Why are the neighbors networks centralized over my house?

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2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Hello

I am new to the group and have been following the Wigle App for two weeks now. Our neighbors have hacked into our router in the past and continue to try hack into our system. We suspect that they were running an illegal mesh network for the neighborhood using our Wifi signal from Xfinity and continue to do so. I have been uploading my wardriving scans around our street and each time the majority of the 100+ networks are centralized right over our side of the duplex. The network list shows that the majority of these networks are using Technicolor CH USA Inc. for their hardware which is what shows on our neighbors listing. We have Arris through Xfinity and show as having the strongest signal along with what appear to be 4 other networks with the same MAC address as ours, only the first and last digits are different. The neighbors come in a close second for signal strength. Everyone else who appears in the scans show -60 and higher on 5 ghz. They will slowly drop down to "0" and then switch to 2.4ghz. This pattern will repeat back and forth.

I have run a signal tracker using WIFI Analyzer Premium App on my Samsung Galaxy A01 and have tracked my neighbor's two Technicolor address signals to the shared wall of our duplex. I have also tracked two Xfinity signals to the exact same location. They do not subscribe to Xfinity. Our router is located on the opposite side of the duplex away from them and our only SSID tracks as it should (we disabled the hotspot in our Xfinity). Now, I have also tracked another Technicolor user to the front of our house indicating a hardware access point, but I am unable to find it without ripping out my walls.

On the surface it appears to me that my neighbors are running their illegal network enterprise with all paths leading back to our signal, making us look like the guilty party in case they are discovered by law enforcement. But our Xfinity shows no foreign devices connected to our router. No other routers, boosters, extenders, etc.

So how could it be that a 100 to 200+ networks are showing up on the map directly over my property, yet my system shows only my family's network and registered devices?

I have contacted Comcast and dealt with many reps in their Security and Fraud department. They will listen, but are not hungry to bring justice to those who are stealing from them. We also have evidence of electricity and water theft from our duplex neighbors. This just scratches the surface of our situation and I hope I have presented this part as clearly as possible. We are working with computer techs, have a PI on the case and working with local authorities regarding this case.

If anyone of you could offer any insight or expertise to this puzzle, I believe it would be incredibly helpful to those who could be experiencing the same situation.

Thank you,

Chris
Hi Chris,

First of all, if you're not seeing their devices connected your router, it's very possible that there's nothing nefarious going on. The networks are "trilaterated" on the web maps based on where the strongest signals have been observed over time - so if you're just measuring from your place, that location will have the strongest signal. If you walk around outdoors, you'll see different observations in the network detail in the app (when you tap on a network in the list), and if you upload to WiGLE, you'll see the best estimate of location from your observations and everyone else's on the web maps. Wireless signal strength is strange, and you might occasionally catch a strong signal even just sitting at your home - it doesn't mean there's anything untoward happening. Using the "basic search" on the site, you can zoom in on your neighborhood, search for a specific network name, then select it to see a "coverage polygon."

Cheers,

-Ark and the WiGLE team

2 posts • Page 1 of 1

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