Block a meddling neighbors WiFi

[Charmdb]

I did search this topic and only found one that wasn’t much help. I’m so fed up! This neighbor has made parenting so much harder! There’s a whole back story on why this neighbor is being a jerk, but that doesn’t matter. Here’s the issue. We have a 16 year old that has a laptop in his room. We use our router to implement “bed times” and/or cut off service when he hasn’t done chores, home work, etc. I discovered he’s been connecting to the neighbors PASSWORD PROTECTED WIFI! No big deal, I hit forget network. He either has the password memorized, has it written down, or he got it from her again. All I know is I checked again and he has since reconnected to her WiFi.
Last night I asked the neighbor to change their password. I know she gave it to him, I’m not stupid. But she said that it’s not her fault that he “stole” her password. She said that all of her things are connected to her WiFi and she doesn’t want to change the password. So how can I block this!?!? Please help! It’s hard enough parenting with out grown adults interfering!

Take the laptop? He got it from his birth mom for Christmas. We didn’t even know he had it until a few weeks ago. We could tell him to take it back with him when he goes to visit again. But he’s had it since Christmas hiding and using it. He’ll only do it again or he will some how find another device to use. I want to just nip it now and not have this be an issue anymore! So how can I block her signal? I mean really block it, so that even he can’t figure out it’s blocked?

 

[hoorah]

This is a parenting issue, not a technology issue.

I've never had to parent a step-child, so I can't speak to that, but I have been a step-child. I understand its easier said than done, but you need to have a base level of respect for your rules in your house. If the laptop is a gift from another parent, then taking it will only breed resentment and lower his respect for you.

My advice - don't use the wifi schedule as a parent. Stop in a few times per night and compare homework progress to elapsed time. Reward progress with increased privileges. The goal is to have him complete his own work on time without internet access as a temptation. He's got 2 years to figure this out before he's in college and there won't be anyone to restrict internet access.

The neighbor has their own wifi. I'd hardly call that 'meddling'. If my neighbor asked me to change my wifi passwords to suit them, I'd tell them to pound sand too.

 

[mxnerd]

Pull the WiFi adapter from his laptop? But he might buy another adapter and plug it in.

Don't let him eat? Just kidding. Agree this is a parenting issue, not a technology issue.

 

[cfenton]

Well, depending on where you live, actually blocking the signal at the source could be illegal. You can't interfere with someone's legal use of wireless signals. You could maybe try to insulate his room from wireless signals, though that would also block your Wi-Fi. A quick Google search shows some paint that is supposed to block wireless signals.

The easiest thing to do from a technical perspective would be to install some kind of parental control software on the computer than can disable the Wi-Fi automatically at certain times. You could probably also do this by making an administrator account on the computer for you and then only letting him use a limited access user account, though I'm not sure if a regular version of Windows 10 would let you schedule turning the Wi-Fi on and off.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Try to get on neighbors router gui, it's entirely possible it's default login, and change it yourself. Then, assign all the Mac's from her DHCP list to the block list, then change router gui password. Enjoy.

 

[Nashemon]

1. Call their Internet provider and report them for sharing their WiFi connection with neighbors. This will be more or less successful depending where you live.
2. Sue your neighbor for providing (if he did indeed give him the password) unrestricted Internet access to your minor child. Not sure how illegal this really is, as I am not a lawyer. Probably nothing on the books about it, but there may be grounds for something here. Maybe call a lawyer to discuss.
3. Connect to their WiFi and start downloading illegal things. Might take a month or so, but they'll get a nasty little cease and desist letter, or a knock on their door from FBI looking to confiscate equipment depending on how illegal you go.
4. Move.

 

[Mr Evil]

Free WiFi? I say take advantage of it and save money on paying for your own internet connection.

Since the password has been leaked, you should tell your neighbour to make sure she has changed the default admin password (which are easily available just by googling the model), otherwise who knows who could come along and mess with the settings.

 

[Charmdb]

The problem is, anything I do on the computer, he will take to his moms and they can factory reset it. Or he will do it himself. I want it to look like the neighbor did it. I just discovered there is a netsh command that can be ran through cmd prompt...but I also just discovered his laptop is running chrome OS which I didn’t even know existed. I googled how to get to their cmd and I did it. But netsh doesn’t seem to be something that their version of cmd does.

I had a stepmom, this isn’t a new thing for me. I remember how I felt about certain things my stepmom did, which is why I’ve tried everything under the sun to make friends. This has been a long standing issue with him.
I actually kind of tricked him. I made an ssid on our router with her identical ssid and then hid it. I connected him to it. We monitored it for a couple of weeks using circle Disney which came with our netgear router. I didn’t block anything. He was going to websites he doesn’t need to be going to. I only did this literally 2 weeks. It hasn’t been long. He has logged 60 hours of use! He’s not doing his chores. It’s not like he’s earned it. Instead of making this a fight and creating animosity, I just want her WiFi to be invisible to him.
I thought about logging into her router, I did! I was going to add his MAC address to the block list. But she has a modem/router through Century Link. The admin password comes printed on the bottom of the router and each one is unique. So that won’t be something I can do. But I am considering calling century link, maybe that will help!

 

[fleshconsumed]

If she's using ISP provided wifi router, chances are the default password is printed on the router and it would be next to impossible to guess it.

Ideally you'd set up "circle" so that it only interferes with your step-son's laptop and leaves your neighbor devices completely untouched so that she doesn't suspect anything. Unfortunately, that's where my help ends as I have not personally used the circle and I do not know all of its software capabilities.

Other than that, your only options are enabling parenting controls on laptop, I'm sure chrome OS has some, or start torrenting all the recently released stuff from piratebay, most of the pirate notices only take 48 hours to arrive nowadays.

 

[Genx87]

Take the laptop away before bed.

 

[ch33zw1z]

The problem is, anything I do on the computer, he will take to his moms and they can factory reset it. Or he will do it himself. I want it to look like the neighbor did it. I just discovered there is a netsh command that can be ran through cmd prompt...but I also just discovered his laptop is running chrome OS which I didn’t even know existed. I googled how to get to their cmd and I did it. But netsh doesn’t seem to be something that their version of cmd does.

I had a stepmom, this isn’t a new thing for me. I remember how I felt about certain things my stepmom did, which is why I’ve tried everything under the sun to make friends. This has been a long standing issue with him.
I actually kind of tricked him. I made an ssid on our router with her identical ssid and then hid it. I connected him to it. We monitored it for a couple of weeks using circle Disney which came with our netgear router. I didn’t block anything. He was going to websites he doesn’t need to be going to. I only did this literally 2 weeks. It hasn’t been long. He has logged 60 hours of use! He’s not doing his chores. It’s not like he’s earned it. Instead of making this a fight and creating animosity, I just want her WiFi to be invisible to him.
I thought about logging into her router, I did! I was going to add his MAC address to the block list. But she has a modem/router through Century Link. The admin password comes printed on the bottom of the router and each one is unique. So that won’t be something I can do. But I am considering calling century link, maybe that will help!

Dude, just mess with the settings, if won't matter if the laptop is factory reset if you change the settings on the router side.

Take a deep breath, and just do what we suggest

 

[hoorah]

The problem is, anything I do on the computer, he will take to his moms and they can factory reset it. Or he will do it himself. I want it to look like the neighbor did it.

I had a stepmom, this isn’t a new thing for me. I remember how I felt about certain things my stepmom did, which is why I’ve tried everything under the sun to make friends. This has been a long standing issue with him.

I actually kind of tricked him.

That sounds like a recipe for parenting success /s.

If he doesn't have any respect for you, he won't have any respect for your rules. He doesn't have any respect for you. The wifi is the least of the issues.

If you are resorting to 'tricks', expect the same in return, and you can forget any sort of positive outcome out of this.

 

[PliotronX]

Check this article out, IDK if it works for other versions but netsh commands are usually ubiquitous. Ensure he doesn't have administrator privileges and he shouldnt be able to remove the filter.

 

[razel]

This is a parenting issue, not a technology issue.

Boom... Original post is just one long rant.

 

[JackMDS]

There is a legal Technical solution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

Otherwise, might be that few Family therapy sessions might help.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Or you could just keep an eye on what he's doing and call BS when he's screwing around instead of doing work. His mother obviously thinks he should have a computer and is ok with him having unrestricted internet access. Since you, her, and his father are apparently all involved with raising the kid, the three of you need to agree on what to do here.

Trying to be his "friend"? That way lies madness. The "cool" mom is the one who isn't an effective mom when TSHTF.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Whew. Committing espionage, creating a honeypot connection to monitor his activity, attempting to frame your neighbor for the network being inaccessible. Accusing your neighbor who simply want to not be bothered with their own network because of what your kid is doing as "meddling".

Nope, I can't imagine why this kid might not respect your requests at all. You definitely sound like someone who follows the rules and has reasonable dialogue with people. </s>

OP the answer to your issue lies in this thread already and it has nothing to do with the Wi-Fi. Not the answer to your question, but the answer to your issue.

 

[Lordhumungus]

Agree with everyone else that this is a parenting issue. I can tell you that if it was either of my (also divorced) parents the laptop would probably be found somewhere between the front yard and trash can and the other would be able to pick it up at their earliest convenience.

The only other option I could think of is to login to the router and turn on access control. Allow all of the neighbors devices but disallow the laptop then change the default login password for the router so your step-son can't get back in. It probably won't have any real impact on the neighbor and she may never even notice unless she goes to login to the router someday and/or tries to add a new device. You SHOULD ask her if doing this would be ok since it would be literally no work for her and should not change anything.

Edited: To avoid acts of moral turpitude

 

[thecoolnessrune]

It's worth noting that in many states, the altering of a Network's equipment in any unauthorized way is at the very minimum a Misdemeanor. Heck, even discussing it for the most part is against AT Forum Guidelines. I would not recommend the OP go down that route.

 

[JackMDS]

Heck, even discussing it for the most part is against AT Forum Guidelines. I would not recommend the OP go down that route.

Discussion is allowed providing specific info and links to Hacking is Not allowed.

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In any case, at this point I think that the thread exhausts its value

Thread is Closed.