I keep seeing other post about their neighbors stealing WiFi, and I thought I would add mine. Mine is a bit unusual. A little background.

I'm a Uber Geek. I've been an IT person since 1993 and have a lot of very high end equipment I use at home. I purchase business grade equipment often instead of consumer grade equipment, more expensive but it works a lot better, and has some cool features.

So when I moved into my last home we were renting, our landlord also ran a small business. He just had a single computer that he used very rarely for internet access. I was getting FiOS installed into the house and told him that I would set up my equipment and then instead of having to pay for DSL (which was very slow) he could just use my WiFi because it would be super fast. So I proceed to get my FiOS service and then set up my two access points on different channels but with the same name so you can roam around the house and outside the whole yard and have great coverage. I then take my landlord's computer and connect it to my WiFi and he is just happy as happy could be. Here is where the choosing beggar comes from. As part of this, my landlord turns off his DSL and sends back the cruddy DSL Router with WiFi to the telephone provider.

A few days later, I hear a BANG BANG BANG on my BACK door. I open it up, and find my neighbor aka CB.

Me: *confused look* Hello <name>... *awkward silence*

CB: Hi, I wanted to know when you were going to get your internet fixed.

Me: My internet is working fine, why are you in my back yard?

CB: *looks around* I always come through the back yard here, I'm friends with your neighbor on the other side and I always walk through the back yard as a short cut. Doesn't matter, I'm wanting..

Me: (I cut him off) Don't walk through my back yard. My wife will get scared, I have a Great Dane that if she's in the back yard she's not going to be happy you just walking in, and I don't want you to get hurt or her to get out.

CB: I don't care about your dog. I want to know why your Internet is not working.

Me: My internet is working fine, in fact, I'm using it right now!

CB: Well, it's not working for me.

*At this point, it dawns on me what he's saying. I guess I was slow that day, I had thought he came over because his internet wasn't working and he figured I knew why cause mine wasn't working either. He was an older man and kind of gruff with his conversational skills, but it finally dawns on me at this point.*

Me: (to make sure I ask him to clarify) Are you saying your Internet is not working? And are you wondering if mine isn't working also?

CB: NO! My Internet was working fine until a few days ago. Now, the WiFi that I use to connect to isn't there any more. But I see a really strong other WiFi named <redacted>.

Me: Ahh, I see. The WiFi that you use to connect to was <Landlord's name> WiFi for his business. I didn't know he gave you the password. But he no longer has that service. The only WiFi left in this house is mine.

CB: I see. Well, thank you for making the WiFi a lot better. I use to hardly get a signal before, but now when I look at WiFis in this area, I see a full 5 bars from your new one. That is great. I just need the new password.

Me: I'm not giving you my WiFi password. You need to get your own Internet service.

CB: What?! You have to. I had the old WiFi password, you have to give me your WiFi password!

Me: No, I don't. I pay for the Internet connection here, I am not giving you my WiFi password.

CB: That's not fair! F*cK you! I'm going to call <Landlord> and tell him he needs to kick you out!

Me: Have fun with that! By the way, stay out of my back yard, or I'm going to let my dog out next time and call the cops!

So I close the door as he's just fuming at me, and watch through the window as he marches out of the back yard back to his yard. Of course, he doesn't close the fence all the way, so I go out there in a few minutes and close it. I also pick up my phone and call my Landlord to let him know what is going on. My landlord tells me, he didn't even know that the neighbor was using his Wifi. Anyway, the story doesn't end there.

A few days later I start getting notifications from my access points that someone is trying to break in. This is another great feature of the business class equipment that I have. It send me a notice that a device at *MAC ADDRESS* is trying to use a program to guess my password. Being an Uber Geek, my WiFi Password is 15 characters long with Upper, Lower, and Numbers. So he's probably not guessing it any time soon. Just to be on the safe side I actually block his MAC from connecting to my access points at all, and also disable the broadcasting of the name.

That weekend I'm out in my front yard, with my laptop, doing some work. My neighbor sees me and starts talking to me much more friendly this time.

CB: I noticed that your WiFi is no longer online. I guess that <Landlord> made you take it down eh? serves you right.

Me: *I look at him with a bit of a confused face, because I'm working on my laptop, which obviously means I would be connected to some type of WiFi, but I guess he doesn't think this way* No, it's working fine. I talked to <Landlord> and he just laughed when I told him the story.

CB: I'm not seeing your WiFi any more, so I know you are lying.

Me: I changed it so that it is not broadcasting the name any more. That way you don't keep trying to break into it. It was sending me emails that you were trying.

CB: *sputtering* That... wasn't me... it probably was someone else. Anyway, you should give me your password. It's not fair that I use to use the old WiFi here and now I can't use the new one.

Me: It's not fair or LEGAL that you were stealing the WiFi that use to be here. By the way, I put up a camera in my back yard. Just to make sure you don't try to go through there again. If I see that you have been in my back yard, I will be turning over the footage to the police, as you would be trespassing, and I will press charges.

CB: F*CK YOU!

He ended up waking back into his house while I was still in the front yard. I would run across him from time to time after that walking on the sidewalk in front of my house to get to his friend's house on the other side, always glaring at me. I just waved and laughed.

I talked to his "friend" one day about the whole situation, and he told me that the CB had come to him and complained I wouldn't give him my password, and he told the CB to buy his own internet connection and stop being a cheapskate.

I hope you enjoyed the story. I have other stories about this neighbor, but they don't really belong here, and maybe this one doesn't per-say but I see a lot of others so I thought I would maybe entertain you all a little bit.