This week let’s look at an email from Mary who writes in this week with a unique problem.
“I'm having a bit of a problem. Earlier this year, my wireless was set up as being a 'secure' network, using my telephone number as the password. About 2 hours later, the man next door called me to say he couldn't log on to HIS network. He's an older man and was upset that I'd done something to mess up HIS Internet, so I stupidly gave him the password. Could he possibly be using my wireless?”
The short answer is; yes he is using your wireless network because he doesn’t have an Internet Provider. Let’s examine the fundamentals of a home wireless network.
To make it easier to visualize a wireless network, let’s start with the normal wired network. We need an Internet provider such as a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) from the telephone company or a cable Internet provider such as your TV cable company. These providers bring their cables into your home and connect them to a modem. The modem is the junction box between the computer and their Internet service. It provides the computer with an Internet address. The computer is then connected by cable to the modem.
Now suppose that there are multiple computers in the house and all of them want access to the Internet. One way to accomplish this would be to call up your provider and ask them to install additional lines and modems and charge you appropriately. (Martha, guard your checkbook!)
A more economical method would be to purchase a wireless router. This device is connected between the modem and your computer. The router queries the modem for an address from your ISP and then clones itself as the modem. The router can then distribute its own group of addresses to the computers in your home. As each computer sends data to the Internet, the data goes to the router which in turns sends it through the modem to the Internet. Most home routers come with four ports which allow four computers to share the same modem. However, Internet address protocols actually allow each router to distribute up to 254 addresses. In theory, a router could have 254 computers sharing a single modem, if there were a way to attach them all.
Where does the wireless part come in? First, think of a wireless router as nothing more than the router we have described so far but with invisible cables running from the router to the computers. Another difference is that a wireless router distributes its addresses via radio frequencies instead of ports and cables. This means that all 254 possible connections to the router are available. When the family comes over for Thanksgiving this season lugging wireless equipped laptops, tablets, smartphones etc, all thirty or more devices of them can connect to your wireless router at the same time and get their emails or surf the net looking for that perfect turkey recipe.
The wireless router itself has some interesting features. First, manufactures claim a 150 ft. range for their wireless routers; the reality is much less than that. Walls, metal appliances, cordless phones, all sorts of things will reduce the range of a wireless router. My office router is unreachable after seventy feet. Second, routers can be set up as an “unsecured” network, which means that anybody that can get within range of the router can use the router to reach the Internet. For example, I can sit in the parking lot of the Punta Gorda library and use the library’s “unsecured” wireless network to check my email or surf the net. Option two is to set up the router as a “secured” network which means that while anybody in range of your network can see that there is a network available, any attempt to connect to the network results in a request for a password. No password, no access.
So, Mary here is the scenario. Your neighbor came home one day and opened his wireless equipped laptop and noticed that there was a wireless network within range. But, when he attempted to connect to it, it asked him for the password which of course he didn’t have. Guessing that you were the closest possible source of the wireless signal he confronted you and convinced you to give him your password. If your router was interfering with his network, how would your password get him on his network?
Mary, here is the plan, change your password. Your neighbor will come over and tell you that his wireless doesn’t work and to give him your password. Make one up. Make it something that can be remembered but can be spelled many different ways. For example, fishball. Now he goes to his house and tries it for an hour or so, then comes back. Ask him how he spelled it. Then tell him no, it was phishbald, that will keep him busy for a few more hours. Then ghoeshbulb and on and on. Eventually he will get his own Internet Provider or offer to pay half your monthly bill.
Love your neighbors but share the cost.
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Amazon.com: Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer (9781467985895): Courtland Nederveld: Books
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Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks! (9781456561734): Court Nederveld: Books
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