School Wi-Fi

[Tmelon]

So here's the deal... There is a "Private" Wi-Fi connection at my school, but it wasn't exactly private since somewhere along the line a student found the password. Of course he told everyone he knew and eventually the whole school was on the network. I would normally connect using my BlackBerry and my iTouch.

So then a few weeks ago no one was able to connect anymore. It doesn't say the password or anything is wrong, it just says it is unable to connect, but some people are still able to connect.

Is it possible that the school network has specifically blocked people and if yes, is there a way to unblock myself? Sorry if this is a dumb question. I know absolutely nothing about wireless networks.

 

[yg17]

Yes and no.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

There may be ways to circumvent it, but as you haven't been invited to that network, meaning you haven't been personally given the password by a representative of that wireless network, it will be quite hard to do so.
Helping you breaking into a protected network, which is some kind of illegal, is against the rules somehow. Stupid, eh?

 

[Tmelon]

Yes and no.

What do you mean?

 

[Tmelon]

There may be ways to circumvent it, but as you haven't been invited to that network, meaning you have been personally given the password by a representative of that wireless network.
Helping you breaking into a protected network, which is some kind of illegal, is against the rules somehow. Stupid, eh?

Well I have the password, I just can't connect with it. But they haven't changed the password. I guess that could be considered illegal... But it's not like my school is going to find this and press charges.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

What do you mean?

Well I have the password, I just can't connect with it. But they haven't changed the password. I guess that could be considered illegal... But it's not like my school is going to find this and press charges.

And this makes it alright then?
Btw, you have been given the password by a third party, who likely got the password via other means too. I doubt the school would give out their password if they want to prevent students from abusing it.

And now for some pastures:

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[Tmelon]

Most people actually use it for academic use. So I simply wanted to know how I could get around it, if possible. I can't quite understand whether you know and you're reluctant to tell me because of some moral hatred against using private Wi-Fi, or what? As for the last part, I have no idea what relevance it has.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Most people actually use it for academic use. So I simply wanted to know how I could get around it, if possible. I can't quite understand whether you know and you're reluctant to tell me because of some moral hatred against using private Wi-Fi, or what? As for the last part, I have no idea what relevance it has.

What people use the network for is irrelevant.
The fact, that you need to circumvent some protection the creator of that W-LAN employed to have access to that network, is relevant.
It is as if you would have given someone the key to your apartment and that key has been duplicated and been given to other people, which also use this key to access your apartment. They just use the water of course and sometimes go to the fridge to drink some of your milk or sit on the sofa and watch telly. But you somehow discovered those intruders, which are visible, and decided to add another lock to your door while still leaving the original lock. Now you need two keys to access your apartment, and others will need them too.

Though there is a simpler way: go to your school's network administration and ask if you can use the network or if they would be so kind to add another wireless network for students to use.
Depending on what kind of school you go to, it is already the case or it might happen or it will not happen.

The relevance of the other two quotes in my former post is this:
1. Posting consecutively while being able to circumvent it (editing or multi-quoting) is against the rules. I don't give you a warning or something for that, I can't and even if, I wouldn't. I just pointed it out.
2. Your thread title doesn't describe what you want to do. A better title would be: How to break into my school's wifi?

 

[Tmelon]

What people use the network for is irrelevant.
The fact, that you need to circumvent some protection the creator of that W-LAN employed to have access to that network, is relevant.
It is as you would have given someone the key to your apartment and that key has been duplicated and been given to other people, which also use this key to access your apartment. They just use the water of course and sometimes go to the fridge to drink some of your milk or sit on the sofa and watch telly. But you somehow discovered those intruders, which are visible, and decided to add another lock to your door while still leaving the original lock. Now you need two keys to access your apartment, and others will need them too.

Though there is a simpler way: go to your school's network administration and ask if you can use the network or if they would be so kind to add another wireless network for students to use.
Depending on what kind of school you go to, it is already the case or it might happen or it will not happen.

I wouldn't quite compare a school network to breaking into an apartment since nothing is being lost besides for a slight bit of bandwidth, which isn't noticeable since there are multiple servers all over the school. I was mainly just looking for an explanation on how it could work for some people and not for others. The school has already said it won't give up the password due to immature people using it for different reasons.

And sorry for the double post earlier. Some forums are stricter than others about this and I didn't think it would be a problem... Now I know.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

The apartment example might have not been the best one I guess, but it is still against the law somehow, and we can't help you.
If you would ask where to download a free copy of Photoshop, we couldn't help you either, could we?

Warez/Serials/Keys.
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from https://macrumors.zendesk.com/hc/en-us#Things_Not_to_Do

Though the solution is staring you into the face, but this thread is not required to get to it.

 

[Mexbearpig]

I would normally connect using my BlackBerry and my iTouch.

Most people actually use it for academic use.

Why would someone use your phone and iPod for academic use? And what exactly falls under academic use?

And I'm not sure of your schools policy but I'm 90% at mine the student who told everyone the code is against a contract he signed(AUP form). So he could get banned from using computers at the school and probably anyone else caught on the network besides a computer.

 

[yg17]

What do you mean?

Yes, they can specifically block you and no, you can't unblock yourself.

Most people actually use it for academic use. So I simply wanted to know how I could get around it, if possible. I can't quite understand whether you know and you're reluctant to tell me because of some moral hatred against using private Wi-Fi, or what? As for the last part, I have no idea what relevance it has.

If you were trying to break into my private WiFi network I'd be pretty damn pissed. I have a password on it for a reason.

 

[ender land]

They probably should set it to be MAC address restricted and limit to the people who are supposed to be using it.

 

[miles01110]

Most people actually use it for academic use.

What statistics are you using to make this statement? I'd be willing to bet that if the dorms or any sort of student housing are on campus the majority of use would not be academic.

I wouldn't quite compare a school network to breaking into an apartment since nothing is being lost besides for a slight bit of bandwidth, which isn't noticeable since there are multiple servers all over the school.

Number of servers has nothing to do with bandwidth.

The school has already said it won't give up the password due to immature people using it for different reasons.

Looks like you won't be able to get on it then.

 

[toolbox]

It is called MAC address filtering, and it works great

 

[yg17]

It is called MAC address filtering, and it works great

Actually, it doesn't, because it's easy to circumvent (although you need to know what MACs are on the whitelist to pull it off), and the signals are not encrypted so anyone with a sniffer can see what's being sent across. If you're using a good WPA2 password then MAC filtering is just a waste of time and completely unnecessary.

 

[mrsir2009]

At my school every student has their own password to get onto the internet on the school computers, so its very very very easy to manipulate. You can use that username and password to login to your own computer or cellphone anytime your in the school grounds

 

[Mousse]

What do you mean?

Doh! It's already been answered.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Doh! It's already been answered.

"I didn't like the answers. Please try again."

 

[Tmelon]

What statistics are you using to make this statement? I'd be willing to bet that if the dorms or any sort of student housing are on campus the majority of use would not be academic.



Number of servers has nothing to do with bandwidth.



Looks like you won't be able to get on it then.

Senior in High School actually, so no dorm rooms.

I did mention that I know nothing about networks and Wi-Fi, didn't I?

And yes, I realize that now.

"I didn't like the answers. Please try again."

Yeah. Pretty much. I was hoping it would be something easy, but it clearly isn't. From some other looking around it would involve "spoofing" my MAC address, which is a pain when I don't want to jailbreak.

So I'll just survive without Wi-Fi for half of my day. Thank you to the people who repeatedly made it clear to me that using a private network is naughty.

 

[fireshot91]

At my school every student has their own password to get onto the internet on the school computers, so its very very very easy to manipulate. You can use that username and password to login to your own computer or cellphone anytime your in the school grounds

That would actually be a very good idea.

For our school system, we have a county-wide username/password to log into the SCHOOL computers. Not the wi-fi.

That username has it's own ~300mb network drive that is accessible from any school in the county.

Unfortunately, we aren't able to access it from remote servers.

 

[mrsir2009]

That would actually be a very good idea.

For our school system, we have a county-wide username/password to log into the SCHOOL computers. Not the wi-fi.

That username has it's own ~300mb network drive that is accessible from any school in the county.

Unfortunately, we aren't able to access it from remote servers.

Well this username and password is to get onto the school computers, the internet and it also is used by teachers to monitor pupils.