Understanding Your WiFi Network
Is Stealing WiFi a Felony? A court in Michigan recently let a man off on felony charges for
stealing a WiFi signal from a coffee shop while parked in his car. The
man had been checking his e-mail and browsing the Internet before he
was arrested and informed it was illegal to do so. Prosecutors
eventually determined the man had no idea what he was doing was
illegal, let alone a felony. Nevertheless, the case lay precedent that
piggybacking WiFi in Michigan is indeed a felony crime after all. |
Before you can detect if someone is ripping off your wireless Internet connection, it's important to understand some basic computer networking lingo. For more information on how to set up a wireless network, take a look at How WiFi Works. Now, let's look at a few of the areas in a wireless network that will give you a baseline for determining if your WiFi signal is being sapped unexpectedly.
A wireless network is comprised of a broadband Internet connection from a DSL, cable or satellite modem. You attach the modem to the wireless router, which distributes the signal and creates a network.
This is what's called a local area network (LAN). This LAN is where you set up computer peripherals such as your desktop or laptop computer and printer. Your router will have what's called a dynamic host client protocol (DHCP) table. In essence, your DHCP table is your guest list of every allowed piece of computing equipment.
Each device has its own media access control (MAC) address. Think of this as its signature. MAC addresses are assigned by the manufacturer, but can be changed by users, if they know how. Your router uses these addresses to assign each machine on your network an Internet protocol or IP address. The MAC and IP addresses of your equipment will be useful in a moment when we look at ways to detect whether or not someone is stealing your WiFi. For a more in-depth understanding of IP addresses, read What is an IP address?
If you're confused by some of this computer rhetoric, don't be. What's important is that you know what to look for when we get ready to diagnose your WiFi connection. Speaking of which, let's get to it in the next section. After all, that's what you came here for.
