have I been barred from a free Wi-fi network?

I am currently staying in a hotel with a free Wi-fi network. It doesn't
require a password to log in to the network. When you first start up
your web browser you are presented with a portal page , and once you
click 'free connection', you're online.

A couple of days ago I downloaded a large file via Bittorrent,
overnight, and in the morning I found I no longer had an internet
connection, even though I'm still connected to the network. I have not
had an internet connection since. The hotel tell me they aren't aware
of any problems.

Is it possible that I have been barred from the network by a hotel tech
guy, or an automated process? And is there a way to get back online,
ie. 'fool' the network into thinking I am a different user?

Many thanks for any tips.

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
|I am currently staying in a hotel with a free Wi-fi network. It doesn't
| require a password to log in to the network. When you first start up
| your web browser you are presented with a portal page , and once you
| click 'free connection', you're online.
|
| A couple of days ago I downloaded a large file via Bittorrent,
| overnight, and in the morning I found I no longer had an internet
| connection, even though I'm still connected to the network. I have not
| had an internet connection since. The hotel tell me they aren't aware
| of any problems.
|
| Is it possible that I have been barred from the network by a hotel tech
| guy, or an automated process? And is there a way to get back online,
| ie. 'fool' the network into thinking I am a different user?
|
| Many thanks for any tips.

Did you check with the desk? An aside no one here has a clue.

NotMe <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
> |I am currently staying in a hotel with a free Wi-fi network. It doesn't
> | require a password to log in to the network. When you first start up
> | your web browser you are presented with a portal page , and once you
> | click 'free connection', you're online.
> |
> | A couple of days ago I downloaded a large file via Bittorrent,
> | overnight, and in the morning I found I no longer had an internet
> | connection, even though I'm still connected to the network. I have not
> | had an internet connection since. The hotel tell me they aren't aware
> | of any problems.
> |
> | Is it possible that I have been barred from the network by a hotel tech
> | guy, or an automated process? And is there a way to get back online,
> | ie. 'fool' the network into thinking I am a different user?
> |
> | Many thanks for any tips.
>
> Did you check with the desk? An aside no one here has a clue.

My guess is that none of the hotel employees will have a clue either,
because the Wi-Fi service has been contracted out to some firm that has
blacklisted the OP's wireless MAC address for an AUP violation or for
exceeding some unstated limit on the amount of use. The exclusion may
have been triggered because the BitTorrent application's constant
uploading was detected as running a server.

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:31:04 -0800, contactsheet wrote:

> Is it possible that I have been barred from the network by a hotel tech
> guy, or an automated process? And is there a way to get back online,
> ie. 'fool' the network into thinking I am a different user?

Just because the front desk "isn't aware of any problems" doesn't mean
there isn't one. A couple of years back I stayed at a hotel with wireless
and when I checked into my room all was well. I went to supper and came
back and the connection was passing no data. This state continued through
the next day and night as well. A bit of sniffing with Ethereal revealed
everyone having the same problem--getting a DHCP address and no connection
outside of the network. I found out the next morning that "someone" had
unplugged the outbound router. D'oh!

If your MAC has been blacklisted, perhaps you can assign a different one
to your interface. You can create a custom one starting with 02 if you'd
like.

- Nate >>

--

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds,
the pessimist fears this is true."

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

>I am currently staying in a hotel with a free Wi-fi network. It doesn't
>require a password to log in to the network. When you first start up
>your web browser you are presented with a portal page , and once you
>click 'free connection', you're online.

That's great for my business. Adding QoS and security to wireless
networks run by a hotel, motel, restraunt, coffee shop, or bar, are a
part of my business. Abuse by users such as yourself are a good
inspiration, although abuse by the neighbors is more common.

>A couple of days ago I downloaded a large file via Bittorrent,
>overnight, and in the morning I found I no longer had an internet
>connection, even though I'm still connected to the network. I have not
>had an internet connection since. The hotel tell me they aren't aware
>of any problems.

Oh well. It appears the hotel is on top of things and has some
traffic monitoring in place. They probably detected the amount and/or
nature of your traffic and blocked your MAC address from their system.
My guess(tm) is that the hotel is sharing a DSL line among all the
free users. Your overnight download probably saturated their
bandwidth for the entire evening. Since you left it unattended, you
were probably also acting as a Bitorrent server thus also saturating
their outgoing bandwidth until morning. It's a little like taking
over their entire parking lot all night. It probably doesn't hurt
them much, and only affect a few users of the parking lot after
midnight. Still, it's generally considered a bad idea. Anyway, you
probably don't need this lecture and know exactly what Bitorrent can
do to a bandwidth limited network, as you were swift enough to
monopolize all their bandwidth only late at night.

>Is it possible that I have been barred from the network by a hotel tech
>guy, or an automated process?

Yes. That's probably what happened. If the hotel has a clue or has
contracted out the wireless service to some organization with a clue,
that's exactly what has happened. It's often difficult to find an AUP
(acceptable use policy) at hotels and such, but these are often
provided by the service companies. Usually any bandwidth hogging
services and all servers are usually proscribed.

>And is there a way to get back online,
>ie. 'fool' the network into thinking I am a different user?

I'll pass. See if you can find someone in the hotel with a clue and
beg them for forgiveness. Personally, I'm not sympathetic.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Nate Bargmann wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:31:04 -0800, contactsheet wrote:
>
> > Is it possible that I have been barred from the network by a hotel tech
> > guy, or an automated process? And is there a way to get back online,
> > ie. 'fool' the network into thinking I am a different user?
>
> Just because the front desk "isn't aware of any problems" doesn't mean
> there isn't one. A couple of years back I stayed at a hotel with wireless
> and when I checked into my room all was well. I went to supper and came
> back and the connection was passing no data. This state continued through
> the next day and night as well. A bit of sniffing with Ethereal revealed
> everyone having the same problem--getting a DHCP address and no connection
> outside of the network. I found out the next morning that "someone" had
> unplugged the outbound router. D'oh!
>
> If your MAC has been blacklisted, perhaps you can assign a different one
> to your interface. You can create a custom one starting with 02 if you'd
> like.
>
> - Nate >>
>
> --
>
> "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds,
> the pessimist fears this is true."

Thanks to everyone for the tips; I managed to spoof my MAC address to
something different; I changed some numbers a little and started it
with 02. Is that indeed what I should be doing?

The network is still not playing ball. Is there anything else I can
try..?

Many thanks

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:51:42 -0800, contactsheet wrote:

> Thanks to everyone for the tips; I managed to spoof my MAC address to
> something different; I changed some numbers a little and started it
> with 02. Is that indeed what I should be doing?

Per information I've read, MAC addresses beginning with 00 are assigned to
device manufacturers while those beginning with 02 are "locally
administered". Be aware that it's possible to still retrieve the
underlying hardware address even after you've assigned another. I've seen
Kismet do this when monitoring locally administered MAC addresses.

You could always try another adapter (Cardbus, for example) or computer. ;-)

- Nate >>

--

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds,
the pessimist fears this is true."