Kicking people off wireless network

BigSlideHimself · Post by **BigSlideHimself** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 10:48 am

Hello,

I work in a coffee shop and want to kick people off our wireless network that don't buy drinks, is there any way to selectively ban IP addresses?

Similarly, how would I send each violating customer a netsend: "Cheap Bastard"

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:22 pm

creatively thinking, do you give customers receipts?

if so, put the network info on the reciept. that way you can make it a SSID Network with password protection.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:42 pm

You can ban MAC addresses. Or better yet, only allow MAC addresses for machines whose owners have purchased drinks.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:10 pm

DCrazy wrote:You can ban MAC addresses. Or better yet, only allow MAC addresses for machines whose owners have purchased drinks.

They would have to ask for the MAC address of every person that buys something then, and most people don?t know their MAC is off hand let alone how to find it or wtf it is

Would be a real pain.

Ace actually has a good idea.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:37 pm

can't you pull that off the server from packet info?

it really shouldn't be hard to block users if you have access to the shops server... or router.. whatever you're using.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 6:30 pm

Yeah, cept that anyone who goes in there and purchases a drink once will have the SSID. Unless you plan on changing it every day, like color-coded bus passes, etc.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 6:50 pm

Duper wrote:can't you pull that off the server from packet info?

Any good router will tell you what MAC address's are currently connected to the network, but you won't know who is who.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 7:19 pm

heh.. yea.. thought of that later. How does wifi work anyways? ... wait .. ill google that. But isn't there a way to ID the port someone is connected to?

You could always make it part of the store's policy posted on a large sign. the you could simply tell them to get out! gah.. wait.. there is a range on this, he could sit outside and leech.

fyrephlie · Post by **fyrephlie** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:55 pm

Duper wrote:heh.. yea.. thought of that later. How does wifi work anyways? ... wait .. ill google that. But isn't there a way to ID the port someone is connected to?

You could always make it part of the store's policy posted on a large sign. the you could simply tell them to get out! gah.. wait.. there is a range on this, he could sit outside and leech.

there was a little shop across the parking lot of the office builing i was in a couple years ago. i used their network with my laptop all the time since the network guys at my company were so anal they wouldnt even let you out to the local yellow pages.

REDDER · Post by **REDDER** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:21 am

BigSlideHimself - I have a few observations for you to consider before you take the actions you are inquiring about... I am not trying to flame you here. This post is not meant to "lecture" you. I just want to offer you some "food for thought"...

Just to qualify the points I will be addressing below...I have been involved in retail sales and management for many years. I have worked with various retail operations as a wholesale distributor for the last ten years.

Let's not forget that good "customer service" is the the first set of rules in retail.

First, lets discuss your idea about wanting to "kick people off our wireless network that don't buy drinks"

These customers probably did buy drinks from you in the past. That is how they decided they liked your store and services. They may not buy today, but they might be thirsty tomorrow and buy X amount of drinks in the future.

Second, if you sent the message "Cheap Bastard" to me while I was in your shop I would probably get up, leave and never come back. Chance are good that you would lose me as a customer for life. If you upset me enough I might even print a screen image of your message and send it to the owner of your coffee shop with a very diplomatic letter similar to this post.

This brings us to my third point, Your post stated, "I work in a coffee shop". You better be sure you have the owners agreement on your actions. If you decide to do this on your own and upset someone who is a good customer on a day where they do not have a cup of coffee near their laptop... You might lose your job.

Once again... just food for thought.

BigSlideHimself · Post by **BigSlideHimself** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 1:53 pm

Redder, of course you're right.

I didn't go into specifics initially since I just needed the know-how. One of the big reasons I'd like to disallow certain users is because Hasting's Coffee shop is right next door to us, and they don't have wireless of their own, so their customers use ours.

More specifically, there's a jerk of a med student who comes in just to do his homework and gets humorously irate if our internet is down. I'd like to ban him.

As far as what I've got so far:

I'm using Linksys wireless router. I turned the Log feature on so I see the IPs of those connected and their port. Now, everyone has the same IP: 64.207.64.5

But has different ports. Am I looking at the right thing?

As a previous poster said, I should be able to ban the port. There's a section on my Linksys settings called: Filtered Private Port range, is this where I should type in the port number?

Also, will the suspect computer not just reconnect to a different port automatically when the preferred port is closed?

Thanks to all for your help

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:06 pm

actually, if you ban a port, you would shut down your network. I'm thinkin of specific IP's.I say ditch the wireless, install jacks, and issue connection cords with purchase/request.

(I know, I know)

sorry.. I'm not being any real help.

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 3:35 pm

Everyone connected to your network should be on the 192.168.x.y range of IPs, where x is most likely a 0 or 1 and y is the specific computer address. Look for a section in the router setup called connected or attached devices.

In my Netgear router, using the Attached Devices screen, I can see who is on my network, what their IP is (in the 192.168.0.x range), and also their MAC address. Find which computer you want to ban and look up their MAC address. Your Linksys might be more advanced than mine, since I cant ban specific MAC addys (I can only specify which ones I want on the network).

suicide eddie · Post by **suicide eddie** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:33 am

i faintly remember there being for admins a on the fly network tool with xp/2003 server for handling connection requests (traffic/firewall filter) also i think there might be a proxy client that can do what you want. i,ll look into it and see i have still got them. its similar to what a chat forum mod uses.

/me marks slides shop as ) (

REDDER · Post by **REDDER** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:48 am

Hmmm.... seems you would need to stay with DCHP for the general public (customers) to easily access your connection.

I think the best thing to do is have a user name / password system. This way your customers do not have to reconfigure their network settings.

Ace Combat's idea was good... You might also simply assign a "password of the day". Perhaps you can print that on each receipt or on a slip of paper or word of mouth. It will not stop every unwanted access, but it should reduce the number of voilations. The leeches would have to buy a cup of coffee or at least come in and ask someone else in there what the password was.

JMEaT · Post by **JMEaT** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:51 am

Just put offenders' IP addys in the DMZ.

My Linksys router is a bit old, but I have this tab that may do what you are looking to do:

And your "Cheap Bastard" message can be sent using the good ol' Net Send command:

Code: Select all

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner>net send
The syntax of this command is:


NET SEND
{name | * | /DOMAIN[:name] | /USERS} message

pATCheS · Post by **pATCheS** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:35 pm

You could set up WEP and change the key every day and only give it to paying customers. Printing it out on the receipt would be a very good idea, assuming it's possible with whatever you have. Or maybe print a bunch of them on a sheet of paper and cut them into tear-off strips. I think some people would want to defeat that by buying coffee and taking one of the strips to the other shop... ehh. Just a thought.