If you use internet via a LAN medium, and the network administrator has imposed restrictions on your downloading/uploading speed, then READ ON-

This hack has been tried on Sify internet, Spectranet. I am sure it will work with any internet connection which uses a LAN topology to connect you to internet. [ This hack doesn't work for ADSL]

The principle: The Network admin binds your IP address to a MAC address and sets the speed limit. If the MAC address and IP Address is changed to that of someone who’s paying for the higher speed, you’ll get a speed jump.

When I tried this hack, I was subscribed to “ABC” internet, a local provider in the area. I was paying $ 20 a month for a slow 64 kbps connection. With this hack I could raise it to 512 kbps with no downloading restrictions imposed :-)

1. I first used Angry IP Scanner to scan my subnet to find the Alive IP address in my local LAN. 1. I used some social engineering to find out which IP address was getting how much speed. I chose a local cyber cafe as my target , which used to close at 11 PM and open at 10 Am in the morning. The cybercafe’s IP address was 192.168.0.32 and MAC Address was AA:XX:XX:Xl . It’s obvious that the cyber cafe owner must have subscribed for a high speed line.
2. Around 11.15 PM i used to ping the cybercafe’s IP to find whether it’s using still open or not.
3. As soon as I find that its closed, I used the technique below to forge my MAC Address to that of the cybercafe
4. To confirm weather the MAC has been changed or not, I used to use ipconfig/all command in DOS.
5. Thereafter the only step that would remain is to change my IP adress to that of the CyberCafe’s server, 192.168.0.32 . In case you try this hack, do make sure weather the system of your prey is not connected to internet. Not doing so might result in an IP conflict which can alarm the Network Admins.
6. This will emulate your machine as that of the Cybercafe server, which luckily fools the Administrator Server to broadcast a speedier connection to you (say 512kbps or 2mbps).

If the above fails: In some cases your network provider might ask for a username password via a web-login interface. In that case you can use a sniffer ( CAIN, Wireshark) so as to sniff for the usernames and passwords.

The result in my case: