# Unsecured Network



## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Some one local has an their connection unsecured. How can I find out who it is to warn them.

It must be some one in one of town houses converted to flats behind my house, but I don't know anyone living there.


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

I dont know what the answer is but is there someway of telling your connection is secure? I dont know how to check mine...


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Sugarbum said:


> I dont know what the answer is but is there someway of telling your connection is secure? I dont know how to check mine...


 

When I click on my network icon it lists all available networks I can connect to. There has always been four, all secured, I'm asked for a password if I try to connect. Today there is a new one, when I treid to connect I was allowed and accessed the net. I did drop the connetion straight away.


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

Thta just happened to me too, I see someone has BT hub and it says unsecured network.

How do I test my own is secure? It just has my name up.


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Sugarbum said:


> I dont know what the answer is but is there someway of telling your connection is secure? I dont know how to check mine...


 
What network are you using ?


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

Talktalk
 cheers.


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Sugarbum said:


> Talktalk
> cheers.


 

I'm on BT Homehub.

Try to find  'Wireless Network Connection Status'  Click on Wireless Properties then Security. You should see something like WPA2. WPA2 is a secured connection.


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## Steff (Apr 4, 2010)

yeah i get that as well, we get 4 other connections and a thing that tells us the strenght of there net. they all say secure


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

when I hover over it says "WPA-PSK", do you think that is secure?


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

I think it must be secure as when you hover over the other one it says unsecure instead of a W code...


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Sugarbum said:


> I see someone has BT hub and it says unsecured network.


 

That's handy for when your network goes down.


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Sugarbum said:


> I think it must be secure as when you hover over the other one it says unsecure instead of a W code...


 

Yep, you are secured.


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

Haha!!! I had never thought of that!


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## Steff (Apr 4, 2010)

i have 5 unsecured it says on mine


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## Sugarbum (Apr 4, 2010)

Old Holborn said:


> Yep, you are secured.



Thanks for that  Thats very reasurring as I wasnt sure how to check it. I havent had wireless long so didnt know.

Now I am wondering if I should put a note on the board downstairs saying a BT is unsecured, but then I am advertising people to go on to this connection now? Difficult isnt it?


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Steff2010 said:


> i have 5 unsecured it says on mine


 

Then your 5x luckier than me. 

Have you thought about 'Free' connection to the net


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## Old Holborn (Apr 4, 2010)

Sugarbum said:


> Thanks for that  Thats very reasurring as I wasnt sure how to check it. I havent had wireless long so didnt know.
> 
> Now I am wondering if I should put a note on the board downstairs saying a BT is unsecured, but then I am advertising people to go on to this connection now? Difficult isnt it?


 
I wouldn't as that, as you say, will advertise to all and sundry and the owner wont thank you if their on a limited connection.


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## Steff (Apr 5, 2010)

its mad i can see a debs and nath and a abdul are currently online.


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## thedame (Apr 5, 2010)

Old Holborn said:


> Then your 5x luckier than me.
> 
> Have you thought about 'Free' connection to the net



On a serious note - don't use an unsecured network, as tempting as it is - if you can access it, trouble can travel back to you!

Re wireless connections generally, as mentioned by others, you should be able to see which ones in your local area are secure and those which are not via your network connection panel - the location and name of this varies depending on your operating system but usually you will see an icon of some description in the notification area of your taskbar - bottom right of the screen near the clock bit.

All wireless connections should be secured by the use of a password and this is set up via the user interface for your wireless router/modem. You should have instructions on how to set up your own particular router, either in the manual or from your service provider. Often the password is preset by the service provider (eg Sky do this) but it varies - I am with Virgin, using their supplied router and had to do it myself. 

Basically you enter the user interface - which is a page opened up in your browser using an address which would be something like http://192.168.1.1.htm. This is a page linked to your router- it is not a page on the www - it just opens in your browser for convenience. You then need to set the password for your chosen type of security (WEP or WPA - the latter being a better choice). You enter your chosen password using letters and numbers This will be converted into a set of numbers which the wireless router understands. Then this key/passphrase/password needs to be entered on any wireless computer or gizmo (iPhones, game consoles etc can all join your network) wishing to share your internet connection.

So you would set up the security as described by first linking your computer by an ethernet cable to your router. Then once done you can go wireless using the password. HTH


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## PhilT (Apr 5, 2010)

thedame said:


> On a serious note - don't use an unsecured network, as tempting as it is - if you can access it, trouble can travel back to you!
> 
> Re wireless connections generally, as mentioned by others, you should be able to see which ones in your local area are secure and those which are not via your network connection panel - the location and name of this varies depending on your operating system but usually you will see an icon of some description in the notification area of your taskbar - bottom right of the screen near the clock bit.
> 
> ...


 
You should also make sure that you change the default SSID name. Also you should change the user name and password for the router config access as it usually is defaulted to admin for the user name and 1234 for the password. And anyone can access the router otherwise and change the security settings.


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## margie (Apr 19, 2011)

PhilT said:


> You should also make sure that you change the default SSID name. Also you should change the user name and password for the router config access as it usually is defaulted to admin for the user name and 1234 for the password. And anyone can access the router otherwise and change the security settings.



Yes and check it periodically. 
Our ISP decided to download new software to the router and reset the password. OH had an e-mail telling him but he hadn't read it. I tried logging on because we were having some issues and it didn't accept the password - after doing a bit of digging on the net I discovered what had happened.


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## AlisonM (Apr 19, 2011)

We have several unsecured networks around us as well. I tracked one of them to an elderly neighbour and secured hers for her, but I don't know who the others are. Our own is as secure as we can make it and we change the passwords regularly too.


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## Ellie Jones (Apr 19, 2011)

If the network is BT then this is their openzone network!

When you have an BT hub, part of your brandwidth is set aside for the openzone network...  Your actual network is secured and BT hubs are set to locked as default..  So your computer can't be accessed..


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## robert@fm (Apr 19, 2011)

I can see at least a dozen wireless networks (including my two) -- including two unsecured ones.  One of those is called "BTOpenZone" so I presume it's the pub on the nearby main street; I suspect the other is some clueless person.


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## Copepod (Apr 20, 2011)

Due to the proximity of just two houses to ours, and absence of any others, we know it's our neighbours who have unsecured network, We have told them, don't access the networks ourselves, but it's still unsecured.
If we didn't know which of many flats had unsecured network, we would put notes through letterboxes to explain situation.


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