Chile Forum

charlescellist wrote:Interesting thread

I'm about to move to Chile from China - should I buy I router here before i come? Any particular model?

Wait until your here, if you dont want any fancy features the basic router that comes with your cable/adsl usually does the job, Just make sure you put wpa encryption on your Wifi, chileans love to steal your internet by hacking the wep!

hell, I got one I'll sell you for $10,000 pesos in my extensive closet of 'computer equipment I will never need again, but I can't bring myself to get rid of because I know I will need it the day after I get rid of it'.

I know they all work on all ISP's in Chile, because they have all been on every ISP in Chile at one point or another.

actually I just looked, and realized I have a bunch of routers that were given to me by the ISP over the years, and they never asked for back when I canceled the contracts or they upgrade our connection. So I am sure they work.

by zer0nz wrote:
Just make sure you put wpa encryption on your Wifi, chileans love to steal your internet by hacking the wep!

how do I do this?

Back to this old chestnut...

Got the VTR triple back, with 40 Mbps (and it actually gets close to this, even for international servers according to both VTR and Speedtest).
My problem is that they have supplied us with a motorola 6580 surfboard (cable modem/wired & wireless router) which according to reviews isn't too bad. However, the VTR version is effectively handicapped, only allowing 4 connections etc, no access to DHCP setting etc. From what I understand this is VTR trying to stop people handing out free internet to the entire building. However, we are a pretty connected household and would really like to have the ability to have more than 4 bits of kit online at once.

From what I can see from the thread that this has been a common issue, and it looks like I need to sort it out myself. I'm willing to put my hand in my pocket and e.g. buy a cable modem and separate wireless router, but am not sure how VTR deal with this? The local guy who installed it reckoned it wasn't a problem, but I'd appreciate the thoughts of people experienced with the system. I'm a networking virgin, but am pretty IT aware, so am willing to get stuck in.

Next question is any pointers on decent cable modems? I'm ok on the router side of things.

all the best from a slightly-subdued Antofagasta (I'm guessing the chicha hangovers have kicked in)
FB

We had the same issue, Fishboy, in Santiaho. So, when we moved to antofa, we insisted that VTR install a modem only and provided our own router after they had sorted the modem out (so that there could be no attempt from them to configure my router). Did the same when we moved up here to Iquique. Can't complain about the Internet service I've had from VTR, just glad to be rid of their dodgy modem/router all-in-one.

Fishboy, rather easy, dont need to change your cable modem,

Go buy a wifi router from your local PC store,

take the network cable that came with it, plug it in the WAN port of your new router, and in the LAN port of the cable modem, follow the instructions for configuring the router from the manual that comes with it, make sure you use WPA security,

If you can get VTR to disable the wifi on the modem they supplied, this is usually a argument as they need to send a tech to the house to do that!!!! the reason you want to disable it is it is WEP secuirty that is easily hacked and your neigbours will steal your wifi,

Once that is all done your finished, the new wifi router you install will look like 1 computer user to the cable modem, but your whole house can be using it......

zer0nz wrote:the reason you want to disable it is it is WEP secuirty that is easily hacked and your neigbours will steal your wifi

Of course it would be ideal to have it disabled, but I think cracking WEP requires traffic analysis, which assumes that there is already some legitimate connection over it [update: see next post]. If you are making *no* connections via WEP, I'd think (not 100%) there is not enough information to crack it, as long as it actually does have a password. Your internal network also still has your own router to isolate it if someone does get in, though that's still not great as an attacker has the privilege of having all your traffic routed past them. Anyway, if they "steal" some of your 40Mb/s you probably won't notice and it's basically VTR's responsibility for not securing it properly.

James.

jehturner wrote:

zer0nz wrote:the reason you want to disable it is it is WEP secuirty that is easily hacked and your neigbours will steal your wifi

Of course it would be ideal to have it disabled, but I think cracking WEP requires traffic analysis, which assumes that there is already some legitimate connection over it. If you are making *no* connections via WEP, I'd think (not 100%) there is not enough information to crack it, as long as it actually does have a password. Your internal network also still has your own router to isolate it if someone does get in, though that's still not great as an attacker has the privilege of having all your traffic routed past them. Anyway, if they "steal" some of your 40Mb/s you probably won't notice and it's basically VTR's responsibility for not securing it properly.

James.

Ive cracked them my self many times, you inject fake traffic to get the wifi to transmit responses then you collect enough data to get the key, it takes about 20 minutes for a 64bit and 40 for a 128 bit......

http://www.aircrack-ng.org/

jehturner wrote:

zer0nz wrote:the reason you want to disable it is it is WEP secuirty that is easily hacked and your neigbours will steal your wifi

Of course it would be ideal to have it disabled, but I think cracking WEP requires traffic analysis, which assumes that there is already some legitimate connection over it. If you are making *no* connections via WEP, I'd think (not 100%) there is not enough information to crack it, as long as it actually does have a password. Your internal network also still has your own router to isolate it if someone does get in, though that's still not great as an attacker has the privilege of having all your traffic routed past them. Anyway, if they "steal" some of your 40Mb/s you probably won't notice and it's basically VTR's responsibility for not securing it properly.

James.

Cracking wep is almost easier than connecting with a password sometimes, especially at places that none of the residents or employees seem to know the password (e.g. hotels, cafes).

In Chile it is even easier, because the default used by most companies tends to be a name or RUT number of whomever is paying for the internet account. Often a piece of mail is all that is required to obtain the information needed to workout the password.

My policy is to have them turn it off at the time of installation, if I can not get them to give me a box without wifi to start (I jealously hold on to the oldest dumbest ADSL modem I can). I have also shorted the antenna in a few for good measure. I really don't want a wireless broadcast I do not control inside my firewall or even on the edge of it. Apart from the security concerns, they also tend to inter-fear with other things such as my own wireless routers, handheld phones, TV and whatever. If I need to force it on to another channel to stop interference, I sure don't want to wait around for the company to come do it. My own wireless routers have far superior signals, that I can tweak in every respect for better signal strengths and so on.

zer0nz wrote:Ive cracked them my self many times, you inject fake traffic to get the wifi to transmit responses then you collect enough data to get the key, it takes about 20 minutes for a 64bit and 40 for a 128 bit......

Yeah, rings a bell now you mention it. I have looked at aircrack before. OK, so not good advice; post updated (should have checked before sending).

Thanks,

James.

zer0nz wrote:Fishboy, rather easy, dont need to change your cable modem,

Go buy a wifi router from your local PC store,

take the network cable that came with it, plug it in the WAN port of your new router, and in the LAN port of the cable modem, follow the instructions for configuring the router from the manual that comes with it, make sure you use WPA security,

If you can get VTR to disable the wifi on the modem they supplied, this is usually a argument as they need to send a tech to the house to do that!!!! the reason you want to disable it is it is WEP secuirty that is easily hacked and your neigbours will steal your wifi,

Once that is all done your finished, the new wifi router you install will look like 1 computer user to the cable modem, but your whole house can be using it......

Cheers zer0nz (et al) for rapid responses.

The new box from VTR actually uses WPA2, so is better than expected. Unfortunately - there is no LAN port from the cable modem/router (its a Motorola 6580 surfboard), so I can't simply attach a WIFI router (I actually have an old D-link sitting in the cupboard). It's annoying as the modem is apparently a nice bit of kit!

I'm not too pissed off, but will get a new modem and router when I'm back in the UK in a few weeks.

FB