Money Expert Wi-fi speed scam?

JSmith321

I was recently visited by the notorious "Money Expert" crew saying that neighbours have been complaining about poor internet speeds and could they "test" my wi-fi speed. They seem to have an app on their phone that did this but I believed that you could not test wi-fi speed without logging on to the house wi-fi with a password since you have to upload/download data. Anyone else had this experience? Is this just a new ploy to get customers to switch providers. Are they using a fake app to scam customers?

On-the-coast

Using an app like WiFi Analyser on android they could make some educated guesses about the strength and coverage of your house’s internal WiFi network if you had allowed them to walk round your house.

As you say, they wouldn’t be able to test your speed without logging into your network - but they could make some more educated guesses - particularly if you’d told them your provider / package.

I wouldn’t have let them in. But I doubt they were criminals. Just chancers…

daveyjp

Chancers. Just tell them for security purposes your broadband is all arranged and managed by an employer and they go away.

MattMattMattUK

Either that, or they are assessing the property to see if it has security and anything worth stealing.

jaybeetoo

Tell them to do one. Do not let them in. Do not give them access to your WiFi. Report them to the police.

MyRealNameToo

Signal strength and protocol would give them a reasonable estimate of the wifi speed itself, they'd have no way of knowing what internet speed you will get which is totally independent to the speed of your wifi. Obviously you will get the slower of your wifi and internet speeds for downloading something over wifi.

To know the true internet speed they'd need a wired connection to your router, in that case they wouldnt need a password

brewerdave

Sounds like the old TalkTalk approach. I even had one reprobate from T.T shout at me through my letterbox when I (politely) told him I wasn't interested and shut the door!.