Can you guys help me with this? Wi-Fi

[SocialNumb]

Every time these two girls that live with me leave the house I notice the Wi-Fi light on my modem starts flicking non-stop.

These are connected: (not counting my stuff)

2 PC's
1 iPad
2 Android mobils

It also happens when they're not using any of the devices.

What do?

 

[JeffTD]

The light flickering doesn't actually indicate anything other than use - what's the actual problem that's occurring other than the light acting up? Like what does this prevent you from doing that you think/should be able to do?

 

[SocialNumb]

Well that's my point. No one is using these devices when the light is flickering non-stop. That is until I turn off access to the wi-fi and put it on again. Then it sits still like it should be. (no activity) However, they inevitably get home and reconnect. When they stop using it or leave the light eventually starts to flicker non-stop again. Could it be something got into one of their machines and it's somehow using the net? Hacker shit?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Open apps on the phone maybe? They are using wi-fi instead of 3G or whatever is out there these days?

 

[kev]

It seems the router wants tits to me.

 

[AD Chaos]

Every time I put W7 on sleep mode the modem light keeps flashing, only slower than when the computer is on. The light only stops flashing when all the devices are powered off.

 

[indecizo]

It's the NSA.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Is your wifi password protected? WPA or WEP? Someone else could be using it. Other than that, perhaps background updates from programs or OS updates could be running that you don't necessarily know about.

 

[egan.]

TBH, every time I've experienced a similar freakout it's b/c I've forgotten something. Roku, PS3, AppleTV, VOIP, whatever. It's never once been a stranger on the network but it's easy enough to log into most routers and see the connected devices.

 

[SocialNumb]

Thanks guys, I'll look into all your suggestions and advise the girls. roflsaurusrex it is password protected. If it where just a little flicker here and there I would guess it might be some updates or what not. Thing is, it flickers at a constant rate very quickly for hours on end unless I stop the network. Happened all through last night again.

It's makingme paranoid and I'm thinking the worst. Gotta make sure no one is jacking the network and doing illegal crap on it.

 

[Line666]

As Egan said you can normally find out what devices are attached to your network via your routers configuration panel which is easily accessed by typing (usually) one of the following into your browser search bar and pressing enter:

http://192.168.1.1
http://192.168.0.1
http://192.168.2.1
http://192.168.1.254

It will require a password and username which is usually written on the back of the router itself and from there you should be able to find a page with a list of all connected devices. A connected device can be spoofed as another device already on the network (by manipulating the computers MAC address to match another) but it would be unlikely anyone would go to the trouble of doing this.

If you're interested in making your network more secure then make sure (also in configuration) that your network is encoding is WPA2 not WEP (WEP is easily bruteforced) and if your router has WPS then make sure it is turned off as this feature has a vulnerability which means you only have to set up a computer to constantly reconnect with different variations on WPS' 8 digit pin which means the WIFI password can end up being compromised inside a few hours if you have a particularly vulnerable router that doesn't block out after a few connection attempts - most router firmware has been updated to correct this particular vulnerability now tho so it shouldn't be a huge worry.

 

[SocialNumb]

Under security mode it says: WPA/WPA2-PSK-TKIP/AES as if it's somehow using them all and don't see an option to change it but I am new to Comcast Xfinity.

I've gone through the connected devices one by one disconnecting/removing them through the configuration panel and when I finished with all of them that damn light kept going. I'm not sure what the hell this means but that's what happen.

Thanks Line666 for all the info you took the time to write, even though I already knew most of it except about making it more secure.

Also, I've changed the Wi-Fi password to something ridiculous.

 

[Line666]

Well if you've gone through all that then I'd suggest maybe putting down the joint for a bit to ease with the paranoia

Or it could be the government spying on you...

 

[SocialNumb]

I'm going to need a joint if I don't figure this out. For real though, never before 5PM for me. (most of the time)

Damn light.

 

[updog]

Haha! Yeah, I'd say don't worry too much about it. There are bigger things to worry about, after all; not trying to patronize you, it's just something I genuinely have to keep in mind sometimes, and one of those times was when something like this happened to me.

Granted, it was a bit more worrying than that... Someone posted a stupid-ass insult on my FB wall, from my account, and get this: from the looks of it, it was also posted from my own computer. (they have a log of the places you've logged on from and all there was was my own computer)

So either someone hacked onto my computer ONLY to post a stupid fucking message on my facebook account, or I had fallen under some psychosis episode for the total duration of one minute and posted the message myself without knowing about it. Both of those scenarios are obviously so incredibly unlikely it's not even funny, but I still don't know exactly what happened back then.

Nevertheless, I tightened all the FB security settings, changed my password, ran spybot and all the other shit on the computer (I'm on a mac but I was using Windows on it at the time...), couldn't find anything apart from some spyware that you always get on windows, and I moved on. It hasn't happened again, and frankly I can't be worrying about shit like that all the time.

 

[egan.]

Under security mode it says: WPA/WPA2-PSK-TKIP/AES as if it's somehow using them all and don't see an option to change it but I am new to Comcast Xfinity.

I've gone through the connected devices one by one disconnecting/removing them through the configuration panel and when I finished with all of them that damn light kept going. I'm not sure what the hell this means but that's what happen.

Thanks Line666 for all the info you took the time to write, even though I already knew most of it except about making it more secure.

Also, I've changed the Wi-Fi password to something ridiculous.

If you google your model number you can find out information about stuff. I've done it with mine. One thing to note is that Comcast started a program a few years ago to allow all of their modems to function as public AP's for other comcast customers. To my knowledge this traffic functions independently of any throttling on your bandwidth and obviously is completely firewalled but it may well cause "action" on your modem.
http://bgr.com/2014/06/11/how-to-disable-comcast-xfinity-wi-fi-hotspot/

 

[AD Chaos]

If you have turned off all the devices using the modem and the light keeps flashing, then it's possible a neighbor has detected (and added) your modem to their 'available connections' list. Doesn't necessarily mean that they're getting any access to your modem or your computer, just that their device keeps recognizing your modem as a wireless network within their range.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

.....Comcast Xfinity.....

I think that might be your answer right there. Comcast has a new thing where other people can use your router to access wifi through their own service. Essentially it makes all routers a public hotspot. I'm thinking that's the case. I'm connected to one at the studio right now actually. It recognizes your comp by your mac address and sends you through a portal where you sign in with your xfinity account or purchase an access pass. So essentially all they are doing is redirecting through your router. With that being said, it takes almost 0 effort to spoof a mac address of someone else on the network, but there's really not much you can do about that. Here is what I see when I log in through it

Here's more info

http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/16/technology/security/comcast-wifi-hotspot/

 

[Flow Of Time]

Wow... I wouldn't want that shit for shure...

 

[SocialNumb]

Thanks a lot everyone. You have all been very helpful. I had no idea about the hotspot crap. According to the links posted, in regards to Comcast Xfinity, you can turn off this hotspot sharing thing, so I'll give that a go and see if it solves this issue.

Heres hoping that's all it was.