That is theft, in case you are wondering...

[Mytical]

Ok, so internet went out yesterday.. had no clue as to why. I live in an apartment complex... anyhow .. Turns out my neighbor had unhooked our internet/cable.. and hooked themselves up! At least now I know what to do if my cable and internet goes out now.

[protege]

Reminds me of the time the guy across the street helped himself to my network. I'd just moved in, was setting things up, when his computer suddenly showed up. I hadn't even set the security yet, and already I had to deal with an idiot. He wasn't as tech savvy as he thought--seems his machine was totally unsecured. Seriously, if you're going to steal wireless from someone, don't make it obvious by giving your machine your own name, or anything that could identify your ass. Also, if you're going to do that, you might want to set up some sort of security It was very easy to retaliate--flood the hard drive with crap, change the user names to things like "Asshole #1," "Asshole #2," etc. and then block him totally from my network. Found out later that he'd been mooching off every network in the neighborhood

[Aria]

The cable company would not be amused, particularly if you hadn't figured that out and they'd needed to dispatch a tech to fix it.

[Mytical]

The cable company would not be amused, particularly if you hadn't figured that out and they'd needed to dispatch a tech to fix it.

This is what happened.. they were not amused. I was even less amused. Told them flat out, if it happens again.. I will make a police report. Now, police will probably do nothing, but every time it happens.. another report.. eventually they will get tired of it.

[drunkenwildmage]

Among the problems when people stealing cable is, other then the obvious one about it being illegal, is that it's also cause interference with the lines. Normally, when someone does it, they don't really know/care about what they are doing, and cut/splice the line in such a way that outside interference (called ingress) gets into the lines and causes issue. We've had neighbor outages caused by people stealing cable, from interference. If we get a lot of calls for performance issues in an area, a lot of times, it's a result of people stealing cable. Once our techs clean it up, performance returns to normal until people start tapping back into the lines.

[Mental_Mouse]

This is what happened.. they were not amused. I was even less amused. Told them flat out, if it happens again.. I will make a police report. Now, police will probably do nothing, but every time it happens.. another report.. eventually they will get tired of it.

You should make a police report for this one! Filing a report is not the same as pressing charges, but filing a report gives the police notice that this guy has tried something like this before.

[Aria]

Not really necessary... if the cable company has to keep sending techs they'll take care of it, probably sooner than later. Each tech visit costs them and they'll get pissed. It probably won't go that far though.

[Mytical]

Now I feel like an class one jerk. Apparently this was the cable company's fault. The first technician apparently didn't know that they were cable customers for a different cable company.. so used the line for themselves.. I am NOT a happy camper. Basically they made US the thieves. *facepalm*. I will have more answers tomorrow afternoon, but this is absolutely ridiculous.

[Mytical]

Update : The isp is installing my new line right now, and even admits this should have never happened. Gah feel like an idiot because of this..

[Mytical]

Chapter II : Now on file.

Despite my ISP explaining it was their fault, despite my sincere apology, I received a visit from the Sheriff today. I explained the situation, gave them the installers phone number, but they had to make the file because the neighbors insisted. Now, I doubt anything will come of it.. this was not our fault.. but somewhere out there is a report of theft with our name on it. As I said, we have our own line now, so there will be no other instances (I hope) of this, but that file will continue to exist (even if everything goes right). Should be the last update to this story.. we may continue to have issue with my neighbors now that this has happened.

[Food Lady]

Oh, great. arrgh I'm sorry this happened. Totally not your fault!