My neighbor killed my wireless network

Well not literally but almost.

I live in a two storey house out in the burbs with many houses around us. we have had a wireless network in our house for years now. We have two wireless base stations connected to a router which in turn is hooked to a cable modem. The wireless base stations are Apple brand and are the snow(white) ones. We have had no problems with dropouts, signal strength or speed of the network until recently.

The house nexdoor is a rental house. Ever since it's completions, we have seen families move in live there for a month or two and then move out. They're mostly Asian families who dont speak a word of English -- or would like us to believe that's the case. So my attempts at communicating with them as neighbors have made little or no progress at all.

The ones that moved in couple of weeks back were unremarkable -- just like the rest, they work for Motorola or some other local tech firm on a temp alien visa.

One thing changed however, ever since they moved in, a new wireless network popped up on the wireless networks list. It is definitely theirs -- "ChooWireless" or something. Nothing wrong with having your own wireless network -- in fact several of our neighbors also have their own. Ever since this new one went up, our signal has diminished in strength by 50% and has become unpredictable like the noise level constantly pulsates every second continuously like there's something else interfering...

We have tried it all, we tried changing channels, we tried getting an antenna to boost signal, change the base station location, restart the base station, reconfigure signal strength settings --all to no avail.

Through the diagnostic software, I found out that their router is a linksys brand. That was not enough information of course.

Last night I went by CompUSA, they had these new fangled wireless routers on the shelf called Wireless pre-N routers. Apparently N is this new format that's coming out soon but it's specs are not finalized yet. It's supposed to be up to x4 faster and cover up to x12 the coverage distance. I said, oh cool pre-N or not, I should buy one. I got home and then I was upset with myself for not looking it up on C-Net or some other site.

I never opened the package but I found a bunch of information about the Wireless N technology and how it is famous for bringing down any other wireless protocol networks around it. It literally zaps them down to nothing. HMMMMMM..... Could it be that my neighbor has one of these? Is this why we are suddenly having all these problems with our network despite everything we did to fix it?

Now here's the dilemma, do I open the new router I bought install it and switch to Wireless N? Or do I return it as a responsible neighbor and not spread the insanity by ruining even more networks by installing mine. The first option requires me to go and buy new wireless cards for all the machines in our house (bout 5 or so). The second option might require me to write a letter to my neighbor asking him to change the strength setting on his router or possibly not use it -- yeah that will work.

Any ideas?

Here are some useful links that give more information about Wireless N:
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t152616-wireless-network-causing-crash.html

Shocking Article:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/Ou/?p=247

Search for "neighbor" in the following link. See the paragraph about "neighbor friendly" option in wireless-n routers.
http://www.networkgarage.com/

Search for "bad neighbor" at the following link:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/125634-1/article.html

Some Airport Base station tips and tricks for dropouts:
http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/Troubleshooting/Drop-Outs.html

turn off their power

if you are really naughty....u could always try using the neighbours network

cut the power lines to their house!

or phone lines, you just need one of these:

no you don't just one of these

Why anybody would need 12x coverage for a household is beyond me.

Most people running wireless are susch tards they dont even encript it. Just snag on there signal and use there isp.

I was using my neighbors ISP for about a week before I even relaized it. They have the same provider as I do. My win amp and downloads were lagging to hell. I finally realized my laptop hooked into their system for some reason. If I didnt do online gaming I would dump my service and just steal from my neighbors.

hmmm i don't encrypt mine..but then I don't do anythign over wireless that I have to worry about..the neighboors are welcome to my signal..until I lag too much. Gaming, now that requores being wired..the lag from wireless is just too slow..and its not hard to run a 30' cable.

Very well laid out issue and what a dilemma!! Have you considered hiring an interpeter?? lol.

Good Luck! Xplorer

If I were you, I would ask your neighbor to stop using N, unless he's a wireless developer/evaluator - and if he is, ask him to do it someplace where it's not trampling an installed base. Write the manufacturer of his router and demand to know when they're paying you to purchase their products, since they believe that exploiting an FCC technicality is good business practice.

N is unethical.

At least you know you are stealing.

One friend had this happening to them all the time, until he started putting REALLY kinky (but not illegal) gay porn on the thieve's shared folders. By the time they figured out things and turned off their shared folders... he had figured out how to block mac addresses.

LOL! I used to drive around the neighborhood (when gas was cheap!) with my laptop running beside me & a couple programs for sniffing out wireless connections running.

Then when I'd find an open Wireless connection, I'd just hop onto their network & leave a note on their desktop asking them to please secure their network. Some listened. Some didnt.

Have a site that explains how? My neighbor has an open wireless network that I can get onto.

Your neighbours might. And if they do, it's your responsibility. Also keep in mind that even if your ISP does not have a bandwidth cap, there are certain points where the ISP will cut your connection off for excessive data transfer. I know you are leaving it open because of your kindness - but do yourself a favour and lock it down.

THe problem with 802.11b and g networks is that they're licensed under Part 15 of the FCC rules: you have no legal recourse if other people interfere.

Most people dont' give a frack about anybody else: they just want their own stuff to work. Even if they wanted to be nice, they probably don't have the skills to turn down the output on their WAP

The best way to fix this problem? Switch to 802.11a. A runs on 5.8 GHz, and since it's hard to find equipment for it, that also means that you wont' have too many neighbors with A equipment.

Or you could get a multi-room antenna set up: It piggybacks on your tv cable and has an antenna for each room. I saw them at Fry's for like $50.

It's also possible to set up some hardware that would jam their network in to uselessness. The basic idea is that you generate a lot of noise on the frequency their equipment is using, then point it at their WAP. They won't be able to use it.

The best way to go, however, is probably to get your own N equipment. Two N units should play well together. (Crossing the fingers)

Pssst! Hey kid!! *shifty eyes*

Try this link: Wardriving

Check out the "Equipment" section. Software-wise, there's
Look@Host, Network Stumbler, Look@Lan, and WDriver. I've used all four and have been surprised with some of the neat lil' things you can do.

It's against my ISP's TOS to have an open connection. Like I really care about that. I encrypt mine because I don't need any Jr. hackers, perverts or gamers stealing my bandwidth. My ISP is slow enough already. Also there was a law passed recently that allows law enforcement to sepenoa records of users surfing habits and downloads. I'm sure I'm being paranoid but I just don't need the hassle answering for someone elses shit.

If you really wanted to be evil and had the money to pull it off, get yourself an RF sweep Generator from HP. It just creates an RF signal. Then all you need is an antenna. Find whatever their frequency is and create a frequency exactly 180 degrees out of phase. When the two signal collide, it's blackout. ;D

Now THAT is a beautiful idea! Sneaky too!

Just a bit pricey tho.

Wow, I would love this for cell phones.

I have XM radio. Everyday at the same time the signal would die out. I tried moving the antenna, changing channels, reseting it, nothing fixed it. It turns out it was the microwave oven at work killed the signal. It took me like a month to figure it out.

They DO make Cell Phone jammers. But they're illegal to have in the USA. You can get one for about $300. Looks like a portable police scanner. The only problem with ordering one is keeping it from being nabbed by customs agents. My solution: have a friend overseas ship it to you in parts.

I think everyone should own one of those. Since I started doing alot of travling for work.
I have learned to love people who don't know how to configure a wireless set up or think they need to broadcast to world. While sitting in a traffic jam out in BFE Kentucky. I was able to pass the 5 hours it took to clean up an accident surfing the net

Rox

Are you on the same frequency (sp)

A small soft x-ray projector would do the trick, but get your self some lead pajamas first!