Wireless Router !!!!

BigJohn · Post by **BigJohn** » Thursday Mar 03, 2005

Isn't technology wonderful It's 11:45pm on a Thursday night and I'm sitting at my bar working on line while The Hurricanes play 25 feet away. LIFE IS GREAT !!!

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

can others bring in their laptops and get online as well?

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

To everyone out in the business world: hug (or give them a good pat on the back if you're homophobic) your IT guys and let them know that you appreciate their service.

bassist_25 (former IT guy)

BigJohn · Post by **BigJohn** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

Rob, I'm not sure.

bfoust · Post by **bfoust** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

Let me guess, you got DSL?

Post by **Ron** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

RobTheDrummer wrote:can others bring in their laptops and get online as well?

As long as you have a compatible wireless ethernet card, (probably 802.11b) it's possible. All you need is the wireless network's SSID.

John, there are a few simple security measures that you should take.

- Make sure that you change the default SSID of the router. If it's set to the default, then anyone who knows the default SSID's of the popular routers can get on the network in a few tries.

- Make sure that SSID broadcasting is turned off. If it is turned on, then anyone within range can get on your network without any problems. Plug and play. I can see a guy at Kings opening up his laptop and getting prompted if he wants to join your network.

- If you want to allow people to come in and surf at the bar, you should change the SSID daily so that they have to ask you for the ID of the day. You could even charge them a couple bucks.

- Make sure that any other computers with shared directories on the network are at least password protected.

bfoust · Post by **bfoust** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

Wireless is fun until someone steals your bandwidth from across the street

Make sure that baby has encryption!

HurricaneBob · Post by **HurricaneBob** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

W00t, i can play and download porn now!

TJ Kelly · Post by **TJ Kelly** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

Bobby is that a Cameltoe on your Avatar? If so NICE!

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

it's a ninja boot

HurricaneBob · Post by **HurricaneBob** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

Just some chick from the hood.....

Punkinhead · Post by **Punkinhead** » Friday Mar 04, 2005

Ron wrote:
RobTheDrummer wrote:can others bring in their laptops and get online as well?
As long as you have a compatible wireless ethernet card, (probably 802.11b) it's possible. All you need is the wireless network's SSID.

John, there are a few simple security measures that you should take.

- Make sure that you change the default SSID of the router. If it's set to the default, then anyone who knows the default SSID's of the popular routers can get on the network in a few tries.

- Make sure that SSID broadcasting is turned off. If it is turned on, then anyone within range can get on your network without any problems. Plug and play. I can see a guy at Kings opening up his laptop and getting prompted if he wants to join your network.

- If you want to allow people to come in and surf at the bar, you should change the SSID daily so that they have to ask you for the ID of the day. You could even charge them a couple bucks.

- Make sure that any other computers with shared directories on the network are at least password protected.

You want to use at least 128 bit AES encryption or else you can be hacked pretty easily. 192 bit 3DES is better if you can afford it. As long as your encryption is set up right you don't have anything to worry about. But if you don't, anyone can sift through your whole hard drive. For example, I have a "friend" who was able to go to a "national business that has a monopoly on goods from bulk purchasing" and sit in the parking lot and watch all the action at the registers as it happened from a laptop in his car.

One thing alot of companies/businesses do now is charge for wireless internet time. Starbucks does it monthly. The one's I know of in the area locally do it by a time frame.

Post by **Ron** » Saturday Mar 05, 2005

Encryption is only necessary if you leave the door open. A lot of places broadcast their SSID. A hacker could try a brute force method to get the SSID if it isn't broadcast, but it could take years because of all the time the handshaking takes in establishing a connection.

Suppose you had a pile of a billion keys (SSID's) and only one of them opens a locker containing a treasure map (sensitive data). You somehow over time test every key in the pile, and get the right one. You then open the locker and the treasure map is written in a secret code (128 bit encryption).

Places like the one Punkinhead was talking about are broadcasting their key, and not putting their treasure map in secret code.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Sunday Mar 06, 2005

Actually, by comparison, 56-bit encryption would take 18,000 years versus 128-bit's 24 million (or is it billion? does it matter?) years to hack using brute force techniques. Be careful not to spend too much $ if something else is adequate.

I am looking at Cisco Aironet WLAN systems to go wireless in our factory. They support 802.11a,b & g, 128 bit encryption. with a 54mbps transfer rate. Kinda slow, but its better than making a web of cat-5 cable. Apparently, Cisco just bought out Linksys and they now have pro-level equipment available, so I'll have to take a look at their stuff as well. I guess that'd be like buying an epiphone instead of a gibson. With their guaranteed 2 year obsolescence, I won't ever buy 3com equipment again.

Punkinhead · Post by **Punkinhead** » Sunday Mar 06, 2005

lonewolf wrote:Actually, by comparison, 56-bit encryption would take 18,000 years versus 128-bit's 24 million (or is it billion? does it matter?) years to hack using brute force techniques. Be careful not to spend too much $ if something else is adequate.

I am looking at Cisco Aironet WLAN systems to go wireless in our factory. They support 802.11a,b & g, 128 bit encryption. with a 54mbps transfer rate. Kinda slow, but its better than making a web of cat-5 cable. Apparently, Cisco just bought out Linksys and they now have pro-level equipment available, so I'll have to take a look at their stuff as well. I guess that'd be like buying an epiphone instead of a gibson. With their guaranteed 2 year obsolescence, I won't ever buy 3com equipment again.

check out www.3eti.com
It's a government funded company that is on the cutting edge of wireless technology. Also it's where I do my pre-internship co-op while I'm in school.

It depends on your security needs vs what you can afford. It's like the age old question in programming: How much testing on software is enough? Well it comes down to the cost of making a mistake vs what whoever is paying you can afford to keep paying for testing before putting it in use. For someone like Big John, it's not that big of a deal. For a business that would have people trying to constantly hack it, it is. I'm not up on all the hacking methods of wireless, I'm not really much of a hacker, just know a few tricks( I found I had a hard time explaining to people that I was just practicing when I was in their machine...even though I really was ). But from what I was told, 128 bit encryption has had some hacking problems, hence the need for the 192 bit 3Des. Then there is one more that big brother uses that is beyond that and is about 5 times as tough to get into.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Sunday Mar 06, 2005

The transfer rates of wireless are getting higher. I expect that within due time, they'll be as high or even higher than ethernet.

Of course, that sucks in a way, because no one's going to make any money on the labor of running Cat-5.

oobie · Post by **oobie** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005

they'll be as high or even higher than ethernet.

Of course, that sucks in a way, because no one's going to make any money on the labor of running Cat-5.

But you have to remember nothing runs faster than the backbone of the Network. The highest you can run your "intranet" is as fast as the equipment you got.
And don't forget Bassist MOST access points require a cable drop, so it looks like there is still a job for some of us. But as big as wireless really is i don't ever forsee it causing cabling contractors to go out of business. Hell you'll see fiber to desktop in a few years, more cable pulling!!

Post by **Ron** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005

Right on, oobie.
Fiber will always be King, at least until we find something faster than uh... light.

oobie · Post by **oobie** » Wednesday Mar 09, 2005

yeppers Ron! But i won't ever underestimate the power of the human brain to figure somthing else out. But until then Fiber will be the best we can get. Verizon already started deploying fiber to the premises for residential in the larger cities.

Dogbert7 · Post by **Dogbert7** » Sunday Mar 13, 2005

- If you want to allow people to come in and surf at the bar, you should change the SSID daily so that they have to ask you for the ID of the day. You could even charge them a couple bucks.

Make sure you check with your ISP(Internet Service Provider) before charging customers for internet access. Some ISP's have in their AUP(acceptable use policy) that reselling of service is in violation of the agreed contract. Some ISP will suspend or terminate service for this violation. Just a thought.

ROCKPAGE

Wireless Router !!!!

Wireless Router !!!!

Reselling of Internet access