Wireless broad band questions

[Noel Johnson]

Good evening all,

I'm going to buy a new laptop at the end of this month and think wireless might be the way forward, but I've got a couple of questions.

1. I'm worried about encryption as there have been some horror stories recently - is this just as simple as a password or is it more extensive than that?

2. Can I just buy a wireless router off the shelf? or do I have to get one from my ISP (Freeserve)?

Sorry if they're daft questions.

Noel.

[MattS]

Originally Posted by Noel Johnson

Good evening all,

I'm going to buy a new laptop at the end of this month and think wireless might be the way forward, but I've got a couple of questions.

1. I'm worried about encryption as there have been some horror stories recently - is this just as simple as a password or is it more extensive than that?

Pretty simple. Make sure you use WPA/PSK (not WEP). Set the wireless to infrastructure (not peer or ad-hoc) Configure the password in the router and then enter the same password in the wireless connection on the PC. Job done. Vista has been known to throw some wierdness in and I have come across the odd compatibilty issue between routers and wireless cards but most of the more recent ones just work.

2. Can I just buy a wireless router off the shelf? or do I have to get one from my ISP (Freeserve)?

Any UK router should be fine. You can basically buy one with an integrated ADSL modem for broadband over BT phone lines, or ethernet to ethernet for cable. If you are buying new for a BT phone line make sure you get ADSL2 as it is only a matter of time...and they have been known to give fractionally faster throughput on ADSL1 lines. If you are spending over the £150 mark you probably want to be looking for VOIP (SIP not Skype).

HTH

[big_si]

Originally Posted by Noel Johnson

Good evening all,

I'm going to buy a new laptop at the end of this month and think wireless might be the way forward, but I've got a couple of questions.

1. I'm worried about encryption as there have been some horror stories recently - is this just as simple as a password or is it more extensive than that?

Can be different approaches...

WEP key which is a password (not just simple but encrypted) / WPA

MAC address filtering (every network adapter has a different identifying number. Can select which are allowed to connect to your router)

If someone REALLY wants to get in to your system then I'm sure they'll find a way... These two will stop 99% of people though!

Originally Posted by Noel Johnson

2. Can I just buy a wireless router off the shelf? or do I have to get one from my ISP (Freeserve)?

Nah, any should be fine.
Depending on whether your ISP is ADSL or Cable will give you different options...

Cable.... Cable based modem / wireless router

ADSL.... ADSL modem / wireless router


Or the approach I've gone.... Just a wireless router. Our cable modem has a ethernet output so this plugs straight into the router. This way if we move to ADSL when we move house then we can keep the router and just plug it into the new modem.

Hope that helps a bit.

Si

[Noel Johnson]

Thanks chaps

[MattS]

Originally Posted by big_si

Can be different approaches...

WEP key which is a password (not just simple but encrypted) / WPA

MAC address filtering (every network adapter has a different identifying number. Can select which are allowed to connect to your router)

If someone REALLY wants to get in to your system then I'm sure they'll find a way... These two will stop 99% of people though!

Hmmm. WEP and MAC filtering are really past their sell by dates.

WEP takes a little over 3minutes to crack. MAC filtering about 6 minutes. It does not take a great deal of expertise and special equipment. Just a laptop and the right tools which are freely available on the internet.

WPA is not perfect but it is a whole lot better than what came before. To crack WPA requires a lot of time, a lot of expertise and a lot of processing power. That is usually enough to put off the casual cracker from looking at what you are up to on the internet.

[Sparky750]

The advice i'll give is when your buying a new laptop buy a mac and you'll avoid any problems setting up wireless networks with bloody vista

[MattS]

Originally Posted by Sparky750

The advice i'll give is when your buying a new laptop buy a mac and you'll avoid any problems setting up wireless networks with bloody vista

Can't argue with that

Vista may well end up having an even shorter shelf life than M.e. from what I have been reading recently.

[JamesW]

Freeserve went to Wanadoo I know I had to use there router when I was with Wanadoo.

Now Wanadoo is now Orange and I don't know.

Hope this helps

[MattS]

Originally Posted by JamesW

Freeserve went to Wanadoo I know I had to use there router when I was with Wanadoo.

No you never had to. That is just what they told you to make their support department's job easier and possibly to encourage you to think you were tied into them. AOL make similar claims, but it is known in the trade as bollox (technical term).

[String]

Originally Posted by Noel Johnson

Good evening all,

I'm going to buy a new laptop at the end of this month and think wireless might be the way forward, but I've got a couple of questions.

1. I'm worried about encryption as there have been some horror stories recently - is this just as simple as a password or is it more extensive than that?

You need to make sure you're using WPA-PSK which is secure enough for home use. In addition for the password dont pick a dictionary word. At the very least pick something that mixes letters, numbers, upper case and lower case and some punctuation. Or better yet, make up a random hex number and use that.

That means (i) You'll have a secure encryption protocol and (ii) its not prone to brute force attacks.

Dont bother with WEP, no matter what password you pick its between 40 seconds and 2 minutes to crack now and even has scripts to do it so require no knowledge.

2. Can I just buy a wireless router off the shelf? or do I have to get one from my ISP (Freeserve)?

Off the shelf is fine.