Yo is someone trying to scam me? Weird internet problems.

[ruzzeh]

So my internet stopped working today. Happens every so often, nbd I thought. Tried to restart to modem manually a few times, and again through the isp website, ran diagnostics, checked for outages, etc. My main wifi is still broken and haven't been able to fix it.
The modem has all the lights working, my router will turn on, but the lights turn off quickly after restarting it. So it sounds like it's a router issue right???

Here's the part that is fucking with me:
My wifi name is booty palace. My wifi has disappeared, and for most of the day (it's gone now, didn't screen shot it unfortunately) there was a new network named booty palace.e100 that suddenly had no password requirement.

Like...What? Is this some sort of scam where my internet stops working and they expect me to connect to it and have access to my data? Or am I being paranoid and it's just a weird glitch? I have no idea. Been trying to google it, haven't found any websites that talk about this sort of thing happening.

If it is a scam, I fell for it due to desperately needing to do homework. I was hoping that even if they are scamming me, I could at least do my homework before my deadlines and deal with the reprecussions later (since you know, rona.. Can't go to public wifi if everything is closed. I have no family out here, and no close friends to mooch internet off of). When I connected, the internet still didn't work. It let me connect but no websites would load. This was on my phone.

So here's the thing. I ended up realizing that my router is in-fact working, because it has two networks. I never use the second network and quite frankly forgot about it until much later in the day after nearly pulling my hair out stressing about my school work. I had to dig and find the password for it, since it's different than the main wifi that I use (it's not the generic password that it came with). So that means, even though the router lights aren't working, one of the networks is still up and running. 5G TP whatever ended up working on my phone, but not on my laptop.

After doing some troubleshooting, I realized that the 5G TP not working on the laptop was only browser specific, and wouldn't work on google chrome- but safari works just fine. So wait, what? Why would I have both of these issues at the same time? And where tf is booty palace?

I'm usually somewhat savvy enough to be able to google and fix problems myself, but all of these issues all point in different directions. Lights not on and wifi disappear? Sounds like maybe router. Yet router works. Only one browser breaking? Sounds like maybe some configuration issues that I can fix when I get the time to sit down and mess with it. Thought maybe updating chrome would work, I couldn't even get it to update because nothing internet dependent will work with chrome.

Now the new wifi with similar name but no password requirements?? I have no fucking clue. And now it's gone, almost like it never existed.

I will end up calling my ISP pretty soon when I have the time (I have Comcast...So anyone who knows how shit that company is will understand why I have been avoiding calling. Talking to those guys over the phone is damn near the equivalent of pulling teeth, and they always push you to upgrade to a more expensive plan to "fix the problem" before they offer any troubleshooting tips other than "restart the modem").

I'm just worried that some asshat is fucking with me and now has my info. Any of you savvy folks have any ideas?

[Alcremie]

This might not be the problem but at my boyfriend's old apartment comcast accidently wired the downstairs renters wifi with his. Both of them were connected to the same...port? I don't know, but the lady, I think her name was linda kept changing the name back to "linda's house" whenever my boyfriend changed it back to his name. She kept changing it back and blocking our devices. He had to log in and unblock our devices. He's a tech guy and builds computers so he was suspicious of hacking too.

He was on the phone with comcast for it seemed like an eternity to get someone that knew what was going on. AND THEY DID TRY TO GET HIM TO UPGRADE. He's like hell no you guys can't even wire the shit right and it's fucking up our work (we both use wifi for work at home). Finally someone came out, they got it wrong again, then did something else and it finally worked. Unfortunately I think you're going to have to call them :/

[ruzzeh]

This might not be the problem but at my boyfriend's old apartment comcast accidently wired the downstairs renters wifi with his. Both of them were connected to the same...port? I don't know, but the lady, I think her name was linda kept changing the name back to "linda's house" whenever my boyfriend changed it back to his name. She kept changing it back and blocking our devices. He had to log in and unblock our devices. He's a tech guy and builds computers so he was suspicious of hacking too.

He was on the phone with comcast for it seemed like an eternity to get someone that knew what was going on. AND THEY DID TRY TO GET HIM TO UPGRADE. He's like hell no you guys can't even wire the shit right and it's fucking up our work (we both use wifi for work at home). Finally someone came out, they got it wrong again, then did something else and it finally worked. Unfortunately I think you're going to have to call them :/

I feel for your boyfriend, comcast is literally the worst . It's like rubbing salt into the wound when your shit is broken and they are STILL try to upsale you. I'm glad you guys were able to get it fixed without too much hassle. Poor Linda LMAO

I ended up being able to fix it without calling, fortunately! It was a relatively simple fix too.

I had to find my router IP address, and go into the router settings. Booty Palace was somehow renamed something generic with a different password, so all I had to do was change it back. No idea why I had an open network with a similar name though, didn't show up on my router settings.
Fixed google chrome by disabling every extension one by one and that did the trick, so I'm assuming one of the extensions was causing the browser related issue.

So weird that those two issues happened at the same time though lmao. They don't seem related, so the fact that it happened at the exact same time is what tripped me up and made it so much more difficult for me to troubleshoot.

[I_royalty_I]

That's really strange that your SSID changed and the security on the connection changed. Those things don't just happen by themselves. I'd suggest changing the admin credentials on the router just to be sure.

The bit about chrome acting up doesn't surprise me at all. I've had similar issues in the past that have driven me crazy trying to figure out.

[ruzzeh]

That's really strange that your SSID changed and the security on the connection changed. Those things don't just happen by themselves. I'd suggest changing the admin credentials on the router just to be sure.

The bit about chrome acting up doesn't surprise me at all. I've had similar issues in the past that have driven me crazy trying to figure out.

It's insane to me how most routers have the same generic router IP and admin username/password. It seems like such a massive security flaw imo.

I'll change it today, thanks for reminding me.

[I_royalty_I]

It's insane to me how most routers have the same generic router IP and admin username/password. It seems like such a massive security flaw imo.

I'll change it today, thanks for reminding me.

Well, they do it out of convenience. Most places have the same generic admin login creds. I work with lots of servers that cost like a quarter mil each and they are always shipped with default creds. It's always wise to change these creds once you're set up but you'd be surprised how many public facing sites still have defaults on. Major facepalm when you work in security.

I always change my router settings asap for that reason.... then I usually forget what I changed it to since I hardly ever have to use it LOL

[ruzzeh]

Well, they do it out of convenience. Most places have the same generic admin login creds. I work with lots of servers that cost like a quarter mil each and they are always shipped with default creds. It's always wise to change these creds once you're set up but you'd be surprised how many public facing sites still have defaults on. Major facepalm when you work in security.

I always change my router settings asap for that reason.... then I usually forget what I changed it to since I hardly ever have to use it LOL

Reminds me of the times when open cam forums were common. Same thing with security cameras, people either don't password protect it or don't change the default credentials.
So many times I found open cameras pointed at children's rooms...Makes me shudder knowing that pedos could easily spy on kids.