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So my upstairs neighbors were stealing my cable/internet

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Originally posted by: Kaieye
What would happen if you apply 120 volts AC thru the cable going to "his apartment" ? Could this damage his tv or PC?

Just a hypothetical question, of course.
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Oh, you mean like this?

I think this is your solution, OP. Make yourself one with a female coaxial connector, wire it up and then plug it in. Wait a few seconds, unplug it, and then disconnect it from your neighbor's wire.

😉


In actuality, I would probably just use a pair of bolt cutters to snip the wire and take the snipped-off part - meaning they'd have to get a new wire, or crimp a new end on. Oh, and lock the cable node if you can, and give the cable guy the key - thought they may not be too happy about it. I know the power company bitched when we locked our fuse box.
 
Originally posted by: Kaieye
What would happen if you apply 120 volts AC thru the cable going to "his apartment" ? Could this damage his tv or PC?

Just a hypothetical question, of course.
Click to expand...


LOL... Just wrong and illegal, but funny.

When you light his apt. on fire and the fire dept. puts it out, you know gravity will effect the water. Hence, if you live BELOW him, not a great idea.

Remember two wrongs don't make a right, but it can be very fun to watch.
 
Originally posted by: plastick
So a few nights ago I was online doing homework when I hear some kind of noise outside my window. I didn't really go outside and look around because it was 2:30am, I was hella-tired and I also assumed the noise was coming through the vent from the furnace in the basement.

Next day I wake up and have no internet or cable tv. I called my isp and talked to them and they sent someone out this morning to check it out. Come to find out, my upstairs neighbors in my apartment building were stealing my cable/internet. They weren't even sneaky about it either. They just disconnected my lines completely and then plugged themselves in. Dumbasses! Like I wouldn't notice... I even heard them outside my window when they were doing it at 2:30 in the morning (My desk is right next to the building's cable connection box on the other side of the wall).

Yeah so I hope my isp does something about it, plus I plan to talk to my land lord and have them booted.

Has this happened to anyone else here before? What did your isp do about it? I'm not that upset but I know its definitely a crime and I lost two days of internet which I need to do all my University work through. Kinda annoying.
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You didn't notice! You had to call your ISP!
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: QueBert
lol why are there always a few people on here who suggest a gun as a solution to a problem. It can be "my neighbor threw an empty coke can on my lawn"

"get a gun and go fuck him up!"

The scary part is I don't think some are being sarcastic, keyboard warriors come out and play!
Click to expand...

Guns are the solution for folks who don't like GUIs and LCDs too.
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as someone who hates GUI's & LCD's I believe you might be wrong. A gun has never been the solution for me. Honestly if that was my neighbor, I would do what any old school CLI lover would do and wardial his phone #. Dos lovers handle shit by annoying the shit out of people and war dialing is even more annoying than spam.

 
Originally posted by: MedicBob
Originally posted by: Kaieye
What would happen if you apply 120 volts AC thru the cable going to "his apartment" ? Could this damage his tv or PC?

Just a hypothetical question, of course.
Click to expand...


LOL... Just wrong and illegal, but funny.

When you light his apt. on fire and the fire dept. puts it out, you know gravity will effect the water. Hence, if you live BELOW him, not a great idea.

Remember two wrongs don't make a right, but it can be very fun to watch.
Click to expand...

What also would be illegal would be to hook up a car battery to his cable. But make sure that all your stuff is unhooked first. I don't think that the apt will go on fire though. But I wouldn't really advise you to do that. After all it is illegal right?
 
I guess I'll share my story.

Next door neighbor is stealing cable. Didnt even try to be sneaky about it. He just walked out back, pryed the cover off the box and ran his cable right into it.

I called the local cable company and they said they would be out soon.

Thanks for the car battery tip. If nothing else it helps me to know I can always be even more disgusting than I usually am.
 
Wow you guys are a bunch of nit-picky see you next tuesdays. "There is no such thing as the idea of mitigating circumstances, and it isn't worth finding out if maybe they were just in a really bad place and needed help but nobody helped them, so they had to resort to increasingly desperate measures, all of which at one point sounded just as horrific to them as they do to us right now, but we're cocksure and arrogant enough to know our lives will NEVER backslide, we will NEVER lose a job and NEVER be broke so we are able to throw all the stones we want from this glass house and ruin these peoples' lives while feeling self righteous and indignant about it!" It must be great to have obtained this Leelu Dallas Multipass for Life that enables you to pass judgment on everyone who is less fortunate while remaining willfully blind to the fact you sound like the biggest jackholes in Creation.
 
Solicyte said:
Wow you guys are a bunch of nit-picky see you next tuesdays. "There is no such thing as the idea of mitigating circumstances, and it isn't worth finding out if maybe they were just in a really bad place and needed help but nobody helped them, so they had to resort to increasingly desperate measures, all of which at one point sounded just as horrific to them as they do to us right now, but we're cocksure and arrogant enough to know our lives will NEVER backslide, we will NEVER lose a job and NEVER be broke so we are able to throw all the stones we want from this glass house and ruin these peoples' lives while feeling self righteous and indignant about it!" It must be great to have obtained this Leelu Dallas Multipass for Life that enables you to pass judgment on everyone who is less fortunate while remaining willfully blind to the fact you sound like the biggest jackholes in Creation.
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Lol necro.

But just to address this chump, if you lose your job and have "fallen on hard times" I think stealing cable is contributing to the problem... Not a solution. Oh no, the horrors of only having over the air channels... The horror!
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
Lol necro.

But just to address this chump, if you lose your job and have "fallen on hard times" I think stealing cable is contributing to the problem... Not a solution. Oh no, the horrors of only having over the air channels... The horror!
Click to expand...
What is wrong with only having OTA channels? Cable TV is so overrated anyway. Better to use streaming video services as you can watch what you want when you want it.
 
whm1974 said:
What is wrong with only having OTA channels? Cable TV is so overrated anyway. Better to use streaming video services as you can watch what you want when you want it.
Click to expand...


Oh don't get me wrong, I completely agree - as someone that hasn't had cable for the last 2+ years. I don't need that stupid shit.

The point is the post I quoted is looking for a fucking sympathy card. "Oh woe is me! I can only watch thy local channels! That just isn't good enough! I've fallen on hard times so I need to steal cable..... Think of me as just a poor boy stealing a loaf of bread."

In reality, it's akin to asking for booze. It's something you do for entertainment.
 
Weird, I had a similar thing happen to me, probably about that same time. While I was living in an apartment going to college, one of the other tenents broke into the cable box of the building and put a splitter on our cable (which we only had for internet). Except their splitter was shit or something and so ours goes out. We check everything on our end and Cox sends someone out. Yanks the splitter off, plugs ours back in and re-locks the box and leaves (didn't tell us that was what had happened though). So the idiots do it again (this time breaking the lock so it can't be locked again), so we call them again. Guy does about the same thing. Happens a third time and the guy finally tells us what happened. They go and put an entire new junction box on. As far as I know they never did anything to the people that were doing it, but it finally stopped after that. Maybe they contacted the building owner or something I don't know.

Solicyte said:
Wow you guys are a bunch of nit-picky see you next tuesdays. "There is no such thing as the idea of mitigating circumstances, and it isn't worth finding out if maybe they were just in a really bad place and needed help but nobody helped them, so they had to resort to increasingly desperate measures, all of which at one point sounded just as horrific to them as they do to us right now, but we're cocksure and arrogant enough to know our lives will NEVER backslide, we will NEVER lose a job and NEVER be broke so we are able to throw all the stones we want from this glass house and ruin these peoples' lives while feeling self righteous and indignant about it!" It must be great to have obtained this Leelu Dallas Multipass for Life that enables you to pass judgment on everyone who is less fortunate while remaining willfully blind to the fact you sound like the biggest jackholes in Creation.
Click to expand...

The ****? Yeah and it couldn't possibly be that some people are just ******* ********? Or total cheapasses that blow all their money on booze and scratch tickets or some other stupid shit. Talk about being willfully blind and being the biggest jackhole. **** off with your religious shit you ******* dipshit. Your mother deletedin hell and you'll join her one day.

Oh and FYI, there's ******* programs for people in those situations (literally there's a program to subsidize internet for people that can't afford it). Use them and STFU. Or go **** **** in the alley like your mom used to in order to be able to afford shit for you. Too bad she didn't *******do that with your dad to save us your pathetic existence.

You ******* necrophiliac, ******* this long dead thread.

Hey! Please have less coffee or get more sleep - whatever calms you down. All that is over the top and completely unnecessary.

Admin allisolm
 
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Solicyte said:
Wow you guys are a bunch of nit-picky see you next tuesdays. "There is no such thing as the idea of mitigating circumstances, and it isn't worth finding out if maybe they were just in a really bad place and needed help but nobody helped them, so they had to resort to increasingly desperate measures, all of which at one point sounded just as horrific to them as they do to us right now, but we're cocksure and arrogant enough to know our lives will NEVER backslide, we will NEVER lose a job and NEVER be broke so we are able to throw all the stones we want from this glass house and ruin these peoples' lives while feeling self righteous and indignant about it!" It must be great to have obtained this Leelu Dallas Multipass for Life that enables you to pass judgment on everyone who is less fortunate while remaining willfully blind to the fact you sound like the biggest jackholes in Creation.
Click to expand...
Welcome to Anandtech. You're off to a great start!
 
Solicyte said:
Wow you guys are a bunch of nit-picky see you next tuesdays. "There is no such thing as the idea of mitigating circumstances, and it isn't worth finding out if maybe they were just in a really bad place and needed help but nobody helped them, so they had to resort to increasingly desperate measures, all of which at one point sounded just as horrific to them as they do to us right now, but we're cocksure and arrogant enough to know our lives will NEVER backslide, we will NEVER lose a job and NEVER be broke so we are able to throw all the stones we want from this glass house and ruin these peoples' lives while feeling self righteous and indignant about it!" It must be great to have obtained this Leelu Dallas Multipass for Life that enables you to pass judgment on everyone who is less fortunate while remaining willfully blind to the fact you sound like the biggest jackholes in Creation.
Click to expand...
There's just no good excuse for stealing cable TV like that.

That said, ...

In the '90s, my mother and I called the local cable company multiple times and asked them to fix a hazzardous cable TV line that was hanging down in my backyard. I was a young teenager at the time. The dangling wire interfered with my ability to mow the grass. If I recall correctly, one of my friends even got "clotheslined" while riding his bicycle. Eventually I got upset and cut the wire. The cable company simply put connectors on each end of the cut and joined the ends with a coupler. They still didn't deal with the wire! Since they wouldn't get the wire off our property, I put a splitter in place of the coupler and had cable TV (probably for a year or so).
 
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My neighbor's "hacker kid" did this to us a few years ago. Found out when Windows automatically mapped a PnP network printer that wasn't mine. Looked at the DCHP table on my router and figured out his IP address and blocked it, then sent a document to the printer that said "STOP STEALING INTERNET" with one letter per page 😀

I was using a crappy Netgear router at the time and got a Google Wifi mesh network now. Make sure your router supports WPA 2 AES for the best security, and lock down MAC addresses if you want to be extra secure. Be sure the guest network isn't turned on by default as well.
 
Solicyte said:
Wow you guys are a bunch of nit-picky see you next tuesdays. "There is no such thing as the idea of mitigating circumstances, and it isn't worth finding out if maybe they were just in a really bad place and needed help but nobody helped them, so they had to resort to increasingly desperate measures, all of which at one point sounded just as horrific to them as they do to us right now, but we're cocksure and arrogant enough to know our lives will NEVER backslide, we will NEVER lose a job and NEVER be broke so we are able to throw all the stones we want from this glass house and ruin these peoples' lives while feeling self righteous and indignant about it!" It must be great to have obtained this Leelu Dallas Multipass for Life that enables you to pass judgment on everyone who is less fortunate while remaining willfully blind to the fact you sound like the biggest jackholes in Creation.
Click to expand...

looks like we finally found the dude stealing OP's cable....11 years ago.
 
whm1974 said:
What is wrong with only having OTA channels? Cable TV is so overrated anyway. Better to use streaming video services as you can watch what you want when you want it.
Click to expand...

Where I live, I think that I can get one OTA channel with an antenna. It's a Spanish language station.
 
Fritzo said:
My neighbor's "hacker kid" did this to us a few years ago. Found out when Windows automatically mapped a PnP network printer that wasn't mine. Looked at the DCHP table on my router and figured out his IP address and blocked it, then sent a document to the printer that said "STOP STEALING INTERNET" with one letter per page 😀

I was using a crappy Netgear router at the time and got a Google Wifi mesh network now. Make sure your router supports WPA 2 AES for the best security, and lock down MAC addresses if you want to be extra secure. Be sure the guest network isn't turned on by default as well.
Click to expand...

So wait, that sounds like he didn't split your cable line - he simply figured out your wifi password?
 
Ichinisan said:
There's just no good excuse for stealing cable TV like that.

That said, ...

In the '90s, my mother and I called the local cable company multiple times and asked them to fix a hazzardous cable TV line that was hanging down in my backyard. I was a young teenager at the time. The dangling wire interfered with my ability to mow the grass. If I recall correctly, one of my friends even got "clotheslined" while riding his bicycle. Eventually I got upset and cut the wire. The cable company simply put connectors on each end of the cut and joined the ends with a coupler. They still didn't deal with the wire! Since they wouldn't get the wire off our property, I put a splitter in place of the coupler and had cable TV (probably for for a year or so).
Click to expand...

Back in the early/mid 80's my dad bought a bunch of these descrambler filters out of the back of a magazine that you screwed into your coax to get pay channels for free. He connected all four of them in series, and we had HBO/Showtime/Movie Channel/Cinemax. Worked for years (probably until they converted to digital).
 
whm1974 said:
Good Grief.😱 Do you even bother to watch TV at all?
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Sure... I sign up for Comcast to watch it just like almost everyone else in town does. We can also get TV service from Frontier, but their service is even worse than Comcast. I didn't know that customer service that's even worse than Comcast was even possible until I experienced it firsthand.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
So wait, that sounds like he didn't split your cable line - he simply figured out your wifi password?
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Well, yeah. You can't steal someone's Internet by splicing into the coax. That's been sticking out liek a sore thumb since the OP 11 years ago.

What happened to the OP is that he lost Internet because his neighbors wanted free TV. They DoS-ed his Internet as opposed to stealing it.

dainthomas said:
Back in the early/mid 80's my dad bought a bunch of these descrambler filters out of the back of a magazine that you screwed into your coax to get pay channels for free. He connected all four of them in series, and we had HBO/Showtime/Movie Channel/Cinemax. Worked for years (probably until they converted to digital).
Click to expand...
I recall having three of these dumped on me from someone. I didn't even have cable at the time. I stayed at a friend's house once where we tried them and it totally worked! Protruded awkwardly out the back of the VCR though. 😉
 
Ichinisan said:
Have you tried again after the digital broadcast transition?
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I moved to the area 4 years ago, so the digital transition was supposed to be already done at that point. Before then, I lived in a urban area and could get about 30 stations with just rabbit ears.
 
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