question about all the wifi networks in my area

[serpentracer]

I notice at times there are sometimes 6 available wireless networks in my neighborhood. but sometimes it's only mine that's on.
is everyone powering off their network with the computer? Mine is on 24/7. yes, mine is secure using wep.

but some of the others aren't. and just for shits and giggles the ones that aren't you can see their shared folders lol.

 

[jeffhurdphotogr]

I dont know if its possible to set up wifi to turn off with the computer, but my wifi stays on 24/7

 

[jmacavali]

How much signal do you have when those other ones show up? Most likely you are right on the edge of their range so some days you pick them up and some days you don't. Or they might have their routers plugged into surge strips and they turn their surge strips off after they turn their computers off.

 

[serpentracer]

actually most of them are pretty good signals.
say at least 50% or close to it.

I just thought it's odd everyone but me turns them off.

 

[jmacavali]

Ya it is odd if that is what is happening.

 

[setishock]

If you tap in to some one else's service it's called theft of services. If they trace it back to you it can get pretty serious. That's why folks like them and me shut off the router when we're done with it. It just makes good sense security wise.

 

[Comp_Pro]

People can crack wep passwords in less then 5 minutes. Use a wpa password

 

[serpentracer]

People can crack wep passwords in less then 5 minutes. Use a wpa password

it's not a password it's a key. self generated by my netgear router with a passphrase. set on the 128 bit encripton.
plus my router has a setting that only allows connections if I allow it.
I have to physically go into the router settings with my disc and allow that computer to access the network.
from what I've read on a few dif sites, my router has a lot of updated features that they say doesn't exist for wep stuff.

isn't that secure enough? I don't think the people that live around me are that knowledgeable.

 

[setishock]

MAC filtering huh. I use that on my personal network.
If you have the router IP address and ID and password you don't need that disc to get in and make changes.

 

[J03]

MAC filtering huh. I use that on my personal network.
If you have the router IP address and ID and password you don't need that disc to get in and make changes.

but you'd need to already be on the MAC whitelist to be able to access the routers control panel

it's not a password it's a key. self generated by my netgear router with a passphrase. set on the 128 bit encripton.
plus my router has a setting that only allows connections if I allow it.
I have to physically go into the router settings with my disc and allow that computer to access the network.
from what I've read on a few dif sites, my router has a lot of updated features that they say doesn't exist for wep stuff.

isn't that secure enough? I don't think the people that live around me are that knowledgeable.

I dont think that the complexity of the password wont really effect the hackability of the network in this case. Wep is very vulnerable - WPA is definitely advisable.

As for the MAC filtering... it is possible to spoof your MAC address. Because you have been connecting to your neighbours Wi-Fi, they will have a log of your Wireless card's MAC address... so in theory, they could use Aircrack to crack your WEP encryption, then spoof their mac address to be the same as yours, and have full access to your network.

It's very unlikely, but i guess it's possible!