The Glade 4.0

So out of courtesy to my neighbors, I made the mistake of offering my router password to them. Our lease is up in three weeks, as is our neighbors. They're moving back to California, so they've been looking for jobs online. I actually got off to a very rocky start with these neighbors, as I posted on here about nine months ago. After talking with them, I'm okay with them now. They don't bother me, so I don't care. I've had a few chats with the man of the household about his plans to move back to Cali. So when he approached me about just borrowing the internet to look for a job, I didn't even hesitate.

With all of that said, I should also mention that where I'm moving to, high speed internet is not possible. Our current apartment complex is pretty small, so I'm the only one with WiFi. So with three weeks left of high speed, I'm trying to download everything I can, enjoying my high speed while it lasts.

Now for the reason of this rant. These a**holes are hogging all of the bandwidth, and not even in a slight, annoying way. I mean, they're literally bogging it down to a snails pace. I have a 3MB connection (about the best you can get in this neck of the woods), and I'm bogged down to like 100kbps during hours that are traditionally down hours for the internet (non-peak times of the day). So now I run into the dilemma. Do I pull the plug on their ***, or do I put up with it out or courtesy to them because I gave them my word that they could use my internet for job hunting? I know job hunting doesn't take the amount of bandwidth they're using, that's for sure. They have two computers, iphones, and who knows what else connected to my connection now, and I'm not happy about it now.

I just blocked the MAC of their iphone, just for the hell of it. It really annoyed me tonight when I was trying to watch a live SD video that kept getting interrupted due to their excessive bandwidth hogging. I was about to pull the plug right then and there. I offered to let them use it for free under the condition of job hunting. What are you thoughts? Should I just block all other MACs and play dumb like my router is acting up when they talk to me about it? Should I just point blank tell them that they're bogging me down and it's not going to work out? I know if I change the password, they'll be able to tell that I did so. Blocking the MAC just brings up the "Unable to join network" error. Thoughts?

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Yes. They know they are abusing the privilege. Have they passed access on to anyone else, are you sure it is just them? Can you check that? Be as good a reason as any. Somebody hacked in and you have to change the password, sorry. Then don't give them the new one because somebody hacked in and pissed you off and you are eliminating all possible security leaks and aren't feeling particularly nice or generous right now.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I tend to be a overly nice, understanding person. I always think about the possibility that perhaps they really are that ignorant. Maybe they really don't realize they're using so much bandwidth. I know they probably do, but I like to think otherwise. This is why I wanted to pull the plug without necessarily alerting them to the fact that I changed the password. From my understanding, blocking their MAC addresses just makes it so they can't log on, without making it clear why, am I correct?

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I'd block their mac addresses and then act like I didn't know wtf was going on. Then again, I wouldn't have ever let them on my network in the first place.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

They don't seem like very tech savy individuals, so I believe blocking the MAC addresses should do the trick. As of this moment, their butts are blocked. Though, if they had some knowledge of computers, they could still infiltrate my system with the knowledge of my password. I know MAC filtering isn't really that great of security, but for these people, I think it'll work just fine.

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^^this

Just block them when you want the bandwidth and open it up when you feel generous. Then tell them that you're having problems too, if they ask.

You offered to share your access but you didn't offer to give the whole of it.

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In time, this too shall pass.

Yeah, I would totally block them! It's your Internet, and since you're moving in 3 weeks anyways just avoid any drama and block them. It might sound wrong, but they're the ones not being friendly about it. It's cause they don't understand how much of a problem with bandwidth they're causing. I shared my Internet with a friend like this and all he ended up doing was leaving his torrent and limewire programs running 24/7. It sucked, so I had to block certain URLs and ended up just blocking his MAC address entirely. Some people are just complete dicks! So you gotta be a bad mothatrucka!

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It's a b*tch being that lion sometimes, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

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Ron Paul 2012

Maybe only let them search during specific hours of the day and keep their MACs blocked during the other hours. If they are job searching, they likely have the ability to conform to any time schedules you set forth. It is *your* bandwidth after all.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I'd let them know. You don't want them to count on access, bring work home, and get screwed.

If it were me, I'd simply throttle their connection. Of course, I have the luxury of having a router where I could do that without a hassle.

Though, to be honest, if it were me, I probably wouldn't be in that situation to begin with, most likely. I'm fairly avaricious with my bandwidth, and not particularly loose with my network.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I'd love to have a router that could throttle their speed.

I've been blocking their MAC from time to time, whenever I want to use the internet. Considering I'm unemployed again though, that's frequently. They just don't seem to be getting the message I'm sending them by shutting it off. Whenever they're on, my bandwidth is cut in more than half, if not completely bogged down to a string of a connection. I tried to be nice, but I think it's time to shut them off permanently. My internet is due to be shut off in less than two weeks anyway when my lease is up.

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Have you just gone over and talked to them about the bandwidth usage? Playing games in the dark with them is not going to let them know there is a problem with their actions.

Go over to them and talk to them and say that you don't mind their access so long as they don't overuse it and explain that they've been hogging up bandwidth. Maybe they don't know its an issue, maybe they don't know what bandwidth is. Tell them they can have one computer on from x till y and no streaming video, downloading movies or large files, online gaming...

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Or just complain about your ISP and its shitty service to them, you don't know why it doesn't work anymore, the bastards, and if you guys decide to get internet, could I bum some off of you for a little while...?