Can i tell if someone is piggybacking my internet connection?

Question

A neighbour was putting up a cable right around the outside wall of his house the other day and i asked him what it was for. He said it was a makeshift antenna to pick up other peoples wireless internet.

I presume he meant he was hijacking our wireless internet connections - i know i can 'see' 3 other connection from my pc.

is there any way i can tell if my wireless connection is being hijacked?

i'm not happy about this doley freeloading off me when he is perfectly able to go out and work, he just chooses to sponge of the social.

p.s. all of the wireless connections i can 'see' are all protected so it would be illegal for him to be using our connections, right?

Answer 1

hahaha ur neighbor sounds like such an idiot. to answer ur q, no there isnt rele any way for u to tell if any1 is piggybacking ur wireless. if ur internet is unusually slow however then thats usually a sign that someone is doing so. u shud encrypt ur signal and add a pass to it. u can do this by changing the settings in your wireless router or ap (access point) usually to get to the settings window u type the routers ip address (most of the time its something like 192.168.0.1) into ur web browser and the settings window will come up. encrypt the network and add a password to it (btw make sure it uses WPA as opposed to WEP encryption -WEP has a lot of flaws) now that the network is encrypted any data transmitted will be scrambled and any1 wanting to get in will have to put in the password. getting into encrypted networks isnt rele illegal, just painfully hard. it would take a REALLY smart hacker to make it in. an i doubt ur neighbor is that smart lol

Answer 2

normally they can't piggyback your connection, but if you see a car sitting outside your house, and the person is using a laptop, then they MIGHT be piggybacking your connection. but, really, theres no way to make a connection without being a pro hacker.

Answer 3

I never understood this from an IT perspective.

I have wireless, I have an airport.. Are you talking about freeloading off your signal? What's wrong with that? Who cares? it doesn't slow you down.

Why do people pass word protect their Network (this is a good option for you)? it really doesn't matter.

I doubt he is snaking your ISP, or tapping into your system from your network. For that he would need some real skills. And in those circles, internet, and airports are always free.

Answer 4

Yes your Internet connection will run much slower and if i were you i would put a password on it and you can also call the police it is a crime to steal someone else Internet or wireless Internet

Answer 5

obviously champ likes to freeload connections of course it matters, if the person whos connection is being used has a download limit then that person is paying for something he/she is not getting, and if the person doing the hijacking downloads more than the legit person then the legit person is going to have to pay for it in order tobe able to download music, vids etc.

it is wiser to encrypt your router

do it now then you should have no problem

Answer 6

It woud be illegal for him to use anyone's wireless network, whether it's protected or not.

One way to find out is to look at your modem to see if the "Sent" and "Received" lights are blinking fast or steady when you're not using the internet yourself. If they are, then someone is using your network.

Answer 7

Yes, It's better if your Wireless connection is Sercured with a WEP Code. If your Wireless Router doesn't have sercuity I would recommend it. This could possibly lead to hacking.

Answer 8

when i log on to my computer it keeps telling me someone is using my connection and this is the only computer in my house i hope the same thing is not happening to me

Answer 9

Dont use your internet for a couple days and mark the days down and when the bill comes see if the internet was used on those 2 days tht you didnt use it.

Answer 10

It's illegal and the police would be interested in this matter!