We’ve all done it before: connect to a WiFi network open to the public. In large cities, you can easily get dozens of more or less secure Wi-Fi networks when you live in an apartment or in a residence.

In other words, no one is immune to a stranger (often a neighbour) using their Wi-Fi access illegally and discreetly. If you have not secured it, or if you have given them codes by the past, you can in any case take steps to remove access to it.

Go to the admin page of your box

Whatever your internet service provider, you will first have to go to the administration page of the box. At Orange for example, you have to type http://192.168.1.1/ in your address bar (or http://livebox/) to access this client interface.

On the latter, you must then click on the “My connected devices” button . At SFR, this space is called “My Local Network” and on the Bouygues Telecom page, you have to look for the “My network diagram”. If you have a Freebox, go to the Network Devices section.

You will then arrive on an interface which displays the structure of your local network. You will be able to discover all the devices that are connected by Ethernet or Wi-Fi to your network. Be careful, the list can be long: computers, tablets, smartphones, TV boxes, printers, etc. You will have to scan all the lines to identify each of your devices. Also check the connection history because it could be that your intrusive neighbor is not connected at a time T.

How to avoid this discomfort?

It’s hard to know what your unscrupulous neighbor is doing on your Wi-Fi, so be careful not to get bored. If you don’t want to tell him to his face, you have several ways to make him lose his access.

If you wish to become totally invisible, you can choose to hide the network name (SSID) from the administration page of the internet box. You must write down the identifier if you then want to connect to it.

The other obvious way to secure your internet box is to modify and strengthen the password. You can use a password generator to go further in its complexity and remember to change code regularly.

Finally, if you are still not sure, you can also just filter by MAC address (Media Access Control): on the ISP interface, you can enter the MAC addresses of all your devices. Only the latter will then be authorized to connect to your box.