Limiting shared wifi allowance?

cormie

Hi,
I'm letting a few people share my wifi connection (which I pay for etc). Now I don't know if it's down to the service provider (recently switched from eircom to Vodafone and although it's not giving any major problems, it does seem a little slower and patchy at times when I thought it would be an upgrade

So given it's not as powerful as I anticipated, I'm wondering is it possible to restrict the overall connection somehow, to allow me say 90% of the speed and everyone else to share 10%? Hoping for an easy solution if there is any?

Antar Bolaeisk

What sort of router are you using at the moment? If it's the stock isp supplied router then there most likely isn't an easy solution. I use DD-WRT on a linksys router to achieve pretty much what you're looking to do, there's a guest network set up on a different subnet with restricted speeds and access.

cormie

Thanks for the reply. I think it's the eircom router they supply with the next gen 8mb bb? If it was possible it'd be great. It's hard to tell whether it's just the weather or if the others are on youtube

Freddy Smelly

eircom have removed the 500gb (fair usage policy) cap usage limit on all unlimited products. they have done this to be more competitive with other isps.

this means there is really no limit to your download usage now not sure if vodafone will follow suit

cormie

Thanks for the input, sorry, it's not the actual allowance (as in GB per month) but just the available connection speed at any given time, I want to be getting 90% of the speed I'm paying for and not have my streams interrupted

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the input, sorry, it's not the actual allowance (as in GB per month) but just the available connection speed at any given time, I want to be getting 90% of the speed I'm paying for and not have my streams interrupted

ah i see ok log onto your modem and create a second wifi SSID.

change the password the the first wifi signal to boot off your free loaders

set a new password for the second wifi SSID and allow your freeloaders onto that.

then set the QOS ratio on it to be lower than the one on your primary SSID

cormie

Cool, that sounds easy enough and I may just manage to get my head around it. Can that be done with almost any router do you think?

Will give it a go later

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

Cool, that sounds easy enough and I may just manage to get my head around it. Can that be done with almost any router do you think?

Will give it a go later

most decent routers can do it.

cormie

Gave this a go, rather than making them have to change to another connection etc I tried set the 2nd one up as the one I'd use, I set the QOS to highest and the default SSID QOS to low. I'm connected now using the 2nd one I made but having difficult connecting back to the deafault one, both on the computer and on my phone so I'm guessing they can't get online now either. Seems creating a new SSID has stopped the old one?

Took some screenshots of the router page:

http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/630/9519211268.jpg

I didn't change anything on the default SSID, it's exactly as it was when I logged in first other than putting QOS to "low" ?

ED E

If thats the cheapo Eircom supplied unit then you cant do what you want, its not capable of hosting two APs simultaneously.

Aftermarket ones will do it for you, will cost about €100 for a decent one.

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

Gave this a go, rather than making them have to change to another connection etc I tried set the 2nd one up as the one I'd use, I set the QOS to highest and the default SSID QOS to low. I'm connected now using the 2nd one I made but having difficult connecting back to the deafault one, both on the computer and on my phone so I'm guessing they can't get online now either. Seems creating a new SSID has stopped the old one?

Took some screenshots of the router page:

http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/630/9519211268.jpg

I didn't change anything on the default SSID, it's exactly as it was when I logged in first other than putting QOS to "low" ?

set qos to medium on the one you intend to share.... low is too weak.

make sure each SSID is using a different wifi channel or they will just interfere with each other

set primary to channel 1 and secondary to channel 11 so they have a good difference in channel frequencies

Freddy Smelly

ED E wrote: »

If thats the cheapo Eircom supplied unit then you cant do what you want, its not capable of hosting two APs simultaneously.

Aftermarket ones will do it for you, will cost about €100 for a decent one.

you can do it with an eircom modem


i have it done on mine. it works fine on either eircom netopia or zyxel routers

SSID ID 1 - Qos highest, wifi channel 4
SSID ID 2 - Qos Medium, wifi channel 11

my neighbours can connect just fine to SSID 2

cormie

Thanks Freddy, I can't see an option for chanell for the 2nd one I've set up, the channel option is only on the main AP tab under the "WIRELESS LAN" menu button, when I click the MORE AP tab and click into the one I set up, there's no channel option

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

Thanks Freddy, I can't see an option for chanell for the 2nd one I've set up, the channel option is only on the main AP tab under the "WIRELESS LAN" menu button, when I click the MORE AP tab and click into the one I set up, there's no channel option

ah maybe it is only the netopia that has that option.

but if you set the qos to medium can you connect then?

the other option is to use 2 wifi routers. main one for you and second one for your free loaders.

lower the qos on the second router to medium

cormie

The current router is P-660HW-T1 v3 according to the "model number" at http://192.168.1.254 under "status".

I changed the SSID to channel 1 and QOS to "middle".

I can't connect on the laptop but I can on my android phone? I couldn't on either when I tried before

Freddy Smelly

to be honest i'd invest in a proper wireless modem and the wifi range on your eircom modem sucks

if the model number of your eircom modem is P-660-HW_T1_V3 you can get a free replacement modem from eircom

if you have a netopia or motorola eircom modem you too can get a free replacement.

if you modem is P-660HN-T1a_IP6 you cannot get a free replacement unless you renew your contract


the new modem is much better for wifi

the new eircom modem is model P-660-HNU-T1_v2

wifi range and speeds are vastly improved

but tbh get a 3rd party modem with a broadcomm dsl chipset (netgear or dlink use them) as they will hold sync far better than eircom zyxels do.

cormie

Wow, how do you know all that, impressive

Unfortunately, I just switched from eircom to vodafone about a month ago so I don't think I'd be able to get anything off eircom now

Is there any modems out there that allow for % division as opposed to medium/low/highest settings?

I also have a spare WRT54G Linksys router but I think that's years old so would probably be even worse!

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

Wow, how do you know all that, impressive

Unfortunately, I just switched from eircom to vodafone about a month ago so I don't think I'd be able to get anything off eircom now

Is there any modems out there that allow for % division as opposed to medium/low/highest settings?

I also have a spare WRT54G Linksys router but I think that's years old so would probably be even worse!

i work for eircom :P

that linksys router can use firmware from the site below

with dd-wrt firmware on the linksys router you can create multiple ssid with much better qos control than the eircom modem.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

cormie

That's surprising to hear, do you think the signal strength etc would take a hit though as it has to go through walls, up flights of stairs so need it to be strong enough

Do I just download the main "stable" file and update it through that?

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

That's surprising to hear, do you think the signal strength etc would take a hit though as it has to go through walls, up flights of stairs so need it to be strong enough

Do I just download the main "stable" file and update it through that?

there is a guide on how to flash the dd-wrt firmware on that linksys router. make sure you download the right firmware for your model.

then set up the linksys router as a secondary access point to use upstairs and connect it via cable to the eircom modem.

the eircom modem uses 192.168.1.254 as it's ip address... the linksys should be set to 192.168.1.253 and on the lan settings page you will need to set the default gateway to 192.168.1.254 so the the linksys router knows where to look to route traffic to the internet.

set the linksys not to do dhcp to avoid ip conflicts... let the eircom modem do the dhcp.

cormie

Oooh, that sounds a bit complicated for me

Is it possible just to replace the eircom one with the Linksys altogether or would the linksys not be as good? And then just split the connection with that firmware while using the linksys and hopefully that would allow for the two connections using the one router?

Freddy Smelly

is the linksys router an adsl modem too?

sulc84

If you plan to buy router ,than D-Link is best choice.That will be my next.Tp-link is bad.Poor wifi options.

cormie

I'm not sure? I was using it before with the box from irishbroadband to distribute wifi so it wasn't actually connected to a phone line, just the ethernet from the irishbroadband box thingy. Would I be best off just investing in a newer modem that will be much more powerful, do what I need it to do and do it much better or should I be able to manage with the linksys somehow I wonder?

Thanks again for all your continued help on this!

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

I'm not sure? I was using it before with the box from irishbroadband to distribute wifi so it wasn't actually connected to a phone line, just the ethernet from the irishbroadband box thingy. Would I be best off just investing in a newer modem that will be much more powerful, do what I need it to do and do it much better or should I be able to manage with the linksys somehow I wonder?

Thanks again for all your continued help on this!

if the linksys router has an rj11 phone jack it is an adsl modem
if the linksys router has only rj45 sockets it is not an adsl modem


to connect the linksys to the eircom modem you need to do it like this

connect an ethernet cable into 1 of the 4 lan ports on the linksys and the other end of the cable into one of the 4 lan ports on the eircom modem.

log onto the linksys router's gui and set the ip address of the router to 192.168.1.253 and default gateway to 192.168.1.254. set primary dns to 8.8.8.8 secondary to 8.8.4.4

cormie

Looks like it only has the RJ45, the bigger one here:


So I guess it's either get a new modem (probably be the easiest solution) or try the set up you mentioned above, although it sounds more complicated and will mean more plugs, wires and clutter.

Freddy Smelly

cormie wrote: »

Looks like it only has the RJ45, the bigger one here:


So I guess it's either get a new modem (probably be the easiest solution) or try the set up you mentioned above, although it sounds more complicated and will mean more plugs, wires and clutter.

or boot your free loaders and let them get their own connection or chip in for your bill lol

cormie

Ah I can't do that to them They aren't heavy users I'm sure, I just don't want my own connection slowed down but don't mind them taking 10% of it to check emails or whatever, I'd rather them have to pause a youtube video and wait a few minutes for it to load rather than me have to

Could you recommend any routers I could look out for that would do what I need? Any particular make or model numbers?

Cuddlesworth

Gargoyle would be perfect for you. Lets you set quotas and throttles for multiple users.

cormie

Turns out my friend has a load of old routers he's not using

I think the vodafone one is the newest one, would anyone know if any of these 4 support what I need to do out of the box without having to worry about firmwares, connecting a second modem to etc?



(click to enlarge)

cormie

Vodafone will be sending me out a new modem again as part of signing over to the Fibre Optic line, so hopefully it will have a few options, but I've been guaranteed 50mb and unlimited download allowance so maybe it won't be necessary to split it anymore