Thread: Wireless routers

Having a hardwired ADSL connection plus a wireless network for you house could give the potential for persons to pull up outside your house and use your download limit couldn't it?

At least thats what happens when my brother and I use the net at my parents place (really p1sses the old man off) we used his limit in one weekend.

Originally Posted by dobbo

Having a hardwired ADSL connection plus a wireless network for you house could give the potential for persons to pull up outside your house and use your download limit couldn't it?

I thought they had a security code on them.
The Sunrise program had a little segment on getting connected to the Internet on Wednesday morning which I taped. They mentioned the wireless router should have a security feature.

Maybe I should go wired seeing as you know where I live .

Originally Posted by Scouse

I thought they had a security code on them.
The Sunrise program had a little segment on getting connected to the Internet on Wednesday morning which I taped. They mentioned the wireless router should have a security feature.

Maybe I should go wired seeing as you know where I live .

Don't worry my laptop got broken a long time ago.

Wireless networks can be hacked. It depends on what security features (if any) are used. I know very little about it all but I am right this very second looking up ways to hack our own office network so I can try and prevent it.

Although as I said I don't know much about it yet.

Plus it will be handy to know so when I am travelling I can use the net

I used to run a wired router from from the cable modem in another room which was my office.

However our daughter moved back home so she's now in there with her laptop. To save running cables around the house, I'm now running a DLink DI-524 wireless router from the cable modem - usually the laptop and desktop in this room connect at 54Mbps, sometimes lower. At the moment it is connected at 36Mbps, wait, it has just dropped to 11 Mbps - maybe my daughter has logged on. No, its back to 36.

I don't know if faster wireless systems are that noticeable. I am not sure if it is noticeably slower than the wired connection but I think it is slower when all 3 machines are in use.

re security, I only have (at this stage) WEP enabled but will probabaly change to WPA for the improved security. I can see two wireless networks from home, mien and my neighbours. His is also protected. I can see one when I'm at work but I haven't been able to hack it - which isn't that difficult if I had a second laptop to probe the network while this one monitored the systems.

Are you using a PC or a Mac?

My daughter plugs into the wired port on the wireless modem. She has a Mac Ibook and I can't get it to work wirelessly with the WEP enabled - it works without WEP enabled. I keep meaning to ring Incisor for help with that. The procedure of inputting a hex WEP code as described by Apple and the router manufacturer doesn't seem to work for me. One is supposed to precede the number with $ to indicate hex but the IBook won't allow entry of the $.

Ron

1) Wireless networks are liable to significant variation based on interference and obstruction of radio waves. Performance is rarely what is quoted as maximum.
2) 100Mbps of actual speed is required for video streaming. For ADSL this means upload speed >100 is the limit, not the download speed.
3) Wireless networks CAN be hacked but provided you use encryption (read the instructions with the wireless router) no-one will bother hacking your home system - you're not the Tax Office.
4) Only an unecrypted system is freely available to any drive-by user.

I have a wired network with points through the house plus a wireless. I use the wireless for most things but video/audio always gets plugged in.

I'd suggest getting a router with both wired and wireless if you think you want to roam through the house. Then your wife can plug in when she's videoconferencing. Get one with a NAT firewall (which virtually all do these days) and enable the wireless encryption. (WEP or WPA doesn't really matter - WEP takes days to hack, WPA months but uses more computer resources)

Steve

Originally Posted by p38arover

Are you using a PC or a Mac?

Ron, it's a PC we use.

Thanks for the tips. Not all of them came through in English though .

Leslie won't be doing any video conferencing so I'm tempted to go wireless. By the looks, most seem to have a choice of wired or unwired from what I've seen today so I might go with your suggestion, thanks Steve.
We only live in a single story house so hopefully signal obstruction won't be a problem.

Scrambler

Have you ever used Airsnort on a Windows XP system before? I have gone through everything but can't install it