HOW TO (LIMIT) SHARE AN INTERNET CONNECTION?

srhardy on 14/10/2013 - 09:17

I would like to share about 1mb's of my internet connection with my neighbours so the kids can facebook, email ect but i dont want to share more as i get between 3-10mb's and i need the rest of the speed for myself. Im on unlimited so quantity isnt an issue…

Im happy to buy or rezap a router with new firmware and saving money on this enterprise is my first goal as long as i can limit speed (other limits like adding individual users ect would be interesting) but mostly its the speed issue of them all deciding to youtube or torrent on my dime and make my connection worthless.

Advice and help appreciated, post reply back here but ill PM my email address of its more technical or if you dont want the full text made public.

Im on adsl, connects at 17mbs, but tests at between 3-10mbs, i think the NBN rollout front a couple of weeks ago messed with the copper but it will be a while before i can connect im told… damit!

Computing

Comments

  • _Bruce_ on 14/10/2013 - 09:40
    +1

    How do you intend for the neighbor to connect to this? Assuming wifi:

    If you want to get clever you can have an authentication system that will put users on different networks depending on how they authenticate. This isn't simple though, so if you don't want to bother with this you will need a different access point for the limited connection.

    Then you need to 'shape' the traffic coming from this source. You can do this on Linux and OpenWRT when acting as a router. I am not aware of home routers that do this out of the box. I guess it will also be possible on Windows but I have never tried, and it will mean that Windows machine will need to be working for them to get on the internet.

    Does this help get you started? What sort of network layout do you have at the moment? What do you have in mind?

  • ESEMCE on 14/10/2013 - 11:50

    The no cost (to you) solution:
    They'll need a WiFi Repeater (or a LAN cable strung across the yard, ideally in conduit to protect from the sun/rain)..
    You'll need to set up QoS on your modem/router to allow the MAC Addresses of their computers/tablets 1000kbps speeds only.
    However, if they have multiple devices, they'll be sucking 1000kbps each…

    To get more technical, you get them to buy a Gargoyle compatible router and use Gargoyle to turn the router into a Repeater and do all shaping across their network.

    I bought a TP-Link WDR3600 v1.4 for $77 at MSY on the weekend to do something similar with Gargoyle.
    (be careful about the version numbers of the router as some are not compatible)
    Pretty easy to set up. I had to install OpenWRT first as the TP-Link firmware refused to recognise the Gargoyle file as a firmware image.
    Once in Gargoyle, set it up as a Repeater..
    Then Go to Firewall-Quota to add shaping rules.

    • _Bruce_ on 14/10/2013 - 17:57

      You'll need to set up QoS on your modem/router to allow the MAC Addresses of their computers/tablets 1000kbps speeds only.

      Doesn't sound like a great solution, any new MAC addresses would not be limited. Probably better to go the other way and have a white list and everything else gets limited. Does Gargoyle let you do this?

  • srhardy on 15/10/2013 - 08:11

    this is awesome info, any other ideas or tech howto is muchlly appreciated…!

    one thing, how to determine the mac address of things?

    QOS with mac, i see i have a QOS settings but nothing i can see on white/black lists, just for firewall/s settings can (for pass thorugh), nothing i can see on limits

    Ive heard of openWRT but whats gargoyle? link?? (found it http://www.gargoyle-router.com/)

    OK whats the difference between Gargoyle and openWRT? & why one over the other more importantly?

    Damit, evey HJ's, McD's have this ability so whys it so hard… I would have thought the solution would be dam easy!

    • ESEMCE on 15/10/2013 - 09:05

      QoS options are specific to each brand and model of modem, but there have to be limits… that's what QoS is… limitations on certain services to ensure Quality is maintained on other services.

      I'm pretty sure that Gargoyle is just a front-end to OpenWRT specifically designed to allow easy throttling.
      The standard OpenWRT front-end has more standard router features.
      You can apply throttling through editing config files in the command line, but Gargoyles GUI makes it easy to manage.

      You can buy a Commercial, off the shelf router like Maccs do if you like..
      It'll only set you back about $1000 (then you'll probably need to pay for one of their technicians to program it for you).

      I agree that it's surprising that home routers don't have these features inbuilt.. especially as a Parental control feature, but they don't, the best I could find was a time based restriction in Netgear routers (ie 1 hour/day)!

    • _Bruce_ on 15/10/2013 - 12:44

      Damit, evey HJ's, McD's have this ability so whys it so hard… I would have thought the solution would be dam easy!

      They aren't using home routers.

      For some more technical info on how you could do it:

      A friend of mine had completely open AP, but this was connected to a server (OpenBSD) which would block all traffic except SSH to itself. You then SSHed to the server, and based on the results of the authentication you were added to a white list and given whatever network permissions and/or shaping was appropriate.

      This would be great for you (even better perhaps a web based authentication), but you might need to train up as a sysadmin first.

  • Austin316 on 15/10/2013 - 14:41

    Someone once mentioned using Netlimiter to restrict bandwidth and etc. Check it out.

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