Is there any way to tell if my neighbour is piggybacking?

The reason I ask is that my wireless system occasionally runs at a snail
pace.
This often happens at peak times, and sometimes not at all.
I have checked my internet speeds when I have suspected that the neighbour
is piggybacking and even though the broadband speed check shows full
capacity, it is still running slow.
Even my Google home page takes about a minute or so to load at these times.
I'm running my home pc on a Belkin 54G wireless system.
Data encryption is WEP and the password is still set at the default when I
set it up with the manufacturer's helpline. (Do they always suggest
10,20,30,40,50?)
So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking, preferably
in the form of free software?

Steve O wrote:
> So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking, preferably
> in the form of free software?

I'm not familiar with the Belkin router software, but they should all
have a page that lists all the wireless clients that are currently
connected. So when you suspect something, take a look and see if you
see any additional clients other than your own.

A more advanced procedure would be to have the router log all
connections so that you can see the history. Your router may or may not
support this.

"Steve O" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> The reason I ask is that my wireless system occasionally runs at a snail
> pace.
> This often happens at peak times, and sometimes not at all.
> I have checked my internet speeds when I have suspected that the neighbour
> is piggybacking and even though the broadband speed check shows full
> capacity, it is still running slow.
> Even my Google home page takes about a minute or so to load at these
> times.
> I'm running my home pc on a Belkin 54G wireless system.
> Data encryption is WEP and the password is still set at the default when I
> set it up with the manufacturer's helpline. (Do they always suggest
> 10,20,30,40,50?)
> So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking, preferably
> in the form of free software?


It's odd that your speed test would show full speed yet a page as simple as
google would take a minute to load.. something isn't right..
as suggested check the routers DHCP client table for any clients that are
not your own.. you also might look into whether or not your router will
allow MAC filtering.. this would only allow clients to connect to your
router after you have entered there MAC accress..
Or you might just try changing your WEP key for a few days and see if
anything changes.. try some stuff and let us know.

Adair

"Adair Witner" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:mOfUg.18894$(E-Mail Removed) m...
> "Steve O" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> The reason I ask is that my wireless system occasionally runs at a snail
>> pace.
>> This often happens at peak times, and sometimes not at all.
>> I have checked my internet speeds when I have suspected that the
>> neighbour is piggybacking and even though the broadband speed check shows
>> full capacity, it is still running slow.
>> Even my Google home page takes about a minute or so to load at these
>> times.
>> I'm running my home pc on a Belkin 54G wireless system.
>> Data encryption is WEP and the password is still set at the default when
>> I set it up with the manufacturer's helpline. (Do they always suggest
>> 10,20,30,40,50?)
>> So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking,
>> preferably in the form of free software?
>
>
> It's odd that your speed test would show full speed yet a page as simple
> as google would take a minute to load.. something isn't right..
> as suggested check the routers DHCP client table for any clients that are
> not your own.. you also might look into whether or not your router will
> allow MAC filtering.. this would only allow clients to connect to your
> router after you have entered there MAC accress..
> Or you might just try changing your WEP key for a few days and see if
> anything changes.. try some stuff and let us know.
>
> Adair
Thanks, Adair, and Bucky who also answered this query.

On Mon, 2 Oct 2006 21:01:24 +0100, "Steve O" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking, preferably
>in the form of free software?

Advanced IP scanner is free:

"Advanced IP Scanner is a fast, robust and easy-to use LAN scanner for
Windows. It easily lets you have various types of information about
local network computers in a few seconds. It gives you one-click
access to many useful functions - remote shutdown and wake up, Radmin
integration and more! "

www.radmin.com

Free Network Utilities

Advanced IP Scanner 1.5 NEW! Advanced LAN Scanner 1.0 Advanced
Port Scanner 1.3 NEW! Advanced IP Calculator 1.1


--
Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

While your internet connection may not actually be congested, the
wireless access point you both connect to might be. If you look in the
web-based management page for the Belkin device, it should show you how
many MAC addresses are connected - if there's more than just your
computer(s) listed, then yes, someone is piggybacking.

You should definitly change the WEP key, and change the management
password to something other than the factory default.

Steve O wrote:
> The reason I ask is that my wireless system occasionally runs at a snail
> pace.
> This often happens at peak times, and sometimes not at all.
> I have checked my internet speeds when I have suspected that the neighbour
> is piggybacking and even though the broadband speed check shows full
> capacity, it is still running slow.
> Even my Google home page takes about a minute or so to load at these times.
> I'm running my home pc on a Belkin 54G wireless system.
> Data encryption is WEP and the password is still set at the default when I
> set it up with the manufacturer's helpline. (Do they always suggest
> 10,20,30,40,50?)
> So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking, preferably
> in the form of free software?

Steve O wrote:
> The reason I ask is that my wireless system occasionally runs at a snail
> pace.
> This often happens at peak times, and sometimes not at all.
> I have checked my internet speeds when I have suspected that the neighbour
> is piggybacking and even though the broadband speed check shows full
> capacity, it is still running slow.
> Even my Google home page takes about a minute or so to load at these times.
> I'm running my home pc on a Belkin 54G wireless system.
> Data encryption is WEP and the password is still set at the default when I
> set it up with the manufacturer's helpline. (Do they always suggest
> 10,20,30,40,50?)
> So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking, preferably
> in the form of free software?

The Belkin 54G gives you a page which shows connected clients. But
also, the obvious things to do to PREVENT unauthorised access are:

1) Change the router's admin password IMMEDIATELY!
2) Change the encryption from the (easy to crack) WEP to the (harder
to crack) WPA and use a LONG random string as the encryption key. This
will make it harder for a dictionary cracking attempt to succeed.
3) Set up MAC address filtering
4) Stop your router from broadcasting its SSID

This should make any attempts to piggyback on to your connection very
much harder to achieve. Cracking WEP encryption is not difficult and
typically takes only minutes to do. WPA, with the provisio that you
use a LONG, RANDOM, string is much hardere to crack.

Regards,

Tim Kearsley

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>
> Steve O wrote:
>> The reason I ask is that my wireless system occasionally runs at a snail
>> pace.
>> This often happens at peak times, and sometimes not at all.
>> I have checked my internet speeds when I have suspected that the
>> neighbour
>> is piggybacking and even though the broadband speed check shows full
>> capacity, it is still running slow.
>> Even my Google home page takes about a minute or so to load at these
>> times.
>> I'm running my home pc on a Belkin 54G wireless system.
>> Data encryption is WEP and the password is still set at the default when
>> I
>> set it up with the manufacturer's helpline. (Do they always suggest
>> 10,20,30,40,50?)
>> So I was wondering if there was any way to detect piggybacking,
>> preferably
>> in the form of free software?
>
> The Belkin 54G gives you a page which shows connected clients. But
> also, the obvious things to do to PREVENT unauthorised access are:
>
> 1) Change the router's admin password IMMEDIATELY!
> 2) Change the encryption from the (easy to crack) WEP to the (harder
> to crack) WPA and use a LONG random string as the encryption key. This
> will make it harder for a dictionary cracking attempt to succeed.
> 3) Set up MAC address filtering
> 4) Stop your router from broadcasting its SSID
>
> This should make any attempts to piggyback on to your connection very
> much harder to achieve. Cracking WEP encryption is not difficult and
> typically takes only minutes to do. WPA, with the provisio that you
> use a LONG, RANDOM, string is much hardere to crack.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tim Kearsley

Good advice from all involved, thanks.

Just keep in mind that if you decide to keep your router from
broadcasting its SSID, that you REMEMBER what that SSID is and how to
stop it from hiding itself. I've a friend who can't extend service to
any visitors to his house because he's forgotten how to keep his router
from hiding its SSID. He had to manually reset to factory defaults and
it was quite irritating to get everything back up to speed.


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On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:47:49 -0500, arceelover
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>Just keep in mind that if you decide to keep your router from
>broadcasting its SSID, that you REMEMBER what that SSID is and how to
>stop it from hiding itself. I've a friend who can't extend service to
>any visitors to his house because he's forgotten how to keep his router
>from hiding its SSID. He had to manually reset to factory defaults and
>it was quite irritating to get everything back up to speed.

Turing off SSID broadcast *won't* improve security and is a *bad* idea
in general. Likewise MAC Filtering. The only thing that really works
is WPA with a strong passphrase.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>