Is someone stealing my Wi-Fi? Find Out & Fix!
Is someone stealing my Wi-Fi connection? Someone just sent an email to me asking how can they find out whether there's any unauthorised use of the wireless connection and ways to fix it. I decided to gather all the tips, tricks and mechanisms to fix this common question faced by people who live in crowded areas and flat schemes. I remember #-Link-Snipped-# had faced a similar How To Block A Connected Device To Access Internet From Router. a couple of days ago. So, can we have a 'definitive way' to address this?
Symptoms that your wi-fi is being stolen:
Following are few of the most common symptoms that you should be aware of. They do not necessarily point out that someone's using your wireless. But if you experience any of these, a quick check at your router's connection profile may help you save money, bandwidth and frustration.
Ways to find out if your wi-fi is being stolen:
1. If I'm not wrong, most of the routers do show the connection profile. All you need to do is enter the IP address: 192.168.1.1 in your browser, enter the router's admin username and password and then check the 'client status'. This should throw a list of all the devices connected to your wireless router - including android devices, iphones, desktops, laptops and printers. Refresh your list before you check for any unwanted entries.
Note: It always helps to name your device so that you can quickly identify them in the wireless profile.
In NETGEAR Routers, you will find the list under 'Attached Devices' or in D-Link routers, you should get the information in 'Connected Wireless Clients List'. In the ASUS router that we use at CrazyEngineers, the list is presented in the web interface under 'Client Status'.
2. If you think that's too geeky; simply turn off all the devices that typically connect to your home's WiFi network and observe the LED lights on the router. If the wireless status LED is blinking, you may have a 'good' reason to turn a paranoid.
3. There are plenty of network monitoring tools available in the market for various platforms: Windows, OSX and Linux; with commercial and open-source options. I'd leave the 'recommendations' and 'suggestions' part to our fellow engineers who have used these tools.
Okay, My Neighbour Is Stealing My Wi-Fi! What Now?
First of all, I'm sorry to hear that your neighbour is an ass. But you can counter them by being a smartass. The first step you should do is check what all options your router offers you. The easiest way to fix the issue is by choosing the most appropriate security available. Your router will typically have the following options (top is the most secure and the bottom one is not secured at all):
Then check if your router has created any automatic 'Guest Network'. This is basically creating an unsecured network that anyone can use, at the expense of bandwidth you are paying for. Disable it.
Then you can opt to do the following: Change the network connection password and then at your own risk, choose to hide the SSID (the name that you've given to the wireless connection). It will make the network invisible to others; unless of course they know how to find it.
There are several other advanced techniques to secure your wireless network and those can be discussed below. But all the above steps are absolutely required for every engineer who wants to secure his/her home network.
If you find this useful, please share it with your friends.
Symptoms that your wi-fi is being stolen:
Following are few of the most common symptoms that you should be aware of. They do not necessarily point out that someone's using your wireless. But if you experience any of these, a quick check at your router's connection profile may help you save money, bandwidth and frustration.
- ISP reports more data usage than you typically use.
- Your internet connection is slower than what the ISP promised.
- You experience frequent disconnections and range issues.
- Your ISP bill shocks you.
- Your neighbour has become very friendly with you in the recent times.
Ways to find out if your wi-fi is being stolen:
1. If I'm not wrong, most of the routers do show the connection profile. All you need to do is enter the IP address: 192.168.1.1 in your browser, enter the router's admin username and password and then check the 'client status'. This should throw a list of all the devices connected to your wireless router - including android devices, iphones, desktops, laptops and printers. Refresh your list before you check for any unwanted entries.
Note: It always helps to name your device so that you can quickly identify them in the wireless profile.
In NETGEAR Routers, you will find the list under 'Attached Devices' or in D-Link routers, you should get the information in 'Connected Wireless Clients List'. In the ASUS router that we use at CrazyEngineers, the list is presented in the web interface under 'Client Status'.
2. If you think that's too geeky; simply turn off all the devices that typically connect to your home's WiFi network and observe the LED lights on the router. If the wireless status LED is blinking, you may have a 'good' reason to turn a paranoid.
3. There are plenty of network monitoring tools available in the market for various platforms: Windows, OSX and Linux; with commercial and open-source options. I'd leave the 'recommendations' and 'suggestions' part to our fellow engineers who have used these tools.
Okay, My Neighbour Is Stealing My Wi-Fi! What Now?
First of all, I'm sorry to hear that your neighbour is an ass. But you can counter them by being a smartass. The first step you should do is check what all options your router offers you. The easiest way to fix the issue is by choosing the most appropriate security available. Your router will typically have the following options (top is the most secure and the bottom one is not secured at all):
- WPA2+AES
- WPA+AES
- WPA+TKIP/AES
- WPA+TKIP
- WEP
- Open Network (No Security)
Then check if your router has created any automatic 'Guest Network'. This is basically creating an unsecured network that anyone can use, at the expense of bandwidth you are paying for. Disable it.
Then you can opt to do the following: Change the network connection password and then at your own risk, choose to hide the SSID (the name that you've given to the wireless connection). It will make the network invisible to others; unless of course they know how to find it.
There are several other advanced techniques to secure your wireless network and those can be discussed below. But all the above steps are absolutely required for every engineer who wants to secure his/her home network.
If you find this useful, please share it with your friends.
Replies
-
Aashish JoshiAdding MAC restrictions also helps. This basically means that your router will only allow devices whose MAC addresses have been added to a "whitelist". Every device that connects to a network has a MAC address.
It is possible to spoof MAC addresses. However unless someone knows the MAC address of your computer or mobile it is next to impossible to guess it.
You are reading an archived discussion.
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