I woke up this morning to 2 emails, within a couple of hours of each other. The first was an 80% alert from extra. The next was a 100% alert.
I checked the xtra usage tool. It seems that in the space of 8 hours, on 11/11/06 I had used 4.5GB. I called the help desk. He said they would look into it.
Here are the possibilities:
1. An xtra metering fault.
2. Someone has hacked my WLAN and has been downloading movies.
I looked at my WLAN router admin screens (it's an aging Linksys) and noticed that there was a rogue, foreign, unwanted Mac address attached. I use 128 bit WEP encryption but I have since discovered that it can be hacked in minutes if you have the right tools. The rogue device had not got an entry in the DHCP table, however, so I am hoping they didn't actually manage to use my connection. They could, of course, have used a static IP address.
I have a few questions/issues:
1. Is this more likely to be a metering fault, or has my WLAN been abused?
2. The Linksys only supports WEP. How can I make this more secure?
3. Has this happened to anyone else?
4. Did anyone else think that the 'Broadband Unleashed' advertising implied that *existing* plans would now be at 'full speed'? It took me a while to work out that I would have to change to one of the new plans, even though the price is the same.
5. I had decided not to change my plan, because I am happy with my existing plan, and didn't want to risk any hidden disadvantages in the new plan. I have a VOIP ATA attached to my router, and my main concern is that my VOIP will get interfered with on the new plans. Is this a valid concern? Or am I being needlessly paranoid here?
Rob