Have you noticed something strange in your WiFi connection? If you don't seem to have problems with your network and you find that your connection is too slow , it may be happening. Someone may be stealing your WiFi.
One of the clearest signals, when it comes to knowing if someone is connecting to your WiFi network, is precisely the speed. But there may be intermittent disconnections as well as having a slower connection . If at the beginning of the day it works well, but throughout the morning, afternoon and night you lose strength or disconnect very often, be suspicious.
Another thing you can do is unplug all the appliances in your house that are connected to the network. Then check if the WLAN indicator on the router (you will find it expressed as is) continues to flash. If yes, most likely someone is connecting to your signal.
But there are ways to check. If you want to know who connects to your WiFi, take a look at these tools. They are sure to help you.
Check from your mobile if someone connects to your WiFi
The truth is that at this point, there are different tools that offer us the possibility of checking if someone is connecting to your WiFi. In fact, if you leave any of these applications installed on your mobile , you will have the possibility to check it periodically.
1. An interesting application to do this type of check is Fing - Network Scanner. It is available for Android , so you can download it through Google Play. You will also find it for iOS, so if you have an iPhone or iPad, you will also have the opportunity to use it. You will see that it is a free tool. And it is also light and easy to install.
2. Download the application and follow the usual installation process . You will see that it does not last more than a few minutes. Wait for the process to finish. What you will have to do next is launch Fing.
3. The application will start showing you automatically how many devices are connected to your WiFi network . Keep this point in mind. Before performing any test, you will have to connect the mobile phone to the WiFi network you want to test.
4. One of the great advantages of Fing is precisely that it is able to show you the connected devices quickly . In fact, among the list of detected devices we will find the router itself from which the WiFi connection starts.
5. If you can easily identify all the devices that appear in the list, there is no other device connected for now. Be that as it may, we recommend that you keep the application installed on your computer , so that you can check when you need it if indeed an intruder is taking advantage of your WiFi network.
6. When you find a device that you don't recognize, tap on it to carry out further checks. You will access a more complete file, in which you will be given more information about the equipment in question : the brand, model and MAC address. This will help you add it to a blacklist on your router.
Check from a PC if someone connects to your WiFi
Another viable option is to check if someone connects to your WiFi through a computer. There are countless programs that you can use. But one of the most recommended is Wireless Network Watcher . If you want to start using it, you just have to follow these instructions
1. The first thing you will have to do is download the program. How? Well, very easy, accessing the Nirsoft page and choosing the Download Wireless Network Watcher option. You can download a ZIP file , with all the information about the program. But you also have the option to download the executable directly.
2. Unzip the ZIP file and then run the WNetWatcher.exe file .
3. You will see that instantly, the tool is in charge of providing you with a list of all the devices that are currently connected to your WiFi network.
4. What you can do next, in case you have doubts about one of the computers, is to right-click on the device in question. You will be able to see, in that case, what are the characteristics of each device and the MAC address. In this way you can detect and veto those devices that are connected to your WiFi, but are not really authorized.
What to do if someone connects to my WiFi
Ok, I have been able to verify that I have an intruder accessing my WiFi network. What can I do from now on? One of the first steps is to block unauthorized devices. But for this you will have to access the router's administration panel . You will need to configure the MAC filters.
If you are not sure how to do it, we recommend asking an expert for help. Or your own service provider . One call should suffice. If you have enough knowledge, you can also do it yourself.
1. Enter the IP address of the router in the address bar. You will also need to include your username and password.
2. Inside the router's administration panel , you will have to look for the filters by MAC. If you already have the MAC address of the intruder who is stealing your WiFi (you can copy it from either of these two tools that we have provided above). By entering this address, you will block access.
3. Another interesting option, if you don't usually have visitors connecting to your WiFi, is to filter only the MAC addresses of your devices . So that the rest cannot access.
How to have your WiFi network well protected
In addition, we would recommend having the WiFi network well protected. Whether at work or at home. It would be interesting if you take into account the following:
- Use a more advanced WPA2 security system . It is a more secure encryption system. Make sure your router is properly configured.
- Change the default password . You can carry out this and other actions directly with your provider, who also has access to the guts of the router. Make sure it has a minimum of 12 characters, in which uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols are interspersed.
- Modify the name of the WiFi network . It is that they cannot identify it and that, logically, it is not related to the password you have chosen.
- Change the password to access the configuration . It is a password that is usually very simple (admin, 1234, 0000). It is convenient to modify it, because it gives direct access to the router configuration.
- Turn off the router when you are not using it. You can do it at night or if you leave home and no one is going to use it. Logically, you should also turn it off if you are going to be away from home for a few days or go on vacation.