Need help securing my Internet


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Got a bit of an issue I want to resolve.

My roommate has been leeching off my AT&T Internet service for months now. He's never volunteered to chip in & I've never asked him about it. We're not that tight. I've never had an issue about the leeching until now that he's got Netflix and streaming movies from it. That in turns, slows down my streaming Lakers games & downloads.

Basically I want to lock my AT&T Uverse from him. Problem is the modem/router is in his room and his desktop is wired connected. No problem, I can sneak in one day to password protect it. But I'm not sure how. Do I need to install an extra modem? Manually input a new password?

What's my solution?

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Your solution is to talk with him like a sane adult because otherwise he is just going to disconnect the router since you locked him out and it is in his room.

 

Also, I don't think you can actually lock him out. Most routers don't have any way to secure the wired ports. Mac filtering for example typically only works over wireless, etc. 

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You can't password protect someone from a Uverse gateway when they're connected via wire. Wireless, sure...all day long, but the wired part is where your solution grinds to a halt.

 

The easier solution is simply leveling with him....Hey you're draining my bandwidth X number of times a day/week and I need you to either chip in or find your own ISP.

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OoOh, I have an nefarious idea. Switch the DNS server it uses to a honeypot so he gets things he doesn't want to see or hear :rofl:. Like it could rickroll him randomly for example.

 

Of course you'd need to switch your own PC to use google DNS to avoid the downsides of this idea.

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I don't know that there is much you can do. I really wish routers had simple options to prioritize traffic based on connected devices, for example: computer A's traffic would take priority over computer B's traffic, and then set up exceptions to that rule.

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Have him to sit down at the table with you and discuss about streaming limit. You will do the following:  

 

Ask him to calm down with the streaming... or tell him to get his own ISP for unlimited streaming on his own which he will realize that his internet will slow down, down the road.

 

If he wants own ISP... then you can ask the technician to move your modem/router to your room or wherever of your choice. And he will get his own stuff in his room.

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Just because the tech installed the uverse dsl modem gateway in that room doesn't mean it has to stay there.  As long as there is a working rj11 jack for dsl access and a working coax jack for cable access in any room you can move it there.  

When I used to have uverse the modem/gateway got moved to a couple of different rooms as furniture got re-arranged.

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Mom!!! Billy keeps using my internet!!

Mom!!! He is using all the bandwidth MOM!!

This is the solution

"talk with him like a sane adult"

If you can not talk about shared resources in a place you share, how and the hell are you room mates in the first place. Do you not share the other bills like electricity, water, etc.

If you can not work it out - maybe you shouldn't be room mates.

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Does the UVERSE modem have MAC filtering on the LAN side of the DHCP?

 

I am sure it does... I used to have UVERSE before I switched to the cable.

 

Look up on Google for 'UVERSE MAC address filtering'

 

 

 

Mom!!! Billy keeps using my internet!!

Mom!!! He is using all the bandwidth MOM!!

This is the solution

"talk with him like a sane adult"

If you can not talk about shared resources in a place you share, how and the hell are you room mates in the first place. Do you not share the other bills like electricity, water, etc.

If you can not work it out - maybe you shouldn't be room mates.

 

lmao

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Mac address filtering is for Wireless I have never ever seen work on wired connection.

What he was talking about I believe is limiting dhcp server to only hand out reservation, and don't give him a reservation. You could also just turn off dhcp and set a static. But unless he is really really dumb that won't last long ;)

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Mac address filtering is for Wireless I have never ever seen work on wired connection.

What he was talking about I believe is limiting dhcp server to only hand out reservation, and don't give him a reservation. You could also just turn off dhcp and set a static. But unless he is really really dumb that won't last long ;)

 

Yeah I know but that guy should move the modem/router to other room and give the roommate a 'guest' wireless access... then if his roomie steal the bandwidth, all to do is block the mac address or disable wireless and he's able to access his internet via his own wireless access or wired connection. That's what I do.

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All this "talk to him" BS.

 

If he's not paying for it he can be TOLD.

 

More importantly why is the router in his room?

 

Then you don't have respect or not acting like an adult..

 

Talk first and make sure both ends agree on this term. Otherwise that roommate will not have an access or get his own ISP.

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Just because the tech installed the uverse dsl modem gateway in that room doesn't mean it has to stay there.  As long as there is a working rj11 jack for dsl access and a working coax jack for cable access in any room you can move it there.  

When I used to have uverse the modem/gateway got moved to a couple of different rooms as furniture got re-arranged.

 

It's an old home that we're in & the wiring is all screwed up. The AT&T tech told me his (Jr.) room is the only one that would work without having to do a whole lot of fixing. That room he's in now was previously his cousin's (Joe) room that I got along with. So when Joe moved out, he left Jr. his computer & showed him how to stream videos from Netflix. The guy is technically challenge, so if I somehow lock him out he wouldn't know I did it on purpose. Plus I'm not 100% sure he is streaming but that's what I'm alluding to with the slow connection.

 

I'm not a confrontational person, but if it gets to the point where I'm annoyed, I'll have to bring it up and ask him if he is in fact leeching.

 

BTW any software out there that would let me monitor the traffic on my wireless laptop?

 

 

Mom!!! Billy keeps using my internet!!

Mom!!! He is using all the bandwidth MOM!!

This is the solution

"talk with him like a sane adult"

If you can not talk about shared resources in a place you share, how and the hell are you room mates in the first place. Do you not share the other bills like electricity, water, etc.

If you can not work it out - maybe you shouldn't be room mates.

 

His uncle (Louis) is the big kahuna of the house. So we all associate with Louis but not within eachother. I barely see Jr. throughout the week.

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It's an old home that we're in & the wiring is all screwed up. The AT&T tech told me his (Jr.) room is the only one that would work without having to do a whole lot of fixing. That room he's in now was previously his cousin's (Joe) room that I got along with. So when Joe moved out, he left Jr. his computer & showed him how to stream videos from Netflix. The guy is technically challenge, so if I somehow lock him out he wouldn't know I did it on purpose. Plus I'm not 100% sure he is streaming but that's what I'm alluding to with the slow connection.

 

I'm not a confrontational person, but if it gets to the point where I'm annoyed, I'll have to bring it up and ask him if he is in fact leeching.

 

BTW any software out there that would let me monitor the traffic on my wireless laptop?

 

You can not monitor his activity if he is on wired connection unless you both are on wireless network.

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"The guy is technically challenge, so if I somehow lock him out he wouldn't know I did it on purpose. "

Well just turn off the dhcp server on the router and setup your boxes with static IP.. There you go no more internet for him as soon as his lease expires or he reboots. Be it wireless or wired.

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"The guy is technically challenge, so if I somehow lock him out he wouldn't know I did it on purpose. "

Well just turn off the dhcp server on the router and setup your boxes with static IP.. There you go no more internet for him as soon as his lease expires or he reboots. Be it wireless or wired.

 

Sounds good. I'll just have to look up how to do just that. :whistle:

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It's an old home that we're in & the wiring is all screwed up. The AT&T tech told me his (Jr.) room is the only one that would work without having to do a whole lot of fixing. That room he's in now was previously his cousin's (Joe) room that I got along with. So when Joe moved out, he left Jr. his computer & showed him how to stream videos from Netflix. The guy is technically challenge, so if I somehow lock him out he wouldn't know I did it on purpose. Plus I'm not 100% sure he is streaming but that's what I'm alluding to with the slow connection.

 

I'm not a confrontational person, but if it gets to the point where I'm annoyed, I'll have to bring it up and ask him if he is in fact leeching.

 

BTW any software out there that would let me monitor the traffic on my wireless laptop?

 

 

 

His uncle (Louis) is the big kahuna of the house. So we all associate with Louis but not within eachother. I barely see Jr. throughout the week.

 

So you don't have one other phone jack in the entire house that works?  That seems entirely weird.  The uverse tech probably is wrong.

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Its real simple -- look at your current configuration with ipconfig /all

your router is prob something like 192.168.1.1 with your ip maybe 192.168.1.100

So your gateway is your routers IP, 192.168.1.1 (default gateway in the ipconfig /all) and dns prob points to same 192.168.1.1 or whatever your router is.

So log into your router gui and turn off dhcp server. Then setup your IP with the IP and gateway and dns you had but statically.

Click into your interface on ipv4 properties, say use these settings vs dhcp. If he is technically challenged as you say he will never figure it out.. If asks you if your internet is working - sure see!! He will be able to connect to the wireless if he has the password or its open. He just will not get an IP, and will most likely his machine will give him a 169.254.x.x address since he is set for dhcp and no dhcp server answers.

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So you don't have one other phone jack in the entire house that works?  That seems entirely weird.  The uverse tech probably is wrong.

 

I believe that to be true. AT&T gave me a kit & I couldn't get any of the 4 jacks in the house worked. Technician came & was only able to find that particular room to have a working outlet.

 

I've thought about just getting a 100ft cable and have the modem in my room. So if I was to told him I'm taking the stuff to my place, maybe he'll bring about his usage too and we'll go on from there.

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I believe that to be true. AT&T gave me a kit & I couldn't get any of the 4 jacks in the house worked. Technician came & was only able to find that particular room to have a working outlet.

 

I've thought about just getting a 100ft cable and have the modem in my room. So if I was to told him I'm taking the stuff to my place, maybe he'll bring about his usage too and we'll go on from there.

 

How old is the house?

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Its quite possible the internal phone wiring got messed up - its easy enough to fix depending on the layout of the house, if you have attic or basement running of the wire to new rooms is pretty easy.

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Its quite possible the internal phone wiring got messed up - its easy enough to fix depending on the layout of the house, if you have attic or basement running of the wire to new rooms is pretty easy.

 

If basement is finished. It will look ugly if you run the line along the wall.. lol

 

Otherwise you can run the line along the floor joints, etc.    then you can finish the basement at later time.

 

If the house is old ...  then it is time to replace the outlets if they do not work at all... because the wires could be damaged by the flood or water damage... or  some kind of animal might have chew it up.

 

In the past, the old houses, people find animals behind the walls as soon as you take the drywall down.

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