posted
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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
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?
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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.
Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
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.))
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
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.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
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?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
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.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
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.
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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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.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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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.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
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.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Yup. And the government wants everyone in the country to be on broadband within 5 years. Tsk, eh?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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!
Registered: Mar 1999
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