Is someone else accessing my ISP through my wireless router?

[peripathetic]

Increasingly the lights on my Netgear wireless modem router indicate that 1:data is being transmitted/received and 2:that the router is connected to the internet and that traffic is passing through the device. Yet when I attempt to go online I am told I am not connected.
Do I have strangers in the camp, and if so how can I check on these interlopers?

[MarkRae]

Routers like yours communicate with the Internet constantly. If your computer can't get on line, that's almost certainly just a configuration problem.

(Almost) all such routers have a page which shows which devices are currently connected. Consult the manual and look for it - that will soon tell you.

If you're worried that someone is using your wireless network without your permission, does that mean that you haven't bothered to secure it...?

[ChuckFickens]

Click below

http://192.168.0.1

If it's a standard netgear use the following to login (if it's supplied by an ISP these may be different, if say please say what ISP you got the router from)

User: admin
Password: password

Once logged in look down the left hand side and click on "attached devices" and you will get a list of devices attached to the router at that time.

[ChuckFickens]

We gotta stop crossing over with these answer Mark ;)

[peripathetic]

Thank you MarkRae
Unfortunately I do not understand how I can set up security. I have a password for Netgear and one for my ISP. Is this sufficient.? The problem problem referred to in my original question has only risen within the last few weeks after everything has been working OK (subject to very occasionally not being able to get online - but which soon corrects itself) for approx 18 months and I have not altered any netgear settings etc. I don't know if it has any bearing but I switch off my router when not required.
Sorry to a bit vague but am considering changing my answerbank name to technoidiot.

[MarkRae]

Firstly, not knowing about computers and/or the Internet does not make you an idiot. The analogy I always use for that is the internal combustion engine. I passed my driving test in 1983, but I do not know nearly enough about car engines to be able to service my car myself. However, I don't consider that that makes me an idiot, only that I'm not a qualified mechanic...

Anyway, you say that you do not know how to set up security on your wireless router. That sets the bells ringing here, as it tells me that your wireless network is likely to be completely unsecured, as that is the device's default configuration. If you simply plugged it in and it "just worked", then that's almost certainly the case. This means that anyone with a laptop (or whatever) within range can jump onto your wireless network and use it for their own purposes. I'm sure I don't need to point out to you what those purposes might be...

Since you have NetGear device, the URL for accessing its administration pages is likely to be either

http://192.168.0.1

or

http://192.168.1.1

Try pointing your web browser at either of those - does that take you into the router setup? If so, please say which NetGear router model you have, and we'll take it from there...

[AlBags]

You're not going to find out their name and address. There are just two simple things to do ..

1. Change the wireless network password. Longer the better (usually 10-12 characters upper and lower case would be enough) You may be using WPA2 or WEP. WEP is less secure .. Check your router out and switch to WPA2 if you can.
2. Stop broadcasting (SSID) name of the network.