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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

When to cut the neighbours internet connection off?

191 replies

Sammyham88 · 12/09/2018 01:01

New neighbours moved in across the hall from me yesterday. They knocked on to introduce themselves and ask if they could get the password for the wifi, their English was very broken and I'd just got out the shower so feeling a tad embarrassed being stood there with sopping wet hair and also not wanting to coming across rude on our first meeting just gave it to them..

However my connection is shite now, everything is taking ages to load or stream and I'm kinda worried that with our struggling to communicate properly they think the wifi is included like I've had in other buildings I've lived in before, really don't want to bring up this issue so soon when I've only just met them and given them the code.

AIBU to give it two weeks and then change the password and if they say anything respond by saying I'd have thought they'd probably have their own connection set up by now or should I stop being a wuss, give it a couple of days and then pop around to explain the situation? After having a complete arse living across from before I really don't want us to get off on the wrong foot

OP posts:
RollaCola84 · 12/09/2018 08:01

And to add to my anti social credentials, if I'd just gotten out of the shower and I wasn't expecting anyone there's no way I'd answer the door. Grin

oldsockeater · 12/09/2018 08:01

You just need to tell them it's private and tell them how to get their own.

There is a security risk from sharing WiFi, for security it is best to use a vpn. Using shared networks in coffee shops etc is not that secure. The shop will likely have a separate network for guests for this reason. However, it's possible to hack into someone's WiFi fairly easily without knowing a password, using free software (some providers more than others). If you are worried, use a vpn.

PatchworkElmer · 12/09/2018 08:01

If they’re students, their landlord might have offered WiFi as part of their rent- one of our student houses had all bills included. As others have said, they’re probably not CF, they just think it’s communal. Just withdraw it, and explain why.

timeisnotaline · 12/09/2018 08:04

The op has been kind. I don’t know why people are suggesting cut these people off and blank them forever. Yes change the password but there is no reason not to explain the obvious misunderstanding , that it’s not building WiFi and she was just being nice while they moved in, but they are going to have to get their own now.

HoppingPavlova · 12/09/2018 08:06

Is it really necessary to be so rude? How ironic that you'd say with due respect and then show none whatsoever.

That's not rude. I had the pleasure of spending over 20 years having to ask people on occasion if there was something wrong with them when they exhibited behaviours outside the norm. Necessary to work out if there was an interplay of mental issues with physical presentation etc. It's not disrespectful, it's asking someone to assess their situation in this regard when something seems a tad off kilter. I'm not saying there IS something wrong but they seem to be lying more towards the tail end of the bell curve.

cheesefield · 12/09/2018 08:06

I'd just change your password tbh.

If they knock again act surprised and say "Oh, that was my personal WiFi, I thought 24 hours helping you out would be enough for you to have sorted your own out. Bye".

KeneftYakimoski · 12/09/2018 08:06

The legal risks are overstated, but people blithely saying "they will look at devices, not the WiFi and the ISP connection" are at once right and very wrong.

They are right: you cannot be prosecuted merely because your network connection carried bad shit without evidence that it was downloaded onto devices you control. However, were it to emerge that your network connection was being used for bad shit - remember, assuming the OP is a normal person with a normal Internet connection, their neighbours will appear to the outside world to be using the same IP number as they are, because for practical purposes no home users have more than one IP numbers - that would be more than sufficient grounds for the police to search your house and take away all the IT for forensic examination. You might even get it back.

As a nice test for your personal disaster recovery strategy: if the police took away all your phones, iPads, laptops, desktops and portable storage devices, how fucked is your life? Yeah, you won't be prosecuted and you certainly won't be convicted. But how fucked is your life? And since the main reason the general public think this happens is child pornography, and the execution of search warrants on your house is neither quiet nor secret, how fucked is your life?

you cant get someone information by access their wifi

It's one less barrier. I teach and research computer security, and I am with some reasonable grounds confident that my laptop would withstand attacks by most things this side of very serious targeted actors (ie, didn't just want to compromise someone, but wanted to compromise explicitly me and willing to devote serious resources to doing so).

So I happily use coffee shop and hotel wifi to do banking, although out of habit more than anything more concrete I tend to use a VPN back to home if I am nervous.

I still wouldn't give my home WiFi credentials to randoms.

For a start off, I don't trust the other kit in my house any further than I can throw it and have segmented my home network so that devices I don't really control which don't need access to anything other than the outside word (televisions, door bells, lighting controllers, Alexa, etc) are on networks firewalled off from devices that contain useful information (laptops, desktops, phones). I haven't yet brought up a separate network for our employers' machines, but I'm close to it.

I have a guest network for visitors, which right now I just change the credentials on once they have left, but I am moving towards either hotel-style 24 hour access or issuing usernames and passwords to them individuals.

I can do this because, nerd in the trade, my home network is built out of cast-off and repurposed enterprise kit, and is basically a scale model of a large enterprise. I also can justify the effort as "work", and we have joked about having students take a field trip to my house.

But if I were advising normal people without the time, inclination or equipment to build a miniature secure network and do an informal 27001 exercise on their house? For fuck's sake, don't share your WiFi credentials. Yes, if you run things properly, don't click through the warnings and generally behave like the IT manager's pet, you'll be fine. If like most people you're a bit casual, a bit sloppy and don't worry too much about those badly worded warnings about incorrect certificates and the like, then the risk is non-zero. Why take it?

Juells · 12/09/2018 08:06

You just need to tell them it's private and tell them how to get their own.

She really really really doesn't need to do anything apart from changing her password and not being so nice in future. Any explanation or offers of help will be ramped up into all sorts of unreasonable-ness. They're not your problem, they can sign up for internet just like you did.

Snog · 12/09/2018 08:07

Just say everyone has to buy their own WiFi.
Change the password immediately and don't give it out to strangers anymore.

calpop · 12/09/2018 08:09

*www.google.co.uk/amp/s/w
Exactly regarding a VPN. I was just about to say the same think (work in IT Security). Even if they are just using the internet for online gaming or streaming movies, if they are doing that they are probably using a VPN (as any sensible person, myself included, does). A VPN will hog your bandwidth and make your non-encrypted wifi traffic much slower. Why would you pay for a certain service level to your broadband provider, but then let someone else access it for free and degrade your service? Bonkers.

Plus if they are downloading movies straight from the internet they could easily use up your download capacity (unless its unlimited, unlikely as you're obviously not a power user) and you could get the threatening letters from Virgin or Sky if they're using torrent sites etc. Because as far as they're concerned, someone on the network you have a contract with them for fair and legal usage on, has done so. Again, not much has been done with these to date but if you get a few there could be issues (yes teenage son, I'm looking at you!).

Public WiFi IS inherently insecure. Which is why they log IP addresses of anyone accessing it (in case they access illegal sites or download illegal material) and why noone in their right mind / working in IT uses internet banking on public WiFi without using a VPN. Like everything, your chnaces of being hacked are small, with millions of users out there to choose from, but perfectly possible to get on your laptop or work out your typed passwords (or read them from the notepad on your desktop!)

Heismyopendoor · 12/09/2018 08:11

keneft it’s not child pornography. It’s pictures of child sex abuse.

OP you’ve had some great replies. I like cheesefields. Short and to the point and not rude either.

SlartiAardvark · 12/09/2018 08:12

its the images/search history on the device.

How do the police find out what device was used? From the Internet Provider who will say "that IP was allocated to xxx" - so they'll come a knocking & looking at all your devices - you may be innocent, but that's no consolation when all your electronics are bagged up & taken away to be examined in a week or 2......

You've already said you're going to change it - change some of the other passwords you may have used since they've been on your wifi too & all will be well!

Tomatoesrock · 12/09/2018 08:12

Scary. Change it immediately and keep to yourself they are CF to ask, I would be worried if they are on illegal sites with your IP address.

Monty27 · 12/09/2018 08:16

As above. Shock

HiHoToffee · 12/09/2018 08:17

Just change your password and If they ask about it tell them you didn't mind helping them out for a day but that they should sort their own internet from now on.

Dontsweatthelittlestuff · 12/09/2018 08:19

I can’t believe they thought it was a shared next work if it was password protected. And I am sure there are other households in the block who also have a secure internet connection who’s internet would have come up when they searched.
They just got lucky and knocked on a door where the op gave out her password without thinking.
Just change the password and say nothing. Unless they are very dim they will know what and why you have done it and probably just try targeting another neighbor for access to their connection.

OftenHangry · 12/09/2018 08:20

Change it asap, but I don't think they were CFs to ask. They probably thought it came with the flat like it does in lots of them. Maybe it was even in the ad.
Just be polite about it and that's it. No need for coffee etc. You can recommend some broadband company if you want to.

Peaseblossom22 · 12/09/2018 08:28

Slight derail but I have found that if I change the password nothing disconnects they just carry on . I have found this when changing the password to stop my teenagers. Sometimes it can be several weeks before it asks for the password , is there a setting which you have to tick to say that when the password is changed please ask all devices to reconnect .

rainbowsandsmiles · 12/09/2018 08:47

Bloody hell, change the password!! NOW!! I wouldn't like that at all, it'd send my anxiety bonkers wondering what they were doing with it, and why is my connection now going so slow etc.......!
If they say anything just say "sorry, I assumed you'd be sorted by now" and if they ask again for new password just say "sorry, but it's a private connection but here's where you can ring up/go visit/ to see about getting your own."
Then hand them a piece of paper with details of where/how to on!
Blardy hell.

KeneftYakimoski · 12/09/2018 08:57

Slight derail but I have found that if I change the password nothing disconnects they just carry on

Turn the router off and back on again.

I'm surprised by "weeks", typical values are a few hours, but it's possible some brands of router do weird things; I never cease to be amazed at how badly implemented security on home equipment is.

If you can cope, generate a random password rather than using dictionary words. You can use www.qifi.org to print out a QR code containing the network name ("SSID") and the password, which modern phones and tablets can use to auto-configure. Also, it's a good idea to make the network name random as well.

1tisILeClerc · 12/09/2018 08:57

Absolutely change the password NOW, or just turn it off if you are in a hurry and going out, whatever and sort it on your return.
In a small 'defence' of your new neighbours, free internet or WiFi is available in many other countries, particularly with better developed internet structure so it may not have occurred to them that it is not totally free.

PoisonousSmurf · 12/09/2018 08:58

If it won't disconnect their connection when you change password, then turn off the router and go away for a few days (weekend trip?) And then change the password when you get back.
Hopefully by then they will have disconnected themselves and maybe got their own!

Xenia · 12/09/2018 09:11

Just change the password and leave it to them to come back to you. If they come back to you just say where the nearest internet cafe is whilst they get their own wifi set up.

DerelictWreck · 12/09/2018 09:12

@ohbigdaddio

Did he ever come back?!

montFleur · 12/09/2018 09:20

@KeneftYakimoski

You'd sound more plausible if you didn't refer to "IP numbers".

@calpop

How does using a VPN hog bandwidth? Traffic in and out is the same.

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