Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out if I'm facing a rogue access point or a classic evil twin Wi-Fi situation. Here's the breakdown:
- My home Wi-Fi used to be called **"Cowboys Fan Cave 3"** but now I see another network **"Cowboys Fan Cave"** popping up at the same time, and both are secured.
**My setup:**
- I've got a **Linksys EA9500** router. Its MAC address ends with **:DE:33**.
- I checked the router settings and can confirm only my Wi-Fi radios are active, with no other strange SSIDs showing.
- Running `arp -a` while connected via Ethernet also showed the right gateway MAC, so I'm definitely connected to my real router.
When I scanned the networks using **inSSIDer**, I noticed three Belkin MACs broadcasting alongside mine:
- `Belkin_AD:DE:34`
- `Belkin_AD:DE:35`
- `Belkin_AD:DE:36`
These MACs belong to Belkin (the same parent company as Linksys), but I'm not the one broadcasting them. They continue to appear even after renaming my SSID to **CBFC-3**.
I checked the signal strength, and the mystery networks are quite strong! None of the rogue MACs show up in my router's device list or settings.
**Main questions:**
- What might this rogue device be? Is it some misconfigured extender or a more malicious device?
- How can I figure out if it's a device from a neighbor or something hidden inside my home?
- Any advice on tracking down the exact location of this rogue access point?
- Is there a way to block it so it can't trick devices that were once connected to my previous SSID?
2 Answers
Could just be a neighbor who's also a Cowboys fan! You'd be surprised how often people end up with similar SSIDs in close proximity—no one really thinks about it when they set things up.
But the password being the same as yours? That's a bit concerning. You might want to check if they've somehow accessed your network in the past.
Yeah, it’s weird. When I looked up the network info for that rogue SSID, it showed a totally different MAC address that doesn't match my router at all!
It doesn't really seem like a rogue device; it could be that someone is just broadcasting a tri-band wireless network, especially if they're in your area and have similar tastes.
But like you mentioned, it should definitely disappear if they turn off their router. It's strange that it persists! Maybe you should keep an eye on their network when you check yours.
Right? And considering the password is identical to mine makes it even fishier.
Exactly! If it was a true rogue, you would think it would vanish with the router. But since it's still there when yours is off, it makes the situation even more puzzling.
That definitely complicates things. Maybe consider changing your Wi-Fi password and see if that does anything to the strange network.