Suspect that someone other than you and your household is using your
Wi-Fi? Here’s how to figure out who’s connected to your network
If you’re doing your best to improve your Wi-Fi at home,
you might be curious about who’s using your network, and if they’re
slowing it down. It’s possible that your internet provider is just lying about the speeds
that you should really expect on your network, but it’s also possible
that there’s someone other than you (and your roommates or family
members) using your Wi-Fi network. So how do you find out whether your
network feels sluggish thanks to your household’s Netflix habit or
because an unauthorized user is stealing your bandwidth?
Perhaps the worst part of someone stealing your Wi-Fi is that they’re
slowing down your network. If there are already multiple phones,
tablets, and computers in your household, chances are good that your
bandwidth is divided up enough already. If whoever else is using your
Wi-Fi starts streaming Netflix, for instance, then that’s definitely
going to slow down the speeds that you and your roommates or family get.
Additionally, many internet service providers are implementing data
caps on their customers’ home networks, and you probably don’t need any
help getting uncomfortably close to the limit each month. An
unauthorized neighbor using your Wi-Fi may end up costing you extra in
data charges. And in a worst-case scenario, whoever is stealing your
Wi-Fi may also be snooping on what you’re doing online, or stealing
files from your computer.
The best way to resolve the question is to use one of a few simple
tools to take a look at what’s going on with your network. You can check
whether the devices that are connected to it are ones you recognize, or
ones that look suspicious and can’t be accounted for when you take
stock of the Wi-Fi-connected gadgets in your home. Depending on your
level of interest and your technical ability, there are some simple ways
to find out. The New York Times’ J.D. Biersdorfer notes that there are a couple of easy ways to determine who’s using your Wi-Fi.
The first step to figuring out whether somebody else is using your Wi-Fi is to log in to your router’s administrative page
One way to see what devices are connected to your Wi-Fi network (and
to check whether you recognize all of them) is to log on to your
router’s administrative page and check its DHCP Client Table, DHCP Client List, or the list of Attached Devices.
From there, you’ll be able to see all of the computers, smartphones,
tablets, and any other devices connected to your wireless router.
The website of your router’s manufacturer (or the print manual that’s
been collecting dust since you purchased the router) should include
instructions on how to log in to your router. Biersdorfer notes that
that usually requires typing the router’s Internet Protocol (IP) address
into your web browser, and logging into the page with the administrator
name and password.
You can also find your router’s IP address using text-based commands
on either a Windows machine or a Mac. For instance, PC users can type
“cmd” in the Start menu’s Search box, open the Command Prompt (cmd.exe)
program, and enter “ipconfig” to find the router’s address, which
Windows calls the Default Gateway. Or, Mac users can find the router’s
IP address by opening the System Preferences icon, clicking the Network
icon, and looking at the number that’s listed next to “Router.”
Alternatively, you can use an app to check who’s connected to your network
If you don’t want to bother with logging in to your router’s
administrative page, you can download an app that will do the dirty work
for you. There are a number of apps that will scan your network for
connected devices. In fact, your router’s manufacturer may have its own
app, like Netgear’s Genie, Linkys Connect, or Apple’s AirPort Utility for iOS.
Or, if you don’t like the manufacturer’s software or prefer to find
another option, there are plenty of programs from third-party
developers, apps that are equally capable of lending a bit of clarity to
the assortment of devices that are connected to your network. A few
choices include NirSoft Wireless Network, Watcher, Who’s on my WiFi for Windows, or the Fing network scanner for Android and iOS.
Make
sure you recognize all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi, since
you don’t want unknown users accessing your network
Once you’ve gotten the app of your choice to show you a list of the
gadgets that are connected to your network, you can determine which ones
are yours, and see if there’s anything suspicious going on with your
network. Your computer should show up, as well as your smartphone and
your tablet (which you’ll probably be able to identify in the list
by the manufacturer’s name).
If the list is confusing and
the device names difficult to parse, you can turn off each of your
gadgets or disable their Wi-Fi in turn to figure out their names. It’s
possible that all of the devices on the list will be accounted for. But
if you find a device connected to the network that doesn’t belong to
you, you know that someone else is using your Wi-Fi. It’s possible that
the unauthorized user is connecting to your network only sporadically,
so you may need to perform checks a few times to determine if the device
is responsible for slowing down your Wi-Fi.
Don’t recognize all the devices connected to your network? Change your Wi-Fi password immediately
Biersdorfer notes that some “sophisticated network moochers” are
resourceful about disguising themselves while using your bandwidth. But
if you have suspicions about who’s using your network, or if you’ve
noticed that there are more devices connected than you and your
household can account for, then you should consider changing your
network’s password. That way, somebody who’s logged in using your old,
easy-to-guess password will immediately be logged off your network.
It should go without saying that you should ensure that your network
is appropriately secured. But if your network is already encrypted and
someone is still connecting, then the least you should do is change your Wi-Fi password
immediately. After that, you should check on the network periodically
to ensure that the only devices on the network are yours. If an
unauthorized user manages to connect to your network again, you should
return your router to factory settings and configure it again from
scratch. That sounds like a major pain, and in some cases it is. But if
you’re worried about your security, your privacy, and your Wi-Fi speed,
it’s the best way to make sure that your neighbor isn’t connecting to
your network.
If you determine that nobody is stealing your Wi-Fi, but you’re still unhappy with its speed, here’s what to do
If, on the other hand, you determine that no unauthorized users are
connecting to your Wi-Fi network, and you’re still experiencing problems
with the speed of your network, you probably have other problems to
troubleshoot. You should test the speed of your internet via both
ethernet and Wi-Fi, and if your Wi-Fi speed is much slower than your
wired connection speed, that may indicate that you need to replace your
router.
There are some other straightforward ways to improve your Wi-Fi’s performance.
For instance, you can evaluate whether the placement of your router is
ideal (and move the router if it’s not). You can make sure that you’re
actually using your router’s dual-band functionality. You can determine
whether there are any devices you can connect via an ethernet cable
instead of Wi-Fi. Or, you can replace your router’s stock antenna, or
upgrade to a new router altogether. But if those tips don’t solve the
problem, you may want to get in touch with your internet provider and
see if there’s a problem that the company can help you resolve.
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