Broadban(d) options part 2

[Stu]

Signed with Virgin. Not the cheapest but no limitations - major consideration as I'm going to run three pc's on the one connection. Virgin have sent broadband modem (already have one if anyone wants the spare). To get a wireless network all I need is a router and pci cards - correct? Is an all in one router/modem a better option than seperate modem- router?

Cheers

stu

 

[Stupot]

Stu,

I have just setup a wireless network at home using a Dlink wireless router and a Dlink USB wireless card in my PC upstairs, we have 2 laptops one with a PCMCIA card (Dlink) and the other has an Intel Centrino wireless chip - and everything works a treat, what i will say is that the wireless PCI cards for PC's seem a little unrealible especially with XP (from experience).

http://www.dsl-warehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pr=DI614PLUS - Wireless router

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=9 - PCMCIA Card

Basically the wireless router is an all in one unit, and it also has 4 ethernet connections for hard wiring PC's into it.
I have set mine up to use DHCP to issue my machines with IP addresses
but have given the router a static address so that i can administer it.

Now i am not an IT wiz by any standards, but i would recommend disabling all this WEP encryption - it just seems to complicate everything,
and unless you really understand how it works i would leave it well alone.

Hope this has been of some help to you ..... good luck :roll:

Stu.

 

[Stu]

Cheers Stu from er.. stu!

 

[Dave H]

but i would recommend disabling all this WEP encryption

Hmm.... A guy who works in my office gets free access to a 1Mb link at home because the guy next door has not enabled any of the security!

Try to make sure that your router has a firewall - and enable it.

It's worth noting that most modems bundled with access deals are USB connected and that routers require an RJ45 Ethernet connection.

 

[Stupot]

Yep that's a valid point Dave about the firewall, but what i have done is
to disable the WEP encryption but only allow access to certain
MAC address's i.e. only the address's of my machines.

My next door nieghbour has an identical setup (had to do his aswell :? )
and niether of us can access the web or each others LAN's through the others router using the MAC address restrictions.

It's best to be secure :shock:

Stu.

 

[bubba]

Whoah! Disabling WEP is a *very* bad idea indeed. Even WEP isn't that secure and has many well publicised exploits - WPA is safer by far and is pretty easy to set up as Win XP now offers full support.

I guess if you restrict access to certain MAC addresses then that is a start but it's pretty easy for somebody to use a wireless packet sniffer to test your network and find out the MAC addresses. Once this is done, they can spoof those addresses and use your network as if they were you.

Ok, this is unlikely in an everyday situation but I'm happier playing it safe, just for peace of mind.

This is perhaps alarmist, but all it takes is one tech-savvy paedophile to hack your connection, and you're going to have a damn hard time explaining why you downloaded all that kiddie porn, even if it wasn't you who actually did it.