Dirty Leechers!

Over the last few days I’ve noticed a slight degradation in my internet speed…especially while playing the new Team Fortress 2 beta. It wasn’t anything major…just more like it didn’t seem right. Then last night Kari made a comment about the internet being slow. Ok, ok, ok, ok, it’s time for me to take a look at it.

First I took a look at the DHCP table on our router. That basically tells me which computers are connected to the router. I saw our computer, the Wii (thanks Wii Connect24), and another computer…one that wasn’t ours. Bingo! A dirty, dirty leecher…an internet thief in you will.

Honestly, I can’t say that I was a totally surprised. Part of it was actually my fault. I made two assumptions that proved to be my undoing. And you know what they say about assumptions.

Assumption #1: Location

I figured the location of our house would prevent people from stealing our internet. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac and there are only two houses on the circle: ours and another house directly across from us. Our backyard shares a fence with a school’s playground. To our left sits and empty, overgrown lot, and to our right is a bunch of trees, two fences, and what appears to be an apartment complex. On top of that, I seriously doubt the lady across the street even has a computer. Plus we have a rather large yard, so distance should have been a factor.

Wrong.

Assumption #2: Old Technology

We have an older model 801.11b router in our kitchen. I can barely get full signal on our Wii and the Wii is in the next room with complete line of site to the router. Plus the router is kinda in the center of the house and coupled with assumption #1, I didn’t think anyone could get reasonable signal out of the old girl over the distance.

Wrong again.

So I ended up getting the MAC Address off my computer, Wii, and the Xbox 360 and enabled MAC Address filtering. That basically means if the router doesn’t have the unique ID off the wireless card, you don’t get access router. Now I know this method is flawed and can be broken. But it will keep out your average computer/internet user. And for right now, that’s good enough for me.

Had I had the time and the equipment already setup, I would have done this little prank.

Oh, during the course of all this, I also fixed another problem I was having: Wii Internet Connectivity. Ever since we’ve had our Wii, the internet has been a little slow, especially on the Wii Shop channel. During the course of my troubleshoot the speed issue, I realized there was a cordless phone receiver a few feet from the router. There’s a somewhat known issue where cordless phones can interfere wireless internet signals. So I changed the channel on the router and BAM. The Wii now has blazin’ internet access.

10 Things to Remember When Confronted By The Police – Avoid the “Bro, Don’t Tase Me” Moment!

Throw Me.

Seven die in septic tank rescue.

What’s really in a Twinkie?

Cubilus.

Armless Artist Questioned In Neighbor’s Death (hat tip to Stephen and Matt).