To Whomever Was Stealing My Internet

I’m not an angry person, as a rule. I try to “get along,” and I try to assume the best out of people. But let me give you a bit of history. I’ve had slow internet speeds at night for the past two weeks. At first, I thought it was my internet provider’s problem. They said they were working on speeding up the connection. But the weeks passed, and nothing changed. It was odd, though: in the morning, I’d have no problem with fast speeds. At night, it was a different story. 3800 mbps in the morning, 300 mbps at night. Not cool. So last night I’d finally had it. I had already tried testing it with and without my wireless router before to no avail, but I thought I’d give it another go. 300 mbps with wireless router. 3800 mbps with out it. I tried it again. Same deal.

Was one of my computers draining all my speed somehow? I have a PS3, Wii, three laptops, a PC, DS and a DVR all on the internet connection, after all. They’re not all on at the same time, but still–it was possible. So I reset the wireless security. Bing! 3800 mbps wireless speed.

I could be wrong, but it’s looking to me like someone was leaching off my internet connection. And not just a little, either. To make things even more suspicious, my wireless router’s password had been changed . . . highly suspicious. That’s what I get for assuming I’m in rural Maine, so WEP is all I need. I’m on WPA now, and I might upgrade to WPA2 if the problem comes back. Grrr . . .

Anyone know of anything it could have been other than an internet connection thief? I want to restore my faith in my fellowman.

Anyway.

In other good news, I’m going to Disney World! In April. But still, that’s soon enough to be able to look forward to it and be a bit cheerier every day. Especially when it’s 5 degrees outside. I found tickets for $148 a person (well, I found some for $118, but the dates didn’t work)–direct, non-stop, Bangor to Orlando. Beautiful. So we’re gearing up for a great trip. It’s been more than four years since I last went, but when I was a kid, I went all the time. Tons. It’ll be great to be going back. You may now be jealous. Carry on. ๐Ÿ™‚

8 thoughts on “To Whomever Was Stealing My Internet”

  1. Hard to believe you’d have a thief using the wireless on such a regular basis. It would have to be either somebody parked outside or a neighbor. Maybe one of the cows across the street is into hi tech?

  2. Yeah–I’m not sure who would have been snagging it, but it’s hard for me to think of another reason. I read online that with a directional antenna, you can leach internet up to a quarter of a mile away . . .
    Maybe I’m just paranoid, but the internet’s definitely faster now. Steady 3800mbps throughout the day.

  3. Curious…How does one switch to WPA and beyond? I suppose I could do the research if you’re not in the mood to answer. We have had security issues as well(mostly, for us, it has been our renter using our connection–now she pays us–but who knows if that was it).
    Jodie

  4. When you go into your router setup menu, you can select the security type you want to use. As long as your other machines can handle it, having at least WPA is the best. I had to buy a new wireless connector for my upstairs computer to make this work, and my DS can no longer go online, but such is life. WEP apparently takes all of 30 seconds to crack. WPA takes 15 minutes, if you know what you’re doing. WPA2 is the best right now, but some of my machines can’t handle that, and I use them regularly, so I’m hoping I don’t have to go there. If you think your connection is too slow, go to speedtest.net to test it and see where it really is. If you have more questions, post, email or call. ๐Ÿ™‚ I’m happy to help!

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