Wireless network newbie/numpty questions

[woody]

Hi guys,

Wonder if you can help me.

I'm looking at putting a wireless network in at home for my desktop and newly acquired laptop (which has wireless built in - but is only 11mbs).

I'm on telewest broadband, so I don't need a router with built in modem.

I've been looking at [url]this Linksys kit|http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=11793275835&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=78215[/url] and wondered if any one had any opinions on it (the kit doesn't come with the WRK54G-UK, but includes the WRT54G-UK instead).

Is it going to be fairly easy to set up, and what about security - i.e. hiding the network, only allowing certain MAC addresses to connect etc.

All help appreciated.

Chris

[Plotloss]

It will almost certaintly be very easy to set up.

Web based interface and it will do a lot of the work for you.

[Mikey G]

I have a Linksys system, no problems whatsoever. The browser setup of security is easy to do and connection and signal is really good.

Mike

[munky]

Regarding security:
1) There's normally a password function to protect from others logging into the router setup functions - make sure you enable it and change the default password

2) Switch on the WEP encryption. This normally requires a hexadecimal "key" to be entered, but you can normally enter a more user friendly password (passkey) and it wil generate the hex code for you. THen make sure you configure your PCs with this same hex code

3) If you wish you can also make your network invisible so that other people can't scan for it. I don't bother with this as I think the encryption is good enough

All this is written with my experience with my Belkin router, I haven't tried a Linksys one

[plasticpig]

munky said:

Regarding security: 3) If you wish you can also make your network invisible so that other people can't scan for it. I don't bother with this as I think the encryption is good enough

Depends how worried you are about security. WEP is an easily breakable protocol and is by no means secure.

If you want to be paranoid the best bet is to change the WEP key weekly and to use MAC address filtering which the Linksys user guide explains how to setup.

[TheExcession]

As above, Linksys kit is reliable and easy to set up.

I'm running about 12 WRT54GS units as part of a community broadband scheme and they have so far been rock solid.

[roop]

128bit WEP encryption (WPA encryption if your laptop supports it, but if it's only 11MBit/s it may not). MAC address filtering, SSID cloaking, SPI firewall enabled. At that point it's about as good as you will get. If you don't want to share files between PC's you can firewall each machine of to the hilt individually as well.

[roop]

Forgot to say, I had the first generation Linksys WAG54G (one with ADSL and 54g Wireless in same box) and it was utterly apalling. It's the only Linksys device I have had issues with. I have subsequently installed WAP54G's, WRT54G's, WET54G's, WUSB54G's with no issues. Great kit for the money.

After the issues with the WAG54G's, I switched to a 3Com OfficeConnect at home and it's fab.

www.3com.com/prod/en_UK_EMEA/detail.jsp?tab=features&sku=3CRWDR100A-72

[woody]

roop said:

128bit WEP encryption (WPA encryption if your laptop supports it, but if it's only 11MBit/s it may not). MAC address filtering, SSID cloaking, SPI firewall enabled. At that point it's about as good as you will get. If you don't want to share files between PC's you can firewall each machine of to the hilt individually as well.

Thanks for the replies guy's.

Kit ordered and should hopefully be here by the weekend.

Just a couple more questions: what's WEP and WPA encryption??

At the moment I have Norton AV & Firewall running on my desktop (and also installed on laptop) will this cause any problems with the hardware firewall of the router?? - do I need both or is it OK to disable one - and if so which is the more secure?

Cheers

Chris

[roop]

WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy. This is the encryption technique that came along with 802.11b wireless networking. For home use, it's more than adequate. If you have sensitive traffic running over your network / on your PC's then it's not enough.

WPA - WiFi Protected Access. Much more secure than WEP (probably an order of magnitude higher) but not infallible. WPA2 improves on it. Again, more than adequate for home use, but again, not enough for sensitive info.

Personally, I don't like NAV or NFW. I'd ditch the firewall completely if you are using XP and use the built in XP firewall which is very good (assuming you are on SP2 here). As for AV, I use AVG which saps very little system resources compared to Norton which has crippled any computer I have ever put it on. All in my experience / humble opinion etc.

I don't have any firewalls on my individual PC's, instead relying on the following security on my router to stop unwanted access :

- WPA
- MAC address filtering
- Cloaked SSID
- SPI firewall

>> Edited by roop on Thursday 13th October 16:05