Bandwidth theft - procedure and contacts to solve

[nicvon]

By no means am I saying it is not theft, nor am I saying that it is not wrong. But if you are prepared to shell out a couple of hundred bucks a month for an internet connection, surely you should have the initiative to protect your investment.

I agree that the ISP's should play a bigger role in ensuring that people are aware of bandwidth theft and that they instruct users in simple terms how to safeguard themselves against this form of crime.

So all in all the combined ignorance (Which is absolutely no excuse), the lack of ISP support and ultimately prosecution leads thieves to believe that what they are doing cannot be traced, or that they are not using enough to be caught.

At the end of the day it is up to the user to make informed decisions on how they decide to prevent themselves from being a victim of this crime, this being said surely they are responsible for their own wellbeing and as mention earlier ignorance is ABSOLUTELY no excuse on behalf of the user or ISP.

So yes as I said earlier, having bandwidth stolen because you haven't secured your router is your own fault. ignorance is NOT bliss.........

 

[nugpot]

... leads thieves to believe that what they are doing cannot be traced, or that they are not using enough to be caught.

So yes as I said earlier, having bandwidth stolen because you haven't secured your router is your own fault. ignorance is NOT bliss.........

Well, someone will have to teach the script kiddies that crime does not pay. I'll see if I can catch a few more using the 3 accounts under my control.

Going through life with a criminal record sounds like good punishment. Try getting work when you leave school or university, as if it is not difficult enough for young people.

 

[nicvon]

It only takes a few well publicized incidents and the bandwidth theft will drop dramatically. Hopefully this will be soon, either that or some day in the distant future we wont have caps and it essentially wont matter too much, not as much as now anyways.

 

[scotch196]

Can someone please explain to me how to change the password on my router? It's a Microcom and the current default username and pw are admin and epicrouter.

I'm not tech savvy, but am light years ahead of many of my friends and colleagues, most of whom have ADSL. To suggest that all ADSL users should know how to change router passwords is not only absurd, but exceedingly arrogant. It's akin to saying because you drive a car, you're an idiot if you don't know how to bleed the brakes. My ISP has certainly never told me it's advisable/essential to change passwords, or how it's done.

Back to the original question in this post - below's an email rec'd from Telkom explaining how to obtain a subpoena (after I complained that my account had been capped when I tried to connect at 8am, although an email from Telkom sent at 5.17am indicated I'd used 579MB of my 2gig limit):

"How to obtain a Subpoena:

Please note that the following information is to be added on to the subpoena.

First of all, it is very important to make the Subpoena out against Mr Lourens ********.

On the subpoena the following must be requested:

1. The telephone number associated with the ports identified.
2. The registered owner details of the telephone numbers identified.
3. The physical installation address of the telephone numbers identified.

Please remember to add the username details.

Once the subpoena has been received by the investigating officer, the investigating officer has to hand the original subpoena to their Technical Support Unit (TSU). The officer at the TSU will know who the identified person in Telkom is to accept the subpoena on our behalf."

When I first saw this I also thought, to hell, it's too much of a hassle, but now I think I'll go ahead, because I believe Telkom uses this as a way of fobbing off complaints.

 

[dominic]

scotch196 - welcome to myadsl

interesting post and if you do follow up please can yo update your progress here (without using real names )

 

[Maestr0]

You must be making yourself sick.

Good one! Completely forgot about that post. But still I complained about government not society in general.

 

[scotch196]

Thanks Dominic - sorry about using real names. Just to follow up: As of today, I'm still receiving "friendly notifications" from Telkom that my usage for November is 539MB, although I had my account suspended/capped last Thursday.

Today I spent close to 2 hours at my local police station opening a case against persons unknown, on dates and location unknown, of crimes or misdemeanours unspecified.

None of this information has been provided by Telkom - all they said in response to request for further information was:
"We have checked your logs from our side and it shows that your connection was used from different locations. If this was not authorized by you and require further investigation, you will need to report this to your local police station and obtain a case number".

I unfortunately cannot "confirm the existence of a specific form for 'ADSL bandwidth theft' at the SAPS" as asked earlier in this thread. I spoke to four different officers, none of whom had any idea of what I was going on about, never mind using a specific form.

The kindly inspector who finally had to take a statement didn't have a clue about the Internet or bandwith and had to ask what these Gigabyte things were. I tried my best, using cellphone airtime as an analogy, but don't think he really understood.

In fact I felt a complete idiot opening a case involving a portion of a R199 monthly fee and wasting these guys' time, but I'm determined to continue with this as Telkom are clearly using this as a way of ducking their obligations to keep their customers informed.

I have now invoked Section K of the Terms and Conditions that states "Telkom SA shall, as and when specifically requested to do so by the customer in writing, render such consultation and support services to the customer pertaining to the identification and, if possible, solution of problems encountered by the customer..." and requested specific answers to a range of questions, including a daily breakdown of bandwith usage and the dates my connection was used from different locations.

Apologies for the long post, but just want to emphasise what Telkom - "your ISP for Life" - makes its customers endure.

By the way, anyone able to help with my original question on how to change my router password?

 

[dominic]

Thanks Dominic - sorry about using real names. Just to follow up: As of today, I'm still receiving "friendly notifications" from Telkom that my usage for November is 539MB, although I had my account suspended/capped last Thursday.

Today I spent close to 2 hours at my local police station opening a case against persons unknown, on dates and location unknown, of crimes or misdemeanours unspecified.

None of this information has been provided by Telkom - all they said in response to request for further information was:
"We have checked your logs from our side and it shows that your connection was used from different locations. If this was not authorized by you and require further investigation, you will need to report this to your local police station and obtain a case number".

I unfortunately cannot "confirm the existence of a specific form for 'ADSL bandwidth theft' at the SAPS" as asked earlier in this thread. I spoke to four different officers, none of whom had any idea of what I was going on about, never mind using a specific form.

The kindly inspector who finally had to take a statement didn't have a clue about the Internet or bandwith and had to ask what these Gigabyte things were. I tried my best, using cellphone airtime as an analogy, but don't think he really understood.

In fact I felt a complete idiot opening a case involving a portion of a R199 monthly fee and wasting these guys' time, but I'm determined to continue with this as Telkom are clearly using this as a way of ducking their obligations to keep their customers informed.

I have now invoked Section K of the Terms and Conditions that states "Telkom SA shall, as and when specifically requested to do so by the customer in writing, render such consultation and support services to the customer pertaining to the identification and, if possible, solution of problems encountered by the customer..." and requested specific answers to a range of questions, including a daily breakdown of bandwith usage and the dates my connection was used from different locations.

Apologies for the long post, but just want to emphasise what Telkom - "your ISP for Life" - makes its customers endure.

excellent work and good luck!

By the way, anyone able to help with my original question on how to change my router password?

i think this has been posted a couple of times - do a forum search on router password and you should come right...if not bump the thread and someone will help

 

[scotch196]

Thanks - should have done a search at the outset.

 

[JungleFacedJake]

By the way, anyone able to help with my original question on how to change my router password?

You should have a CD that came with the Microcom - full manual is there (PDF). It varies from make/model to make/model, but my Microcom manual says:

The following steps will enable you to log into the ADSL Bridge/Router.
1. Launch the Web browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.).
2. Enter the LAN port default IP address (default gateway) http://10.0.0.2 in the address
bar.
3. Entry of the username and password will be prompted. Enter the default login User
Name and Password:
• The default login User Name of the administrator is admin, and the default
login Password is epicrouter.

Once in look on the left for a link to Admin Password Configuration.

Once you have this done REMEMBER to ALSO change your password with your ISP - NOT the router admin password but your ISP or PPP password. RTFM how to do this on the Microcom, but ISP must also change their end. It only takes one visit to your unprotected router to grab your ISP/PPP password, which is what is needed to steal your bandwidth.

 

[scotch196]

Thanks JFJ - that's good of you as tried searching but only got hundreds of results with nothing specific. Okay, I've logged into the ADSL router in my browser.

The left pane says Conexant, then the following headings: Status, Configuration, Admin Privilege. Under Admin Privilege there is a sub-head, "Password Configuration" (not a link) and under that, Admin and User (both links).

If I click on Admin, window opens saying: "Admin Password Configuration - For FTP to work, the password for Admin should be at least 8 characters. Do not use '&' in the password". Under that is a text area to type password and under that a second text area for retyping password.

Then two buttons, Submit and Reset. Under that it says: "Settings need to be saved to Flash and the system needs to be rebooted for changes to take effect."

I've tried typing in a new password of more than 8 characters and hitting submit, but the screen simply refreshes and the new password I entered has now disappeared.

I'm not sure if I'm even in the right place and what I need to do to get the settings to be saved to Flash and the system rebooted. But I'm keen to get this done, so any additional advice/instructions will be much appreciated.

 

[Playing]

I just got an email from Telkom informing me my bandwidth usage for the month is 384 MB. The usage tracker shows zero usage since the 8th. Actual usage is more like 4 GB. So here is what I wonder: How much of bandwidth theft is simply Telkom getting the usage wrong or allocating it to the wrong account?

 

[JungleFacedJake]

scotch196, I tried it on my Microcom, hope yours is the same:

1. Log in via browser as admin
2. On left-side links click "Admin Level Username/Password" under the bold tab "Admin Privilege"
3. Enter old password and new password twice - don't panic when fields blank when you press "Submit"
4. On left-side links click "Save Settings/Reboot" under bold tab "Configuration"
5. Click "Save & Reboot" button
6. Wait......wait
7. Page will return, forcing login with new password

Then, when all OK, call your ISP help desk to find how to change your PPP password. Then change that on your Microcom - Configuration...PPP...PPP Account Configuration. I have never managed to "modify" an account, so one can add a new one, delete the old one, and the Save & Reboot again!

 

[JungleFacedJake]

Then two buttons, Submit and Reset. Under that it says: "Settings need to be saved to Flash and the system needs to be rebooted for changes to take effect."

Carrying on from above post. It is likely that your screens and mine are different, but that you almost have it right. Try entering the password, Submit, then Save&Reboot. The device has no disc drive so the settings are saved in flash memory, and you need to do the Save&Reboot bit to achieve this.

 

[scotch196]

JFJ - thanks again mate. Yes, my screens are different, but following your instructions, have successfully changed the router PW - it was the Save setting under Config that I couldn't see.

Have also changed my Telkom (ISP) PW and updated this info on the router page (under WAN Configuration where I normally enter Username and PW). Hopefully that should give me more security from now.

Playing - that's exactly what happened to me - nothing has changed on usage tracker since Nov 10 (at 539MB), but on Nov 16 I'm told I've reached my threshold. So I also can't help feeling that Telkom are simply getting it wrong. That's why I've gone to the trouble of reporting this to the cops, to see what Telkom come up with.

 

[axisK]

All this password changing is good and well but seriously if you even suspect your router's firmware is based on Conexant firmware , buy something else.
The majority of Conexant firmware-based routers suffer from the exact same security problems as the manufacturer either never fixes these (well documented) flaws or fixes one of them and reopens another... It's not uncommon in these routers to find security holes that have been closed in previous updates to be present again. Best bet if you don't want to buy another router is to port forward ports 23, 80, 254 and 255 to a non-existant IP address. Personally I just preffer to stay completely away from any conexant-based routers.

 

[Wisemansa]

SPAMbotttt

 

[firebird]

This guy's right,

Bandwidth theft, is an inconvienience, it's unlikly you gona' die from it, (maybe traumatised !!) people are getting murdered, women are getting raped, the cops have to decide where to place their manpower, and if you or I were station commander, where do you think the manpower would go.?

The only way out is to follow the U.S. and the U.K. and have limitless bandwith. I live in S.A. for 16 years, now I am in the U.K., it's not perfect, but the internet is a way of life, I can't think of many people who don't have it. Use as much as you want, download all the files (?)
G.

This is absolutely ridiculous, do you people forget that this is South Africa...
Not even in the states do the police or judicial system really bother about bandwidth theft, u think our system is really gonna care.
Honestly, if u think that your bandwidth theft is such a crime go and take a hard look at the real crime that needs to be dealt with in SA.
There r so many murderers, rapists running free, our cops can barely catch them.

Who in their right mind really sees our police force understanding wireless networking technology, sitting hunting users in a special police van with a notebook and wifi antennas.
Come on
our system has bigger problems on its hands.

The only solution is uncapped as a standard, the fact that we have a limit is ludicrous, its more means for companies like telcom to screw us out of a buck. I mean most countries in the world would laugh at the thought. We really cant be taken seriously on a technical level internationally with such services

 

[ClaViuS]

I cant see how Telkom is "strugling" to find a sloution and that bandwidth theft is this so called "huge problem in SA" .... why cant they just realize its time to take away this stupid cap system and give everyone unlimited bandwidth.. there, problem solved .. Think about it, its also a crime to charge people so much for so little bandwidth.. Bandwidth theft is a big problem in SA and the only way to stop it is to stop charging people a fortune for such a low cap. of cap .. or ofcourse to give us unlimited bandwidth coz thats actualy the price we paying for.. just my 2 cents..

 

[happy]

cap theft

here is my 2 cents

i beleive most people who are being robbed are the ones with a wifi adsl router. there are two ways of getting in that is via wifi and via ip snooping.

just driving from camps bay to cape town the othe day i could pick up 100 wifi routers. most of them are open. all you need to do is log on to there network and surf away. if you live close to someone with wifi a powerfull enough antenna can pick up you wireless router. Do a search on war driving some interesting things pop up.

solution: get rid of wifi or close networks and change passwords.

With regards to getting contacts in telkom, well i contract for them and there are so many contractors there that not one guy knows the other or what his function is so good luck trying to get infomation from them.

cheers