Home Network
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You said he is using torrents. All of the popular bittorrent clients including uTorrent, bitcomet and auzures (whatever its name it, it's hard to remember) allow user to limit upload and download bandwidth. Some clients like uTorrent even allow you to schedule bandwidth meaning he could limit download to 100KB/s during the day and put it to 300KB/s during the night. Chances are your roommate knows about this, but is simply unwilling to limit his speeds. Talk to him first. If he is unwilling to voluntarily limit his speeds just cut him off. He can get his own internet.
If you have a linksys router, odds are that you can install DD-WRT firmware on it which does have built in QOS for just his purpose. However I have never been able to get it to work how I want. Your best bet is to force him to throttle with his BT client.
// Steve McLenithan
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
Do you want me to send Chuck Norris over there? The obvious solution is to reconfigure your router to completely disallow internet access by P2P programs - at all. If he wants to be a dick, you can be too. It's easy. I know.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
What router do you have?
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Well, I have a LinkSys router that's a couple years old, and I know for a fact that it has the ability to limit usage by Mac address, and you can create timed schedules to enable/disable use of certain protocols (i.e., P2P), plus it has QOS settings and whatnot ... So you might have to have a look-see at your Router. FYI - you should NEVER use WEP, it is very, very, very easy to crack. You should switch over to WPA, and make certain your SSID is not broadcasting.
Douglas Troy wrote:
FYI - you should NEVER use WEP, it is very, very, very easy to crack. You should switch over to WPA,
WPA2. WPA1's been cracked recently. Fortunately for the security of newer systems. WPA1's essentially WEP2.0 (and had similar vulnerabilities) with WPA2 being a clean design done right.
Douglas Troy wrote:
make certain your SSID is not broadcasting.
This matters not at all if you've got even one other trivial (WEP or MAC address filtering) protection in place. All three will keep accidental users off, all three will be blown away in seconds by a wireless packet sniffer.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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What router do you have?
It's a Cisco gaming router, I don't know the exact model number off the top of my head. It might have been a good idea to have this info written down before asking my question. :doh:
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
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Douglas Troy wrote:
FYI - you should NEVER use WEP, it is very, very, very easy to crack. You should switch over to WPA,
WPA2. WPA1's been cracked recently. Fortunately for the security of newer systems. WPA1's essentially WEP2.0 (and had similar vulnerabilities) with WPA2 being a clean design done right.
Douglas Troy wrote:
make certain your SSID is not broadcasting.
This matters not at all if you've got even one other trivial (WEP or MAC address filtering) protection in place. All three will keep accidental users off, all three will be blown away in seconds by a wireless packet sniffer.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
dan neely wrote:
WPA1's been cracked recently
While that is true, script kiddies don't yet have tools available to them for this, and it requires being able to get in-between the connection of the router and the wireless device; verse WEP cracks that merely require you to be able to 'see' the router (SSID). MAC address filtering is indeed the right way to configure a home router, but not broadcasting your SSID is certainly a sure fire way to prevent a curious neighbor from trying their "skilz" on your network.
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
The best home network configuration utility is communication between the people who use the network... Assuming you are the person paying the bill (or at least paying your fair share of it), the next best option is router configuration. Almost every router has configuration software built in to limit bandwidth to one connection or another.
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dan neely wrote:
WPA1's been cracked recently
While that is true, script kiddies don't yet have tools available to them for this, and it requires being able to get in-between the connection of the router and the wireless device; verse WEP cracks that merely require you to be able to 'see' the router (SSID). MAC address filtering is indeed the right way to configure a home router, but not broadcasting your SSID is certainly a sure fire way to prevent a curious neighbor from trying their "skilz" on your network.
Douglas Troy wrote:
While that is true, script kiddies don't yet have tools available to them for this, and it requires being able to get in-between the connection of the router and the wireless device; verse WEP cracks that merely require you to be able to 'see' the router (SSID).
Do you have a cite for this? All the coverage I'd seen was before the conference where the attack was publicized and was written implying it worked like the WEP crack.
Douglas Troy wrote:
MAC address filtering is indeed the right way to configure a home router, but not broadcasting your SSID is certainly a sure fire way to prevent a curious neighbor from trying their "skilz" on your network.
Aircrack, etc will get the SSID and allowed mac addresses out of the packets they use to crack WEP or immediately from an unsecured network they don't provide any additional protection. They provide zero protection against kidiots/wifi thieves.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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It's a Cisco gaming router, I don't know the exact model number off the top of my head. It might have been a good idea to have this info written down before asking my question. :doh:
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
Disable port mapping and port forwarding. Torrents have to use one or the other to get through the firewall.
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
You're right, it's not a programming question, it's not even a technical question. It's very tempting for us geeks to try to find geeky solutions to problems (particularly social problems) but this is not a technical problem, it's a human relation problem. You're not doing yourself or him any favours by being all geeky and weird about it which is how it will be viewed, just talk to him face to face and work it out. As you know he can easily set the bandwidth limitations and time of day restrictions. Since you've taken him on as a room mate you have all the authority and can kick his ass out or simply unplug him if he fails to comply.
"It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson
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Douglas Troy wrote:
While that is true, script kiddies don't yet have tools available to them for this, and it requires being able to get in-between the connection of the router and the wireless device; verse WEP cracks that merely require you to be able to 'see' the router (SSID).
Do you have a cite for this? All the coverage I'd seen was before the conference where the attack was publicized and was written implying it worked like the WEP crack.
Douglas Troy wrote:
MAC address filtering is indeed the right way to configure a home router, but not broadcasting your SSID is certainly a sure fire way to prevent a curious neighbor from trying their "skilz" on your network.
Aircrack, etc will get the SSID and allowed mac addresses out of the packets they use to crack WEP or immediately from an unsecured network they don't provide any additional protection. They provide zero protection against kidiots/wifi thieves.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
dan neely wrote:
Do you have a cite for this?
From the source: While data remains encrypted, it is possible to perform data injection into the WPA traffic between a router and a laptop. The most interesting security hacks and tools in 2008[^] Link to the details of the actual hack, which outline the fact that it is "significantly limited" and that "the attack only works in one direction". http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/Security-experts-reveal-details-of-WPA-hack--/111922[^]
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
I have the D-Link DGL 5400 Xtreme N Gaming Router[^] and it absolutely kicks the crap out of any other (home) router I've ever used. I set it up so that Torrents are the lowest priority and games are the highest. Everything else (such as web browsing, email etc) just sort of floats somewhere in the middle, with priority determined using some kind of clever algorithm. Anyway, I can play online, have Torrents running, have the wife VPN'd into work and the kids on MySpace and I still get constant ping times of <50ms in Hellgate London. And it doesn't matter whether I play wireless or not - gaming ping times are the same. I hate to sound like a shill, but this router is worth every penny I paid for it. The previous router I owned was a LinkSys Wireless N thing that would freeze up about 3 times a week for no reason. It was absolutely terrible and my wife insisted I get something decent, since she uses it for work all day. The D-Link has been running now for about a year and I haven't had it freeze up or do anything weird at all in that time. It just works TM. It's a little pricey compared to your average router, but it really is a solid product that works extremely well.
The StartPage Randomizer | The Windows Cheerleader | Twitter
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
My Linksys router has a feature where dates/times of connections can be controlled. Perhaps yours has a similar feature. You might also look into net accounts /forcelogoff and net user /times commands, but those require access to the offending PC.
"Love people and use things, not love things and use people." - Unknown
"The brick walls are there for a reason...to stop the people who don't want it badly enough." - Randy Pausch
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I'm blanking on the name, but alot of common routers can be flashed with a linux based replacement firmware that does support QoS, etc.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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I'm not sure if this qualifies as a programming question(famous last words of someone about to be flamed). I've recently taken on some roommates, and one of them loves to torrent. My problem is that he is always hogging the network which makes simple web browsing almost impossible. I've Googled a bit, but my search terms aren't giving hits remotely close to what I'm looking for. I have almost no experience in networking aside from setting up my home networks over the years(plug in router, give it an SSID, and put a WEP password on it). Can you guys suggest some methods / sites / programs that can help me to limit his usage, or completely cut him off the network from say 5 P.M. to Midnight? I'm getting annoyed with having to wait for him to get home then whine at him to turn them off. Currently my solution is unplugging the router and plugging my PC directly into the modem.
[Insert Witty Sig Here]
You guys are making this way, way too complicated. Since you are sub-letting to him, you set the rules. Tell him, "please don't hog the network..." The next time he does it and is out for the day, go to your house's circuit breaker panel and toggle the power into his room. After a few reboots, he'll either get the point or buy a UPS. If a UPS, find out how long it will last... :)
Charlie Gilley Will program for food... Hurtling toward a government of the stupid, by the stupid, for the stupid we go. —Michelle Malkin
