Okay, I've set up a wireless home networking system in my house. 750kbps, 802.11g, blah blah blah blah. And it's fine. Unless someone is on Kazaa, or eDonkey, or similar, in which case the speed of everyone else's connection drops to almost nothing.
Is there anything that can be done to stop this? A program that dishes out the bandwidth evenly between all the computers on the network, or one that puts a bandwidth cap on any computer downloading something? Or have I just set things up wrong?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Tell your roommates to limit their upload speed in KaZaa/eDonkey/whatever, and that if they don't, you will yank them off the network forever. They will listen.
Or just download a program like this or like this, and evilly cap their bandwith at 1kbps in both directions. They will come crying to you in less than a day, and then you will have the power to demand things from them. Use it.
Incidentally, how many computers are on your network, and how have you configured it?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Four nominally, although two people aren't here at the moment. And I got a Belkin Router primarily because it's suppossed to be really easy to set up (and was). Those two programs look useful, although am I going to have to fork out money for them after 30 days? I demand everything be free. And equipped with sexy nubile ladeez.
What configuration info do you want? All the computers are running XP Pro, the encryption is TKIP, the network authentication is WPA-PSK, one computer (which isn't mine and is the bandwidth hog) is directly connected to the router, while the rest of us are wireless. Anything else?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Hmm. My ADSL modem's a Belkin, you can connect to it using either USB or network port. And their literature says their wireless router is easy to connect to it, so what you're saying is encouraging. Might have to get one.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
WPA-PSK? Meh. Keys should never be pre-shared with a stream cipher. WPA's IV size is decent, but RC4 will still only keep your neighbours out, usually. (OK, maybe not if your neighbours are cryptanalysts desperate for a free internet connection.) So whatever you do, always leave TKIP on. Even when you don't have any bandwidth left for them to steal. And upgrade to WPA2 if you can. You will love AES.
Anyway, since your network is star-shaped (cable/ADSL modem ==>> WAP router ==>> clients), you can't regulate traffic over it from any single machine. So no being the BOFH you've always fantasized you were. Are you sure your router doesn't have a bandwidth limiter function built in?
(Also, a 750kbps internet pipe for four PCs is a bit on the slim side. That's an upload of 24KB/s per PC, ideally. 20 minus overhead. Which wouldn't be so bad if most P2P programs didn't consume all of your upload bandwidth and that of EVERYONE ELSE on your network with their default settings. Have a chat with the bloke, eh?)
((Also also, many things on the internet are free.))
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I know it's on the slim side. But broadband is still a bit new and expensive in this country. Everyone had been plodding along with 56kbps for the past several years. And we were originally going to go for 512, but the 750 was only a teeny, tiny fraction more expensive.
The router might have a bandwidth limiter. I'll check.
1/ I thought that having a key was a bit over-cautious anyway. I know one other person with a broadband connection over here. It's not as if people roam the streets with laptops looking for bandwidth to steal.
2/ How do I upgrade to WPA2?
3/ What is AES?
4/ Is the answer to the previous two questions "super encryption designed to keep out master hackers which is a bit-over-the-top innit?"
Are you saying that the upload bandwidth is what is being hogged, rather than the download bandwidth? I have to go onto his P2P programs and limit the upload and download bandwidths? What would you suggest? 20 kilobytes per second download, and what upload?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
How fast is your internet connection, exactly? I assumed your total upload speed was 750kbps, and just divided that by four (and then by eight) to arrive at the 24KB/s/PC figure. If it's your total download speed, though, then 1) I'm VERY reluctant to guess what your upload is and 2) you should migrate to continental Europe NOW. Swim across the channel if you have to, a data rate of 750kbps is only six times faster than dual ISDN, ferchrissakes.
1) Maybe. But it's better to lock your doors even when you're indoors. Do so, or I will sneak up to your house and lock you out remotely.
2) You'd have to buy new (802.11i) hardware. Which is over-the-top, I know. But I would think you were cool.
3) A block cipher that's used in the WPA2 standard.
4) No, that's actually the answer to question 3. B)
"Are you saying that the upload bandwidth is what is being hogged, rather than the download bandwidth?"
Well, if your maximum download speed is indeed only 750kbps, then they're likely both being hogged to death. In any event, limiting his up- AND download rates to a quarter of your total up- and downstream bandwidth would be a good idea if you ever want to access the internet again at something other than 14K4 modem pace.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
No, 750kbps is the total download speed. What on earth sort of averages are they on in continental Europe that 750 is a speed worthy of mocking and ever so slightly snobbish sniggering in the hallways of the school of modems?
And how do I find out what the upload speed is?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Erh, don't you know which ADSL/cable service offered by your ISP you're subscribed to?
And here on the European mainland, most medium-speed ADSL connections average at four mbit down and half a mbit up, for about €40/month. Because we rule.
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
I won't then go bemoan how bad ADSL is in Los Angeles... since I do have a wireless network set up at home also.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cartman: Erh, don't you know which ADSL/cable service offered by your ISP you're subscribed to?
Yes, but I only paid attention to the download speed, and whether there was a cap on overall amount downloaded.
The 750kbps is �26 a month, which works out to (I think) about �33. I told you it was expensive over here.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:1/ I thought that having a key was a bit over-cautious anyway. I know one other person with a broadband connection over here. It's not as if people roam the streets with laptops looking for bandwidth to steal.
Geez, what planet do you live on? Wardriving is the practice of driving semi-randomly (or methodically) around a certain area looking for open wireless networks. It's usually done by people with way too much time on their hands. Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Yes, but I only paid attention to the download speed, and whether there was a cap on overall amount downloaded.
Then go to your provider's webpage (they do have one, right?) and pay more attention.
And €33 for such a tight-arse connection? That's bordering on extortion. The bastards.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Yup. And the government wants everyone in the country to be on broadband within 5 years. Tsk, eh?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Well, they should be pursuing something like this, then.
quote:The U.S. city of Philadelphia may turn itself in (sic) the world's largest wireless Internet zone.
Philadelphia is studying ways to set up and pay for a network that would give wireless Internet access to any computer in the city that has the proper equipment.
Demand free bandwidth as a basic human right! Young nations, write it into your constitutions!
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I was watching TV the other night and saw and ad for Roadrunner High Speed Internet for Rochester, NY. It was being advertised at a low low price of $19.95 US for the first 3 months or so for broadband connection. I snickered at this as I'm paying $9.95 CDN for the first 3 months and then $29.95 for the next 5 months on a student contract plan for ADSL.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Okay, I am beginning to get confused and angry.
For some reason, the Belkin network keeps connecting for a second and then disconnecting, and then connecting again for a second and then disconnecting, and so on and so on. But now a Linksys unsecured wireless network has appeared, and even though it's a weak signal, I can connect to it.
I refuse to belive that it belongs to one of my neighbours, and it's strange that it has appeared at the exact same time as the Belkin connection has started to play up. Doing the speed test on ZDNet gives me a speed of 568 kbps, which is close enough to the correct speed of 750 kbps (considering that other people are using the network) that I think it could be the same one, somehow unsecured and with a different name.
The network card is a Ralink RT2500 wireless PCI card, by the way.
Any ideas? Anyone?
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
1. If it's a Linksys wireless, then it's either a cheap bastard or someone who doesn't know any better. I used to work with what was the largest wireless infrastructure in the country ('cause we were cheap bastards who couldn't afford a bunch of Cat-5) and the Linksys cards (and those which used the same chipset) licked donkey balls.
2. Wardriving? First I've heard of it. Here, it was called "drive-by hacking". But, like I indicated, my info is a little dated.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"...it's strange that it has appeared at the exact same time as the Belkin connection has started to play up."
Not really. If your neighbours went wireless and the signals broadcasted by their AP are powerful enough, they can generate interference with your own AP's transmissions if both are on the same frequency (though that's pretty unlikely with OFDM and only two overlapping devices, but, you know, technology). Have your network settings changed at all since this problem appeared? If not, then round up everyone living within a 50-meter radius of your house and question them harshly.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Well, I updated the drivers from the Windows Update web-site, but doing a system restore doesn't get rid of the problem.
And an old lady lives on one side of us, and the other side is empty. Plus, y'know, I still think that only 3 people in the whole of Liverpool have wireless broadband. Still, I will ask.
Doesn't explain the Belkin system playing up. I think I'll turn off the encryption stuff, and see if that stops it from acting all crazy like.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I issue a call to arms and get the cold shoulder. I bet Che never had this problem when he was unionizing the Ewoks.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
You don't live in Philly though, do you?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Far from it.
?
("Philly"? Don't make me break out the ((awful and bad)) fake Cockney accent.)
[Dudes, how about that Real World: Philidelphia, though, huh?]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
[Holy shit! [[Square brackets!]] ]
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
{Soon, Simon will have depleted all the symbols on the <extended> ASCII character table in his obsession with styled brackets, and then he will sink into deep existential exigency. We are witness to the final days of a rational man.}
Posted by ulTRS magDOS (Member # 239) on :
We have long since breached those walls.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: ("Philly"? Don't make me break out the ((awful and bad)) fake Cockney accent.)
I was being like the Fresh Prince. He has authoritity over you.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
And authority, even.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
But no author-o-titty.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Well, who amongst us hasn't been warned about writing on female body parts?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Not so much 'warned against'. 'Strongly discouraged' might be more accurate.
Liam, assuming you are still getting interference problems from your neighbors and if you haven't done this already, you might try changing the wireless channel your router is using. The default is Ch 6.
The prospect of wardriving has startled me into updating the firmware on my Linksys so now it acts more like a Cisco product. Sweet. Anyone understand what the WPA-RADIUS option might entail and whether that's better than the WPA-Shared Key?
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I think the difference would be that it can either broadcast a normal signal to a certain radius, or it can broadcast a secure signal that the cards with a certain key can access. That's just guesswork on my part, though.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
RADIUS is a service for authenticating clients through an external (remote) server instead of directly through a WiFi router. It's not really intended for home network use.
(But I would think you, too, were cool.)
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I have changed the channel to 6, actually (since the default channel over here is 11). I'll try changing it again. It does seem to get worse near the TV, which seems a bit odd. I know I could just try turning off the TV and seeing if that makes a difference, but, er, I haven't.
Oh, and which is better? The shared key system, or the one where you give your NAP address (or whatever it is) to the router and configure it to only let those specific computers on?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Are you talking about RADIUS, Liam? Maybe you're talking about wireless MAC filtering. Anyway you can do both. But Cartman will think you're cool if you can work out how to make RADIUS work on your setup. I figured out I'd need a warranty-voiding firmware upgrade and even then it's dicey. (maybe if Cartman would thik I was 'too cool' instead of just 'cool, also') Have to read more first. Maybe do some tests.
Be nice if my friggin' DSL was working right, though. According to SBC's speed test I've got 2.4Mbs down[/i], 0bps up. Fun.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Yes.
Anyway, since MAC addresses are actually quite trivial to spoof (for anyone driving around late at night with a laptop and a craving for bandwidth), there isn't that much point to proactively filtering out all traffic from non-permitted ones. Still, it'd prevent people from connecting to your AP with just any MAC, which is always a plus.
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