Netgear stuff

[zxspectrum]

Hi again folks

Is there anyway i could be the master of the network in my home. The problem is i have just moved house and the net is set up via wireless, one of the problems im having though is one of the 2 lads is either constantly downloading or playing xbox live which is getting a chunk of the bandwidth, and when i come to do just normal net stuff like coming on here for instance the page takes ages to load up. I know its because of what they are doing as i clean my com up every week with C Cleaner and when they are not here then it runs great, is there anyway i could take the reins of the net and restrict what they are using.

Ed

[zebulebu]

Router. Guaranteed.

Someone needs to take a look at the firmware. Pound to a penny it'll be unable to cope with P2P properly and will be punking out due to max open sessions being reached.

There are two approaches you can use. The first is to ask them nicely to let you have a look at the router and see if there is anything you can do to tune the connection. Then either tune the settings more appropriately by using the inbuilt traffic shaping/bandwidth prioritisation features, or, if you can't do anything with the Netgear built-in crap upgrade the firmware to something more powerful or if this fails, upgrade the router to a real one like the Linksys WRT54G (damn - I do so much pimping of that router peeps must think I'm a Linksys shill...) with DD-WRT, Open-WRT or Tomato firmware.

Second approach comes after the first has failed - if they won't play ball with you, try logging into the router's home page with the default netgear username (admin) & password (password) or - if you're as sneaky as I am, sniff the network or stick a keylogger on one of their PCs and crash the router yourself then, when they log in - hey presto - you have the access credentials you need. And before anyone gets on their high horse about 'hacking' - you'll note that I only advocated this option if the first fails. I know from personal experience (an arsehole of a younger brother) that sharing things when living together can be fraught with complications. Sometimes, if diplomatic relations fail, you have no option other than to take it to the next level

[Fergal1982]

It does come down to circumstances really. If everyone in the house is paying equally for the internet access, then you should reasonably be expected to have an equal 'portion' of the bandwidth.

If the person in question is paying for the internet access himself, but is graciously letting everyone else use the internet for free, then its his to dish out as he sees fit. If he wants to hog the bandwidth and give everyone else nothing. Tough really, since you arent paying for it.

In the first case, though, Zebs suggestion of getting on sounds like a plan. Im sure the other housemates wont have an objection to you tuning the router to make it better for everyone, provided that you dont kill the router entirely.

On Zebs second suggestion, if you are all paying for the internet access equally, then you arent really 'hacking'. Its yours. you cant really hack whats yours. You are more... penetration testing the router. yes. that'll do!

[zxspectrum]

Aye cheers for the info will try it in a bit

Ed

[onoski]

The building or house you're in might be an obstacle as well in terms of how strong the wireless signal gets. I think if I remember correctly you can get a booster i.e. hub type of repeater, but then again price might be quite steep.