My broadband going off line and taking hours to re-connect. I contacted UPC and they said that the signal getting to my house was weak and needed to send an engineer out to have a look which they did. The engineer came and lifted the manhole outside my house to test the main connection to see what the problem was. He discovered that a neighbour had lifted the manhole and tapped the connection for his/her house into mine and there fore recieving all my Digital TV services and Broadband that I pay €257 every 2 months to have. The engineer was unable (meaning he knew but couldn't) tell me who it was. This is not the first time it has happened as a few years back My TV & Broadband signal dissappeared for over a week and the engineer of that time told me the same thing only this time they had just disconnected mine and connected theirs. He attached a Physical locking mechanism to the outside connection to stop people disconnecting mine in future. But it appaers that this time round they used a plyers to break the lock and tap my signal rather than disconnect me entirely. It is obviously the same person doing this as they must know what they are doing and have a certain knowledge about how to do it as they would have to do this in the middle of the night, lift the man hole and connect up their house to my feed. I mean how long have they had use of my TV and Broadband service. Using up my bandwidth and slowing down my connection and also leaving me with a **** TV signal ?? What if they were downloading illeagal Software, Music, Movies or even worse Child Porn. could that be tracked back to me as it was coming from my IP address. I've contacted UPC and they have said that they are going to follow it up and rectify the situation but still will not tell me who it is. What are my legal rights??? can I take leagal action for theft??? Do I have a right to know who they are??? Should UPC reimburse me for loss of service ??? Should UPC chase them for theft ??? If anyone else has been in a similar situation i would like to hear what their outcome was. Thanks

The only thing there stealing is your signal strenght, probably due to dodgy connections your neighbour done at the manhole, the only thing there getting is the standard UPC service about 16 TV channels,
I think UPC should compensate you in some way, you will have to keep giving out to them on the phone, You will get something free off them.

headmaster

Ahem, neither

DjAloldskool

Dardania wrote: »

Are they engineers, or in fact technicians?

None of the above.

jor el

There's no need to revive this old thread.